STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 15
BIG CREEK PROVIDES A VARIETY OF PLANTS, SEEDS AND OTHER LANDSCAPING MATERIALS TO HOMEOWNERS AND PROFESSIONAL LANDSCAPERS. IT IS ALSO KNOWN FOR RAISING AND SELLING UP TO 8,000 PERENNIALS EACH YEAR.
JD Oldsen, owner of Big Creek Nursery and Landscape, has no doubt that he is doing exactly what he is supposed to be doing.
Oldsen grew up in a family that regularly farmed produce and participated in their local farmer’ s market, but once the siblings were older, the farmers market no longer made sense as a way of bringing in extra income.
“ I’ ve always liked plants. I grew up with plants, and I love variety and color. I just found my niche in that,” Oldsen said.“ Every time I find a new plant, it’ s another thing to get excited about.”
Oldsen went into landscaping until he fell ill in the early 2000s.
“ I got seriously ill, and I couldn’ t go back to landscaping. I needed something that was active but a little milder,” Oldsen said.“ This was a happy medium. It’ s hard work, but it has worked out well.”
The Big Creek Nursery was originally established in Cushing in 2008 with minimal funds, and the family keeping their greenhouses warm with a wood-burning boiler.
“ When I was landscaping, I was working locally in Cushing, Perkins and Stillwater, and I noticed it was difficult to get landscaping material. We had to drive to Oklahoma City or
Tulsa for our materials, and a lot of the plants that were available locally were plants that don’ t do well here,” he said.
Big Creek provides a variety of plants, seeds and other landscaping materials to homeowners and professional landscapers. It is also known for raising and selling up to 8,000 perennials each year. They are also known for their hanging baskets in the spring and giant mums in the fall, all of which are grown in-house. Not only was getting the business started not easy, but there have been some economic rough patches along the way. The commodity store joined the business in 2021, and Oldsen said they are slowly working their way towards making it a homesteading store. Big Creek Nursery ' s website said its country store comes from an appreciation for handmade and high quality goods, as well as a " vision for living simply."
" Several of us have fond memories of childhood and simpler times--- before everything connected to Wi-Fi, was a ' smart ' device, or did the work for us – like popcorn hand-cranked on the stove or canning produce from the garden. There is a way of life, typically
PHOTO CENTER: Big Creek Nursery owner JD Oldsen stops to pull unwanted weeds and grass from the nursery’ s seedling plants. Oldsen said he found his niche in plants. Photo by Alisa Boswell
NOT ONLY WAS GETTING THE BUSINESS STARTED NOT EASY, BUT THERE HAVE BEEN SOME ECONOMIC ROUGH PATCHES ALONG THE WAY.
STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 15