Nicole Hart has a passion for creating projects out of junk.

That’s why the Rhineland native is nicknamed “The Junk Love Girl.”

“I just love taking old things that somebody would essentially be getting rid of and repurposing it,” Hart said.

She even takes junk and uses it at her greenhouse, which is located at the corner of Highways K and 19 in Big Spring.

“At the greenhouse, I had pretty much everything like the floor, the windows and green bin,” Hart said. “Everything had a purpose prior to the life it has now. Essentially, it was probably going to be done if I didn’t reuse it. That’s what I did. I reuse it to make something else.”

Years ago, Hart ran the Junk Love Boutique furniture and home decor store in Hermann before she closed it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She decided to build her greenhouse in Big Spring after becoming addicted to gardening.

“I was always very interested in interior design and I loved to decorate,” Hart said. “So I did the home decor business and built furniture and all of that. That was more successful than I ever could imagine, but I needed to slow down so I could start my family. Then, this developed. So now I’m still decorating and doing all of the things, but it’s just in a different way.”

Hart also runs the Homestead Market at the corner of Highways K and 19 every fourth Saturday of the month from April to September. The Homestead Market has all kinds of vendors who sell handmade products, meats from animals, fresh eggs, baked goods and sourdough.

“It’s really kind of becoming more about growing your own and making your own little homestead,” Hart said. “They’re just things that you can’t go to the grocery store and buy. You’re also supporting all of the local people who are already doing it, the people who are raising the livestock to have a half of a hog to sell or beef. There are people who are making sourdough for their own families and love to do it, so they have an abundance to share.”

Hart said the Homestead Market, which first began in July 2022, always gets a big turnout from the Montgomery County community.

“The local support is amazing,” she said. “I think the community just loves it because you can come out and see everybody from town that you haven’t got to see in forever. It’s more like a congregation place for everyone to join in. Being right along Highway 19 is huge too because we get so much traffic going to Hermann. It’s great.”

The Homestead Market opened for the 2024 season on April 27. It will open again from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on May 25.

“We’re looking forward to a lot of good vendors,” Hart said. “We’ll have beef, lamb, pulled chicken and all kinds of plant starts for your garden. If you don’t have a garden, we’ll have a lot of that available. We have people here who come with annual flowers if you want to do your flower beds. We’ll have actual chickens for sale if you want to start your own chicken flock to get your own eggs. There will be all kinds of stuff. You come and hang out and play in the garden and check out everything that I have planted. It’s fun.”

Hart graduated from Hermann High School in 2011. Currently, she is helping her husband remodel his grandparents’ house, which is also in Big Spring.

Hart said she started working on her greenhouse in February 2023. She continues to make additions to it.

“We finished the actual greenhouse in May of last year,” Hart said. “I started my first raised bed and I built those on May 3. I didn’t know when I finished it. If you came here last October, you would never realize that this just began because it was so full and vibrant. We just added the green bin. That’s actually going to be an outdoor bathroom so we can have more events. For the market, people will obviously use it for the bathroom area. We’re going to keep building. I don’t know what direction it’s headed.”