PAWNEE, Ill. – Northeast of Pawnee, on Zion Road, Bella Hoots and Clay Harden are working together to offer eggs and fresh cut flowers to the local community. They are the second young entrepreneurs to offer farmstead items in the Pawnee area.

Serena Basham, of Heirloom Haus, opened this summer on the village’s southeast side. Hoots said that Basham offers both helpful information, and an outlet at her market for their products.

Hoots and Harden, engaged to be married in September 2025, met on the job at Scheels where they found they had similar interests. Harden has had an interest in poultry for years. Raising chickens since he was a kid, he recently added ducks to their flock. The chickens and ducks reside together in an updated chicken coop that Harden built.

With more eggs than they could use or give to family, Hoots said they decided to sell chicken and duck eggs at the new Locals Farmer’s Market, a brand-new Sunday afternoon occasional market. The market was a new offering in the Village of Pawnee this summer offered by Locals, a bar, restaurant and entertainment venue in Pawnee.

A Pawnee native, Harden graduated from Pawnee High School in 2015, and his flock is mainly his venture. In his flock, he said they have five Rhode Island Red chickens, five Black Australorp chickens, and of the ducks, “We have several different kinds of ducks.”

They got the chickens and ducks as chicks. Hoots added that although the eggs taste similar, the duck eggs are bigger and have more protein.

Hoots is new to the community. A 2020 graduate from Scott County, her main interest is fresh cut flowers. Her interest in flowers goes back to her grandmother. “I got this from my grandma. She always has a big garden, and flowers on the porch.”

Making the most of their acre of land, the flowers began as a landscape effort. Hoots’ interest in farming comes naturally because she has a rural upbringing. She explained, “I grew up on a cattle farm. We grew beef cattle South of Jacksonville in Scott County.”

Hoots’ family is still running their cattle operation – the business is called Andras Stock Farm. Hoots and Harden’s venture is named Flower Flock Farms, as a tribute to the chickens and ducks. Together the young couple help one another as they are working to make Flower Flock Farms a success.

Selling their products is a new venture. “We are super new,” Hoots said, “it is our first year.”

It takes a lot of after-work effort to make Flower Flock Farms a reality. “We both work fulltime,” Harden said, “but at home, we both like to do outdoor projects.”

Dedicated to his fiancée’s dream, Harden helps Hoots with some of the heavy work required for the flower beds. “Whatever she needs,” he said.

“We got started in early spring,” Hoots added about the flower bed she started from seed that includes Zinnias, sunflowers, Cosmos, Snapdragons, Statice, Straw flowers, Amaranth, which she said “are interesting looking,” and Dahlia, which she said “are the showstoppers.”

In her flowerbed there are also Echinacea, Cone flowers, and yarrow, which she grew from seed as well. Black Eyed Susans were also thriving because they are native to the area. All flowers are grown without pesticides and organically.  Hoots also used minimal soil tillage and is practicing soil conservation efforts.

Working with another local business, many of Hoots’ flower starts came from the nearby New City Greenhouse, established by Randy Belville. “We have evolved,” Belville said about the business that has expanded over the years. “We have vegetable and fruit produce from July 4th to Halloween. We start with sweet corn, then watermelon, peaches, then pumpkins and mums.”

Mums are a big deal at New City Greenhouse. “We have 15,000 mums and we ship all over,” he said.

At Flower Flock Farms, Hoots sells the cut flowers through orders and has expanded to the local farmers market. “I will probably do more selling online in the future. There has been a good amount of interest in my cut flowers.”

Fellow Scheels employees have been very supportive of their new venture and often order flowers and eggs. Hoots provides flowers for events and looks forward to growing flowers for her own wedding next September.