- [Eliza] This episode of "Wish You Were Here" with Eliza Blue is brought to you in part by South Dakota Public Broadcasting, and the South Dakota Arts Council.

Thanks for watching.

(gentle instrumental music) (gentle serene music) Last season, we took you to five different locations in Western Dakota to share stories, songs, and beautiful scenery.

The response was amazing.

We got letters and comments of support from all over the region, as well as personal stories about our viewers' own experiences in those locations.

From our Christmas show at the little white church on the hill by Rabbit Butte, to the songs we shared atop the majestic peaks of the Slim Buttes.

Wild flowers and grass waving at our feet, to the gorgeous sculptures at John Lopez's Kokomo Gallery in Lemmon, South Dakota, to the tiny gem of a general store in Hoover.

And of course, our season's finale at the holy chapel on the Standing Rock Reservation, a monument to the strength of a community whose commitment to creating and preserving the sacred space was as strong as the stone they quarried from nearby Firesteel Creek to build it.

We were able to capture a tiny sliver of the wealth of beauty and creativity here in our region.

It was a labor of love to create those episodes.

We hope that they would bring comfort, joy, and community during a time when those things were in short supply for so many of us.

Now, thanks to the support of our sponsors and our fans, we are back and we couldn't be happier.

The only hard part was narrowing down our wishlist of people and places to accommodate our filming schedule, which truly was a hardship with so many wonderful people and places to choose from.

We knew we wanted to again highlight the natural beauty of the Northern Plains, as well as, the creativity, ingenuity and unique culture of this place.

A place where long cold gives way to blazing heat, wind, and all other manner of extreme weather.

The plants, people and animals that call these grasslands, mountains, and wetlands home are a hardy bunch, and we hope you will join us in celebrating them with this new season.

We will explore ghost towns and farmsteads, garden beds and fiber mills.

We will visit with rockstars and folk artists.

And that's just the first few episodes.

Mostly though, we wanna share with you what is possible when we follow what we love where it leads us.

(gentle instrumental music) (soft acoustic music) ♪ Back roads and byways ♪ ♪ Campfires, we lie awake ♪ ♪ Sweet grass and summer sage ♪ ♪ Come on baby, come and take my hand ♪ ♪ Take my hand, take my hand ♪ ♪ We're Dakota-bound ♪ (rousing acoustic music) - [Eliza] Join us, as we travel to share stories and songs from the prairie.

I am so excited to be back with you for another season of "Wish You Were Here."

For this season, we've expanded our focus.

We are gonna be traveling all over the region and we're gonna be highlighting artists, musicians, poets, all over, and especially, rural artists for you.

Now, when I started the last season, I had written a song that was the inspiration for a lot of the work we did.

And it turned out to be our opening and closing credits.

But I thought, maybe you'd like to hear what the rest of the song actually sounds like.

So we're gonna start with that, and then, I'm gonna take you to Blackshire farms to discover some really exciting things that are happening with Marcella and Sean.

But first, "We Wish You Were Here."

(gentle acoustic music) ♪ Last day is summer ♪ ♪ Valleys are blooming ♪ ♪ I'm goin' roaming ♪ ♪ Leave me as you found me ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Wake up in the mornin' ♪ ♪ Don't know where I'm goin' ♪ ♪ I think I'll take the Highway ♪ ♪ If you go on my way, take my hand ♪ ♪ Take my hand, take my hand ♪ ♪ We're Dakota-bound ♪ ♪ Lay down in the evenin' ♪ ♪ Lit up by the starshine ♪ ♪ If I can't find my way back home ♪ ♪ At least I've got the outro ♪ ♪ Take my hand ♪ ♪ Backroads and Byways ♪ ♪ Campfires, we lie awake ♪ ♪ Sweet grass and summer sage ♪ ♪ Come on baby ♪ ♪ Come and take my hand ♪ ♪ Take my hand, take my hand ♪ ♪ We're Dakota-bound ♪ ♪ Dakota-bound, I've been here before ♪ ♪ Thought I'd never been so lost ♪ ♪ Turns out, I was gettin' found ♪ ♪ Dakota-Bound ♪ ♪ I've rested in this place ♪ ♪ I laid down to dream ♪ ♪ And I was dreamin' of your face ♪ ♪ Dakota-bound, Dakota-bound ♪ ♪ Honey, take my hand ♪ ♪ I've been here before ♪ ♪ In this wild-flowered field ♪ ♪ I have taken the world ♪ ♪ I have opened the wheel ♪ ♪ And I know when I'm found ♪ ♪ I found my feet touchin' sacred ground ♪ ♪ Take my hand, take my hand ♪ ♪ We're Dakota-bound ♪ (gentle acoustic music) Sioux Falls, South Dakota is a thriving metropolis in the southeastern corner of the state.

Chartered in 1856 on the banks of the Big Sioux River, the city is situated in the rolling hills at the junction of Interstate 29 and 90, and is named for the falls that tumble near the heart of its downtown.

Like any modern American city, Sioux Falls is home to coffee shops and boutiques, museums and city parks, a wealth of culture, industry, and commerce available on every corner.

But if you tarry outside its borders, you quickly arrive in small close-knit communities that revolve around agriculture.

For this episode, we are heading east out of the city for a quick hop across the border into Luverne, Minnesota.

Just past the small town of Beaver Creek along a dusty gravel road, Blackshire Farms is tucked back into the trees.

The green farmhouse that stands sentinel, a landmark for more than a hundred years.

Blackshire Farms is the collaboration of Sean McFarland and Marcella Procop.

Marcella, and Sean didn't set out to be farmers, although they both had agriculture in their backgrounds.

Marcella is a poet, writer, and teacher who worked briefly in DC, interning in broadcast journalism.

Sean, who grew up watching his grandfather farm and studied horticulture in college, is a musician and songwriter who has been heading bands for decades, including the popular Americana band, Snakebeard Jackson.

But in 2017, the couple moved onto the farm together, got married on the front porch, and embarked on a whole new adventure as a couple.

This acreage is uniquely diverse.

It features stands of hardwood trees, as well as berry brambles, a high tunnel for extended growing large gardens that feed their family, heirloom fruit orchards, a field of El Salvadorian beans, and perhaps, their most popular venture to date, a pick your own pumpkin patch that offers, not only, traditional orange jack-o-lantern varieties, but a selection of squash in all colors, textures and sizes.

Visitors are invited to explore the patch with its gorgeous tree-lined views, while they search for the perfect pumpkin to suit their autumn decorating or baking ambitions.

For the past three years, Marcella has also been keeping bees to help pollinate the crops, provide the family with honey, and the successes and failures of bee husbandry have been a source of inspiration for her writing.

Other value-added products the family currently produces for themselves and friends include maple syrup, fermented hot sauces and hard cider.

Cider, in particular being a huge part of the long-term business plan for their farm.

Though, being working artists and working farmers may seem like an unusual combination, the creativity and dedication to craft this couple shows to both pursuits, is obvious in all the work they do.

Just as the soil is enriched by their ministrations, So too, are we enriched as listeners and readers by the words and songs they share.

(gentle acoustic music) I am sitting next to the apple orchard here at Blackshire farms with Sean, and Sean, could you tell us a little more about the background of this orchard?

- Yeah, this orchard's a pretty special orchard.

It's full of heirloom cider trees, specific for making hard cider.

What makes these apples different than the apples you might find about anywhere else is that they're specifically for creating hard cider and don't actually taste or feel that great if you try to eat them out of hand.

A lot of the hard cider in America right now is being made from the leftovers of the dessert market.

But similar to wine, there are different chemical components of cider apples versus table apples or dessert apples as they're commonly referred to.

And during prohibition, all of the cider trees were cut down and pretty much, totally forgotten about.

Nobody grows cider trees in most all of America, but recently, there's been an interest in making real cider from the right kind of trees.

And so, I set on a journey of trying to locate cider trees from all around mostly Europe.

But in the United States, I probably have like a hundred different varieties out here and, some of 'em are old American varieties, some of 'em are as old as 300 years old from England and France.

- [Eliza] That is so cool, wow.

And how long have you been growing these trees here?

- [Sean] So we planted them three years ago.

So this is their fourth summer, the year my son Cedar was born.

- [Eliza] Oh, and so, what inspired you in the first place to get into cider apples?

- They were like, it was kind of an accident.

I was thinking, so I knew I was taking over my family's acreage here, and I thought I would, I needed to make a value added product because I don't grow a thousand acres of corn and soybeans.

And so I was thinking about wine and I had been putting a plan together to plant a vineyard based on this one variety of grape that made a pretty decent wine.

The wine was okay, you know, but like that's pretty good for the Midwest, if you make an okay wine, you're doing okay.

So I had this plan together, and while I was working it out, my grandma's said, "Sean, will you replant the old apple orchard?

And it's out front, and there's a half an acre of trees out there."

And I said, "Well sure I will."

But then I'm thinking like, "What am I gonna do with a whole, half acre of apples?"

And I kinda get down the rabbit hole of cider and learn about the tradition of cider, and learn about these varieties that are out there.

And then I just, I did a complete 180 and said you know, "To heck with the grapes, I'm goin' all apples."

Because I think, I have the possibility to make, not just an okay product, but a really fantastic product that doesn't have to be qualified by like, "It's good for, it's just good."

Like I think, I can make a good product.

- [Eliza] Oh wow, I am very excited to try your product.

Do you know when you'll be, like the apple trees will be ready to start harvesting, to make cider?

- [Sean] So yeah, so they're four-seasons old, and they're putting fruit on this year.

I think, some of the trees would've put some more fruit on if we hadn't got the prolonged heat this spring, but I'm okay with that.

They're growing, they're putting the roots in, they're getting ready to bear fruit.

I think next year, I'll probably get some kinda decent crop out of them, and so, I'll be serving that the following fall 2023 is when we'll be drinking next year's Cider.

- [Eliza] Yay!

Well, I look forward to that day very much.

In the meantime though, we are gonna play a folk song together, and this song, you'll see why we picked it.

It's called "Cindy, Cindy."

(folk acoustic music) ♪ I wanna see my Cindy ♪ ♪ She lives way down South ♪ ♪ She's so sweet, the honey bees ♪ ♪ Swarm around her mouth ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ Get along home ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ I'll marry you someday.

♪ ♪ When first I saw my Cindy ♪ ♪ Standing by the door ♪ ♪ Shoes and stockings in her hands ♪ ♪ Little bare feet on the floor ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ Get along home ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ I'll marry you someday ♪ ♪ I wish I were an apple ♪ ♪ Hangin' from a tree ♪ ♪ And ev'ry time my Cindy passed ♪ ♪ She'd take another bite of me ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ Get along home ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ I'll marry you someday ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ Get along home ♪ ♪ Get along home, Cindy, Cindy ♪ ♪ I'll marry you someday ♪ - Hi everyone.

My name is Marcella Prokop.

I'm owner-operator of Blackshire Farms.

Tonight, I'm going to share some poetry with you, inspired by nature.

This first one is called "Cicadas," and it was published by Full Circle Book Co-op in Sioux falls.

"Cicadas" "All through summer, a buzzing in my ear.

Electric with heat, persistent, alive.

I dream of him, distant in space and time.

The complex song, "Eternal," infests my head.

Reminder of things unseen, but present.

All through summer, a buzzing in my ear.

To sing, to live, yearly rounds of dying.

To them, the passage of light is nothing.

I dream of him, distant in space and time.

For months, their song are loved, full and swelling, Persistent, alive, his voice electric.

All through summer, a buzzing in my ear.

Electric hum of hidden presence, what is the buzz of lust, if not extreme.

I dream of him, distant in space and time.

We dream, we plan, for birth, for growth, for love.

Crescendoed now, their husks outlast their song, All through summer, a buzzing in my ear.

This next one, also published by Full Circle Book Co-op.

It's called, "Equinox."

"Fallen leaves gust into piles against the fence like clothing discarded before a summer's plunge.

I read the letter again and wonder, is it so wrong to dive in with such abandon?

That is how the sun will change throughout this shifting season, fully, without a backwards glance."

This next poem was published by Scurfpea Publishing in Sioux Falls.

It's called, "Original sin" and it draws on the orchard that we have out here at Blackshire Farms.

It's an apple orchard, and that was the inspiration for writing this poem.

"Original Sin" "She grasps it in her hand, the solid circumference, a hefty pleasure.

She eats with her eyes first, mouth open, sizing it up, bringing skin to tongue.

So smooth, so dusky.

The first bite yields juice to her lips alone.

Delicious spill, it warms her teeth, her lips, her rippled tongue.

The ambrosial nectar of original sin tastes like sugared sun.

Pulling back to shift her grip, she brings the object of desire back again.

Reduced to basis core there inside her sticky palm, the promise of a new tomorrow."

When we first moved out here, we were selling zucchini to restaurants and markets in Sioux Falls.

And like everything else out here, these zucchini were an inspiration for my creative work.

Soon after we moved out here, Sean and I got pregnant.

And one day, we were picking zucchini to take to town to sell at the market, and this poem just came to me amid the rows of zucchini and all their fat little bodies.

This one is called, "It's the dirt."

"There's no mistaking the phallic nature of a crookneck squash, plump and yellow, angled just so.

With the wrong look, they're downright obscene.

We grow the Slick Pik for hungry bellies, pick 'em by the half bushel, and feel good that being in nature is our job.

Last year, when we sewed their pale seeds, we talked genetics, reproduction, and God, by the final harvest, we realized our own fecundity.

And now, everywhere I look, I see seeds.

People say, 'There's something in the water,' but it's the dirt, I tell you, black and reeking with life and mortality."

We're no longer selling our zucchini to markets in town, but I do still pick them.

And one of my favorite things to do now is pickle them into spicy zucchini pickles.

(gentle acoustic music) - [Eliza] And now, some notes from the field.

(gentle acoustic music) (farm insects chittering) (gentle acoustic music) (air whooshing) (gentle acoustic music) (Eliza humming) (gentle acoustic music) (farm insects buzzing) (birds chirping) Well, thank you so much for spending the day with us here at Blackshire Farm.

And Sean, thanks for having us.

It was a pleasure to be here with you.

We're gonna sing one last song, and this is a lullaby that Sean wrote.

And, we're both parents so I think this one's kind of a special one for all the little people out there.

(acoustic folk music) ♪ Close your eyes ♪ ♪ Abandon your worries ♪ ♪ In my arms, you'll be safe and warm ♪ ♪ And if you're tired ♪ ♪ You can lay on my shoulder ♪ ♪ You shelter and still, oh storm ♪ ♪ Go to sleep ♪ ♪ And dream your little dreams ♪ ♪ While you're dreamin' ♪ ♪ I'll dream dreams of you ♪ ♪ I'll never leave ♪ ♪ I promise I'll remain to keep ♪ ♪ With the love to always be true ♪ ♪ And when you're cold ♪ ♪ I'll make you warm ♪ ♪ And when you are weak, ♪ ♪ I'll make you strong ♪ ♪ There ain't a thing ♪ ♪ In this great big ole world ♪ ♪ That I wouldn't do ♪ ♪ To care for you ♪ ♪ Sleep away ♪ ♪ And I'll sing you a song ♪ ♪ La-La-La-La ♪ ♪ La-La-La ♪ ♪ La-La ♪ ♪ And if you'll wake ♪ ♪ I can sing you a song ♪ ♪ To love you on ♪ ♪ Back to your dreams ♪ ♪ When you're cold ♪ ♪ I'll make you warm ♪ ♪ And when you are weak ♪ ♪ I'll make you strong ♪ ♪ There ain't a thing ♪ ♪ In this great big ole world ♪ ♪ That I wouldn't do ♪ ♪ To care for you ♪ (gentle acoustic music) ♪ Backroads and byways ♪ ♪ Campfires, we lie awake ♪ ♪ Sweet grass and summer sage ♪ ♪ Come on baby, come and take my hand ♪ ♪ Take my hand, take my hand ♪ ♪ We're Dakota-bound ♪ (gentle acoustic music)