04/28/2026
Greetings everyone. Been a long time. Mom passed away last November. Weathered many personal storms in the last two years, but it would seem they have for the most part settled down and I can resume where I left off, plus a little more....I inherited a house in Wausau. For so long, I struggled with very little infrastructure out at the farm, no working well for years, and therefore no way to wash vegetables on site. I now have all the infrastructure I need, including root cellar, basement seed starting in the dead of winter, and places to dry herbs, in addition to water. Water truly is life, and the amount of hardship I've overcome, and gallons of water I've had to carry the last ten years was pretty incredible.
I got my start of you will many years ago in town as an urban farmer. I had my own food plot, I donated tomato trays to the then fledgling Bridge Community Gardens through my position as Chair of the now disbanded Commission for a Greener Tomorrow, and I have always practiced biointensive techniques that are specifically designed to maximize small spaces sustainably. That being said, Ethereal Gardens not only is continuing operations in Harrison; our herb business, tomatoes and greens will still mostly come from the fields there, but the rest will be grown in town, and we are hopefully acquiring a nearby city lot, to start an urban farm. I'll keep you posted about that development. I am no longer doing a CSA as to be frank it never fit well with my life. Growing 30 some odd varieties of vegetables and fruit, hauling washing and packing and then delivering always was more than I could handle and do well. So this year, I'm focusing on my bare root plants, this year we have black & red currants, strawberries and blueberries, those listings will be open shortly (gotta update the website next🤪). Soon after we will be opening our greens listings for the year. As usual, I specialize in gourmet quality salad greens and culinary herbs. Already we have a nice crop of romaine, mayan Jaguar Romaine, Boston/butter head, arugula, mizuna, spinach and chard, as well as some lovely purple basil, sweet basil, cilantro and parsley. Those should be ready by June.
This year I am running tomatoes again. I have the multicolored cherries, san marzano paste, heirloom mix and then German striped, red, yellow and black brandywines. Those will be available by the case somewhere after August 1st. Come fall I am reopening the herbal tea listings. Restarted all the varieties I used to offer, plus the stuff I wildcraft.
I will be having a small produce stand either at the house if the city doesn't throw a fit, or at the farm. We looked into restarting the Wausau Alternative Farmers Market. We could. But currently with me, the main organizer, recoverijg from the loss of my mother and all the rest of the stuff I've been through, should walk before I run as the saying goes. My plan is to get Ethereal Gardens up and running first, then we'll will figure out what to do about markets. Ideally I wish we could work together with the Wausau Farmers Market,maybe one day we will. But for now, starting out small again.
Finally, I have not forgotten about the thermal battery & greenhouse! It too had to be abandoned as my mother got sicker. Unfortunately one of the glass panels broke due to nearby soil instability. I have replacement panels and will be getting to that some point this season. The battery is built. I was pretty much at the point of turning it on when everything happened. I must repair a few things and quick finish it, but expect that to finally be finished and in testing by the end of season.
My life got completely torn apart in the last two years, but there was a creative force in that breakdown, out of the ashes something new and better shall rise. Happy growing everyone, here's to an awesome season 🌱👍😁🌞. (Rose pics cause I'm starting to get into that too😉)
