BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) - After 30 years in the nursery business, mother-son team Mary Ann Wells and Richard Wells have put the Homestead Nursery in Belle Fourche up for sale.
“It’s been interesting to have 30 years to work at a garden,” Richard said. “You get to see some real change.”
The 2.55-acre nursery, started in the spring of 1988, and has been in business for 30 years at its location along Hay Creek.
The business was once known as Robb House Antiques, established by Jack Wells, Richard’s father and Mary Ann’s husband, after he retired from Wells Plumbing Supplies, the nursery’s northern neighbors.
The Black Hills Pioneer reports that Homestead Nursery, started small by Richard and later joined by his mother, Mary Ann Wells, gradually built a customer base in the Northern Hills and Tri-State area to offer all kinds of hardy plants, and bedding plants in season.
Richard had previously worked in hospitals with a health services administration degree, living in Oakland and San Francisco, California, before returning home to Belle Fourche to build a new business and a different way of life.
“It’s a very different environment here,” Richard said. “In hospitals, not a lot of people want to be there, whether patients or visitors. Where this (the nursery business) people are motivated to be here and for a lot of people, this is their most exciting thing.”
Richard said the nursery has been a low tech, custom operation, with a lot of individual care with many good workers, sometimes called plant tenders or plant wranglers.
“We’ve had lots of good workers over the years,” Richard said.
The Wells’ practice a no plant left behind philosophy.
“You watch every detail that you can to make sure your plants are doing the best they can and not miss the little subtle clues that you observe on a daily basis,” Richard said. Working with plants, nature, and motivated gardeners has been a positive experience, but Richard said, with aging, it’s time to scale back. Mary Ann is 90 years old and Richard is 70.
The Wells wonder if there is someone who would like to continue the tradition of a small family business that offers personal service and knowledge of plants.
“Part of the story is, is there room for a small niche business in an era of big box stores?” Richard asked.
With mostly outdoor work environment, Richard said 30 seasons have had ups and downs, especially related to weather. Two major hailstorms - during the mid-1990s and more recently in August 2015 - along with three severe drought periods, including last year, and heavy snowstorms like Winter Storm Atlas in 2013 have been among the challenges of managing the nursery.
“You rise and fall with the weather,” Richard said. “I don’t know that we’ve ever had the perfect growing year.”
The climate in the plains is one of the most challenging for growing in the country, he said.
“For instance, Spearfish and Rapid (City) have the all-time records for temperature change in a short time which makes life interesting, but for plants, it’s difficult,” Richard said.
Still, Richard said, it has been mostly positive to see the power of healing when it comes to plants and learn to live with the cycles of nature.
“Working with local gardeners has been the greatest pleasure,” Richard said. “As with fellow master gardeners with an active Northern Hills Master Gardener group that meets in Spearfish. We have developed a customer base in the Northern Hills with strong ties to the ag community in the Tri-State area.”
One thing that the Wells still have that was original to the property when it was purchased some 30 years ago is a rhubarb patch.
“Had a whole row of beautiful rhubarb back there and we built a root cellar back there,” Richard said.
In the process of building the root cellar, Richard said, because of the location of the patch and where they intended to build the cellar, dirt was put on top of the rhubarb.
“And we felt really bad; this rhubarb had probably been around for 100 years,” he said. “Well, the next year, it came up through four feet of dirt. So we didn’t have to feel bad for the rhubarb; it’s still out there.”
“And we still use it,” Mary Ann said.
The property was once home to the first house built in Belle Fourche.
“When we bought it, it was still here and it was falling down,” Mary Ann said.
After tearing the decrepit building down, the Wells realized its significance.
“We didn’t realize it was the first house until some Girl Scouts came in and wanted a picture (with it),” she said.
The Girl Scouts were able to locate a photo of the house from another source, Mary Ann said.
Running the nursery that is open the first day of spring through Nov. 1 each year has taken a toll.
“We’re realizing at age 90, there are certain realities that come into play, even though she does pretty good,” Richard said. “Even age 70, there’s so many hints (that it’s time to retire due to physical constraints). We really enjoy doing it but just realize that because of the seasonal nature, you do have to do a lot of things for a short period of time that really are pretty intense.”
Mary Ann echoed her son’s sentiments.
“Well, and you sell the majority (of product) from the first of May through mid-June,” Mary Ann said. “And then we have these hours that are seven days a week. So it’s a lot of hours to work.”
Although difficult, Richard called the nursery a labor of love.
“It’s a lot of heavy physical labor,” he said. “Which I love. I’d rather do that than sit at a desk. But it does take a toll on some days. It does keep you more in with the cycles of nature rather than just with people and the cycles there. Sometimes they’re not as rewarding.”
Gardening is “dirt-cheap therapy,” Richard said.
“And it’s good for your head,” Mary Ann said.
The nursery carries a wide range of hardy plants that grow in the area.
“I was not knowledgeable at first, I had some interest but not much knowledge, epically growing a lemon tree and a fig tree in the back yard in Oakland does not really help you too much here,” Richard said. “And in hearing from people too; you get a lot of feedback so you know what’s working and what’s not working.”
Richard said they’ve had some interest in the business that has been for sale since last year.
He said he hopes that someone can take over the business with respect for a unique environment and see gardens as bridges between nature and the developed world, amid loss of natural habitat and resources.
“Our garden reflects the growth and changes over 30 years, the opportunity to see plants growth to their potential,” he said. “We have enjoyed life in this green island in Belle Fourche and hope that it evolves with someone else here to enjoy the seasons here as we have at Homestead Nursery.”
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Information from: Black Hills Pioneer, http://www.bhpioneer.com
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