About North Bend Gardens
Our Story
Hello there, so glad you’re here!
As we get to know each other, here is a little about us. Jimmy & I have always entertained the idea of moving out of the city, dating back to when we first got married and had fresh dreams for our future. We would always talk about how great it would be to own a chunk of land and live a peaceful small town life. You know the ones, like the quaint towns featured in many the Hallmark favorites. As the years passed, those dreams didn’t disappear, they were merely pushed aside by life.
We spent most of our early married years being nomadic as Jimmy's Army career took us to many places. We've lived in Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota, and even as far away as Japan. We don’t regret those years as many of those experiences made us who we are today.
Fast forward several more years and instead of being a small family of 3, we grew to a large family of 6. This seemingly would be the perfect juncture to revisit our early dreams but once again life had other plans for us. One of our middle children was born with heterotaxy syndrome. That term is probably a bit foreign; it definitely was to us when we first heard the diagnosis. Heterotaxy is so rare that spell check continues to highlight it as an error and it is as equally rare as finding a four leaf clover, 1 in 10,000.
Every case is as different as it is rare. The largest consequence of heterotaxy syndrome for us has been tackling complex congenital heart defects and complications. Nicholas was born without a spleen, midline liver, unique orientation of intestines, and essentially with only one functioning heart chamber (HLHS). Having been through multiple major open heart surgeries and needing a specific level of medical access and care left us feeling even further from those dreams of yesteryear.
Our family started 2024 in the hospital for yet another open heart surgery for Nicholas, his 5th. He had major surgical complications which kept us in the hospital for several months. We were on a constant roller coaster ride of constantly being on the brink of losing him. For me personally, this was THE turning point. As seasoned as we unfortunately are to a life with a medically complex child, this time was different.
We understand all too well the delicate fragility of life. We have been profoundly gifted with clarity and perspective. Cultivate beauty, make the memories, and live the life. That was the inspiration and the start of North Bend Gardens. I didn’t want to continue to wait for the right time because now is the right time. We just needed the courage to turn our long held dreams into our reality.
As much as I would have wanted our journey to be picture-perfect and non-complicated, that just wouldn’t be our authentic story. The romantic notions of being brought up on a farm and being a representative of handed down multi-generational knowledge isn’t us. That may be the case for our kids one day, but we are starting out as complete novice level farming land owners.
Neither Jimmy nor I grew up in agriculturally experienced families. We are both city dwellers, through and through. So what exactly can us city slickers do remains a question and ultimate challenge for a life dream to come true. Where and what we might lack in experience or knowledge, we make up for it with our ability to learn, adapt, and our deep understanding of the core principle of hard work.
The bounty from North Bend Gardens is the tangible by-products of our sustainable life. Practicing chemical free organic methods are of paramount importance in all of our endeavors. North Bend Gardens is a place where we cultivate an environment which will nourish our land, our bodies, and our soul.
Thanks for being a part of making our journey wildly beautiful!
With Love,
Sherri Viner