Wild Honey Juicery and Cafe

you

Our morning show get together today.

We put the focus on the AD German warehouse and we talk about some of the events going on here late summer.

We're getting into almost early fall for some of the things going on.

Joining us today, Jane Kintz and Tim Abur, who is going to be talking a little bit about Friday nights in downtown Richland center.

First of all, Jane, here we go again.

Late summer.

How are things been going?

They've been going really well, Phil at the warehouse.

especially on the third floor, you know, my favorite place where we do

art.

You

stay busy this summer, haven't you?

Yeah, keeps me off the street, Phil.

It's like I'm too busy, you know, with other things.

So what do you have going on there in terms of upcoming events for the art floor there?

Well, Wednesday nights from six till

eight.

We have Open Studio.

So anybody who has an art project that, if you're like me, I like to work with people.

So I feel like I'm back in Ken Beatty's art class, you know, just being able to shoot the breeze with people and get ideas, you know, working with people, talking about ideas and, and

what to do next with the project and all that kind of thing.

So, if you're that kind of person and you just like to come and even just chat it up, bring your art project and come at 6 o'clock.

At 6.15 the doors will shut though because we go up to the third floor.

And we have 4,000 square feet for you to sit on the couches and relax and work on a project or at our tables.

and we have a few pieces of equipment, but bring your supplies and you can work on your projects and we'll have a good time until eight o'clock.

We just ask that you make a donation of five dollars, you know, help with electricity.

I'm curious, do you feel inspired when you're in that building?

Yes, very much.

Yeah, it has a good vibe.

Do other people tell you that too?

Yes.

And Tim gives tours.

And Tim, what did they say to you when some people say to you on third floor?

Well, I would say to your question, Phil, the Frank Lloyd Wright design building has like a gravitational pull.

And I really believe that.

Maybe I didn't believe it at first because my wife and I, Barb, moved out here 10 years ago and wanted to get connected to the community.

And that's how we

got connected to the warehouse.

That was the intent was just to be a little connected, but it just doesn't work that way.

And so the gravitational pull

I'm retired, but I swear this is almost a full-time job, and I love it.

And the other board members work as hard or harder than I do, but it's very inspirational to be in that building.

And so I do some carpentry inside, and I do have to pinch myself because I'm working on a Frank Lloyd Wright building, which is crazy.

And when folks come through, I'm just some tours yesterday, these people from South Carolina,

They're traveling across the country to see Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.

And they stop in to see us, spent an hour and a half with us, had a great time.

And we get calls every week or email requests from people from out of town that want to do a private tour.

So one thing I would say, Phil, is we do have public tours on Sundays from 11 to 3.

And we'll do private tours whenever anybody wants to do them.

So all we ask is just a little bit advanced notice, but we're happy to walk people around the building.

And that inspires us because we pathetically need affirmation all the time.

And these people come through and they just, you know, they literally pat us on the back.

This is really good work and it's great to preserve this building.

It's a really important asset to this community.

live here and it's just too easy to take it for granted, but that's what's great about giving tours or having people come into the art studio that haven't been there before.

It's a recognition that the building is an asset to the community, a very valuable asset.

So we're thrilled to work on it.

It's an effort, but we're at the moment happy to do it.

What's the most common question you get on tour or is there a

theme?

Yeah.

A lot of folks that tour are real hardcore Frank Lloyd Wright fans.

So they know more about Frank Lloyd Wright than I do, which is fine.

But they want to know about the building in particular because this building is unique.

If Wright has 300 properties that he designed in the U.S.

and abroad, this is the only warehouse.

So the questions come like, what

what inspired him to do a warehouse.

And what was he experimenting with?

Because when you walk through this building, you see things that appear in future buildings that he designed.

So it's a lot about the building because people know a lot about Frank Lloyd Wright as a rule when they're visiting.

Did you know a

lot about Frank Lloyd Wright before he

moved towards the site?

I certainly knew of him, and I've always liked his architecture.

But to be honest, I mean, this is a question too that comes up is,

We as a board, and I think I speak for the whole board, we like the Frank Lloyd Wright design, but this is really a community cultural and economic development program, and it's a means to an end, and what a means, I mean it's thrilling to work on it, but really what we're after is getting a self-sustaining building financially that helps this community with culture and economic development.

I'm guessing there are some grants, possibilities available.

That's a good guess.

There are

grants.

They're harder to come by these days just because of the economy and just a reduction in some maybe government programs.

But over the years, we literally have captured hundreds of thousands of dollars of grants.

We're presently, as I know this has been discussed with you previously, so we're working on

The elevator is our next really fundraising project, and it's a sizable project.

The last piece of the financing is a sizable grant.

That's the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, $250,000 grant.

We're working with the city, we're making progress, and I'm optimistic.

We can get to that point.

That's going to help us get to Jane's third floor, our second floor, our rooftop, which really is the cootie graph for the building, right, as they get to the rooftop.

So grants, we're constantly applying, we're getting some, we're losing some, but it's, that's part of the process is just chasing money.

Tell me about Friday nights then.

It's been kind of the cool hangout

here.

Yeah, yeah.

So, um, so the segue would be we, we did.

we were given the building as the conservancy was given the building which is great but we still spent a million dollars to make sure it was sealed because various problems with leaky roof and windows and so forth so it took about five years to get through that process which

Jane and I and others know is kind of boring especially from the public's perspective So but we had to seal the outside before we could go to the inside so late 2024 we finished sealing the outside and then we moved to the inside which is where we started our lounge in our great room and part of our Mission really is to get people in that building because Understand it's alive.

It's active.

It's a cool place to be so we do have Friday nights

uh... every friday nights with very limited exceptions which sometimes will have a private event that will get in the way but friday nights we have live music we have food we have beer we have wine we have soda and it's just a great place to hang out to combination of if you want to listen to music you can get right up next to that speaker and get your ears really vibrating you want to have a quiet time talk there's other places in the building

in the lounge or outside in our midway garden where if you want to be away from the loud music and it's just sort of background music we can do that as well.

We've had even a wedding in there this summer.

We did have a wedding and it's not the first wedding we've had there but we do rent space if somebody wants to do a party a wedding reception or whatever we've had some events in there that are kind of signature events we're really proud of that.

So that's another thing that people listening in the community maybe could book a time if they're looking for a venue?

Absolutely and so easy way to contact is our website which you'll find us at 80 German warehouse.

So there's a link there to inquire if you have any interest at all and just finding out information and that happens pretty frequently.

So Friday night that's where the cool kids hang out then it sounds like.

Oh yeah, yeah.

We're waiting for you to show up.

I'm not cool enough yet.

Well, you know, you could work on that.

Yeah, I work on

that.

Yeah, if you show up, it makes you automatically cool.

Sure.

But you've had some events there.

You've had, did you have a class reunion there or did I just

dream that?

We had a class birthday party.

Okay.

Yeah.

And, you know, so of course that was class of 73 and, you know, the tie-dye was out that night.

And it was a lot of fun, of course.

We always have fun at our class events.

And I mean, there have been a lot of different birthday parties.

People show up with cakes.

People just come and have a really nice time.

The music is good.

We're working on having different varieties of music, maybe some jazz, maybe some blues coming up.

It's just a real...

Um, what do you want to say?

It's

a third space is what they call it, right?

So homework and our space.

So you hang out at the third space.

Yeah, it's just a, it's just a real nice place to hang out and nice atmosphere.

Sure.

And you and I grew up around here.

It

was always kind of this mysterious building back in the

day because it

wasn't open.

Right.

Right.

I went there with my dad when I was probably, I don't know, 10 or 12 years old to pick up.

uh, rodeo stuff for the high school rodeo, like the poles and the barrels and they were stored there.

And so we got to go in and pick those things up.

And that was the only time I was ever really in there.

Unlike the Meyer kids who used to sneak in.

I didn't know them then or I probably would have been with them.

But, um, yeah.

And, you know, it was just like, wow, what is this place?

You know,

But yeah, so we have it open quite often on you know Friday nights Sundays By appointment like Tim says for tours Wednesday nights for the open studios

Yeah, good to see if you had a nickel for every time you saw somebody outside wandering around taking pictures You know probably would have your you'd be all paid for it.

Well, yeah, I think so

Tim, in terms of if money were no object, what would you like to see?

What would the dream

thing be?

Well, there's really two stages filled.

Our elevator's next phase, and that gets us up and down to every floor.

Then the next one after that, if money was no object, would be to finish off the rooftop.

And we've had some artists, some architect renditions.

We know what that's going to look like.

I personally think that's

probably two years away.

So not that far, but step one is get the elevator to get up there and then that rooftop.

And when we do tours in a, and I, some people want to go up to the rooftop, just on the ground, it's a stunning, it's a stunning view.

And it doesn't matter what time of year it is right now, you know, everything's green.

It's a verdant you can see for miles and miles.

It's like nobody, no place like this for an hour and a half.

You have to go to Madison to get that kind of view.

And then you've got the driftless area to look at.

It's got to be the tallest building, Richardson center.

Oh, for sure.

Yeah.

So what a view it must be.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Interesting.

And some things come up this fall, Jane, you'd like to talk about.

Yeah.

Um, well, we have some workshops speaking of the third floor.

Um, we have some workshops coming up in August yet.

Um, let's see on the August 22nd and 23rd, a two day workshop with Rick Ross.

He's quite well known.

He's a cold wax artist.

Fabulous artist.

I've taken three of his workshops.

I'm going to take this one also.

Wonderful teacher.

You make really cool stuff.

And, you know, you can still sign up for that.

There is a supply list that you won't want to be sure to, you know, sign up soon so you can get that supply list ordered also.

And Sunday, August 30th, Joan Bailey, who's local, is doing an eco-printing on silk workshop.

That's just one day, 9.30 to 3, and you'll leave with a few silk scarves that you'll make with natural things like leaves and fall-ish things printing with dyes.

Should I tell you a little bit about September?

Go ahead.

Okay, we have Mud Dog Floral who is Amber Wanlis and she's doing floral arranging from one to three on September 13th.

September 27th is CJ Gilbert.

She's coming back for her second class of infinite possibilities and from nine to four.

And that's about manifesting good things for your life.

And on October 11th, Kevin Ewing, who is our own David Ewing.

Oh, there's so many David Ewing's in town.

But David Ewing, who works at the thrift shop, he's an artist.

It's his brother.

And Kevin Ewing is a wood carving artist extraordinaire.

He lives at Rochester, Minnesota.

He was here earlier this year and did a workshop and he asked to come back again.

So that's October 11th and it's a full day.

That will be the end of our workshops on the third floor because we have no heat.

So until spring.

And we already have some workshops lined up for next year.

People are calling us now asking if they can

take part, which is pretty, pretty

cool.

Good problem to have.

It is.

I'm

guessing people are asking you about if there's going to be a Halloween event.

Has that decision been made yet?

No, not yet.

Okay.

stay tuned for more right

yeah stay tuned

that'd be awesome and tim you're wearing a really nice shirt that our radio audience can't see but how can we get a hold of a shirt like

that well you'll come to the warehouse and we have a gift shop there and we have the t-shirts hoodies sweatshirts lots of stuff and so that's available for purchase you know in our

hours that were open or if people wanted to make an appointment to come in, we'd be happy to do that as well.

Who did the design?

Anybody know?

It's basically a picture of the German warehouse, the frieze,

the

signature part of the warehouse, which is the frieze.

Okay.

That was before my time.

It's an abstract design of the frieze that Brent at Pioneer printing did.

Yeah.

Very stylish.

So well, yeah, you'd be looking good in it.

So you should come and get one or two.

So let us know about the music schedule, Tim, as well, because I know you're going to try to vary that and through the fall.

Right.

So we're just lining up.

We're almost booked for every Friday for the rest of the calendar year offhand.

I don't know the.

bands but you can look on our website or you can look on our Facebook page and you'll find that whole schedule.

We're doing for the most part classic rock kind of stuff and then we have musicians that come from Verroqua, from Spring Green, they come locally.

It's a great group and a lot of them are repeat because they're fan favorites.

One that comes to mind is Jay Hoffman and he's got a nice following.

So check the schedule online and we have them listed.

Then on the 31st is Jay Hoffman and Christie's will provide the food.

And also that night we'll have a few of the actors from the murder mystery.

which happens the next day.

That's coming up.

So they come and cause a little commotion if you know what I mean.

And then Saturday, the following Saturday on August 22nd from 10 till 4, we are a clue stop for the murder mystery.

So you'll, you know, people will come by and we'll give them a little clue.

And, you know, we'll have our little bar will be open.

So if they'd like a beverage, you know, some pop or whatever, we're there for them.

And also then on Sunday, did I say on Saturday, it's 10 to 4.

On Sunday, the murder mystery clue stop is from 10 till 2.

And then I guess after that, they'll announce who did it.

Or who done it?

Probably Glenn Dunn, right?

I would think so.

But our tours are from 11 till 3 that same day.

Anyway, yeah.

That's

going on.

And the following Friday, I don't know who the music is.

That would be the 28th.

But we have Capella's food truck.

So

that takes care of August anyway.

So Jane puts away her paintings in the, puts away her paint in the wintertime.

Tim, but you still have music.

You don't close down for the winter.

That is correct because on the first floor, we do have heat, so we're happy to be open year round.

Wonderful.

Well, thanks for coming in today, you two.

Thanks, Phil.

I have one more thing.

Yes.

I have one more thing to mention.

We have our featured artists, and through September 6th, we still have Rick and Shelley.

brother and sister Rick Momarts and Shelley Rowe.

He has designed these fabulous pendants, just one of a kind from metal, wood, stone, anything he sees in his mind he makes.

And his sister, Shelley Rowe, makes the beaded necklace part.

And his mother

Georgia Momarts makes these beautiful huge colored pencil drawings that are on the walls at the warehouse on the first floor.

You can purchase them on Friday nights, Sundays, or if you've seen something that you wish you would have purchased at the time when you were there, but didn't, you can contact us and I can meet you there.

And starting during our opening reception on September 11th, we will have a new artist, a new featured artist, Tom McMahon.

He's local also, fabulous portrait artist, oil on canvas.

And he begins September 11th, like I said, his reception, opening reception is 4.30 till 8 o'clock that night, Friday night.

He gives an artist talk at 4.30.

And so I hope everybody can come to that.

Also on September 19th, from eight o'clock till two PM, we have our annual antiques and vintage sale at the warehouse.

So we are busy.

And we invite everybody to come to all our events.

And they're unique events that you really can't go to anywhere else in town.

And we'd love to have you come in and see what we're doing.

Oh, we're lucky to have you and have it being open and vibrant again.

Thanks for coming in here.

Thank you.

You bet.

Tim Abert and also Jane Kins.

Joining us on this report, WRCO's morning show.

you

Tony McCarville is our guest on WRC radio Wild Honey Juicery and Cafe Tony you were here a year ago and this was still in the works still in your mind basically and here we are a year later and you're about ready to go aren't you

I am yeah it's crazy how much you can accomplish in a year and how fast time goes and at the same time it feels like it's slow

So it feels like we'll never open.

And when people ask, I hope to say, you know, something different than soon or next year.

So, um, so we'll get to that later.

But there have been a lot of people curious as, you know, you were making changes to the building inside and outside.

And, uh, so that's all set to go.

Is it where you want it to be now?

Yeah, we're really, really close.

Um, and I think that's one of those things that you're always working toward.

It, it's never going to be.

complete.

I think it's always an evolutionary process.

So we are where we need to be to be able to open at this point.

We're waiting on a couple of few little things to just really feel solid to open the doors and feel like we can produce something consistently at the highest quality every single day that we want for our customers to experience.

I'm excited too because I'm, I'm a guy that loves history.

So you're, you're preserving an old building, which is not always easy to do.

And then you're bringing a new business into it at the same time.

Yeah.

And you know, honestly, like that has been such a rewarding aspect, um, to be able to take something that some people said that building needs to be tore down.

And we were able to look at it with a different eye and say, this is an iconic building to Richland center.

And there's got to be a way that we can keep this and make it work.

And we've had so many people coming to the door just because they used to sit in gables for...

Every day for years and they're just super duper excited to be able to come in there and re-experience their Memories, I think in a different way

so tell us a little bit about You know you did a soft opening or earlier in August and and things went all right I guess good enough to kind of make you feel like you're confident about opening here soon, right?

Yeah, yeah, it was honestly great and it was kind of an unexpected opening so it was

a little bit of not necessarily to be a secret or anything like that but we have been working with a chef who's helped curate our menu and our recipes and he had come to town and so he said let's open the doors and we scurried and our staff is absolutely amazing I'm so proud of our staff to be able to just

come in and do what they did and train so quickly and open the doors and we feel that it was very successful and we're super grateful to the community and the support and the people of Richland Center and the people who traveled from that we're traveling through.

It was crazy how many people were traveling through from Minneapolis and Chicago and even out of the country and surrounding communities as well.

Did you have a business that you visited like you decided like I want to do this in Richland Center or how did you come about this business plan?

Yeah, so that's a great question.

You know, this is all stemmed from years of wellness that I've practiced in different areas of my life and I've always been kind of passionate about wellness.

And so for probably 20 years, of course I'm only 21, but... I'm sorry,

I shouldn't have laughed

at you.

Yeah, I know that's awesome.

I

am too.

Yeah, I know, you're forever.

You know, we just hang on to that.

But so it's been a seed for a really long time, not necessarily to create a Juicery & Cafe.

I would have never bet money, and I can tell you my family would have never bet money that I would have been opening some sort of restaurant.

Yoga and wellness was initially where this started and we'll eventually get to that that will be our phase two So things just kind of shifted a little bit We wanted to have juicing the smoothies and healthy food options and some health coaching and all of that before but when Pearl Field when Lindsay and Mike decided to transition to different places in their life And we're forever grateful for them too for giving us the opportunity and having created what they did

But that kind of opened the door for us to see things in a different way.

And so then we decided this makes more sense to start here because my farming roots suddenly just like grew.

exponentially to come back to life and then being able to connect with local farmers and being able to create a space where we know at the table we all connect.

So it truly is more about nourishing more than just our bodies.

It's truly a place to nourish our mind, body, and soul and connecting community.

And never to create silos like only to add to what our community has because the more people we get to our downtown, the more it offers for all of us to have people exploring and keeps people staying.

So it's truly one thing that we hope just compliments what we already have because I highly respect all of our businesses in town too.

I think we're great.

You were here a year ago, Tony, and you were a grace ambassador.

I know you consider yourself a survivor.

And you've put that to good use, but you want to maybe extend that idea of better health and better living and better wellness into your business,

right?

Absolutely.

Yep.

And there will be benefits charts to help people when they come in.

Nobody has to ever feel overwhelmed.

It doesn't even have to feel like wellness.

And so being able to use that with a deeper understanding, I guess, I think can only

possibly help people in a deeper way.

I always think that there's a plan and a reason.

So I think I said a year ago, maybe cancer is a gift in its own way.

Sometimes not that I would ever want that gift for anybody, but you know, sometimes there are things behind, you know, if you utilize that, it's there's purpose and meaning behind it that can be a gift to others.

So hopefully this can be an extension of that to the community.

Can you talk about your menu and what you plan to feature, Tony?

Yeah.

So on our menu, we have of course cold pressed juices and cold pressed juices.

We use, um, well, we think the best machine in the world by good nature.

Um, but what it does is it literally, um, you grind the fruits and vegetables and then it presses them without any kind of heat pasteurization or anything.

So it's just completely fresh fruits and vegetables that are squeezed into that.

bottle that is recyclable because that's also important to a sustainability.

So you're literally getting fresh ingredients straight into the bottle and anybody looking for compost or scrap material that's another thing like we want to be able to get our scraps to farmers and gardeners and anybody that wants compost material.

So every single day, we will have something for people to come and pick up if they want.

So reach out to Wild Honey, and we would be happy to do that.

So menu, getting back to that.

So cold pressed juices, and we have smoothies, and we have breakfast sandwiches, and sandwich items, and pancake options.

And of course, we're not necessarily vegan, but we have vegan options.

We have gluten-free options.

and we have bacon sausage all using as local as we possibly can and then we have coffee because coffee complements everything that we have and it also creates community and again it's kind of our way of being able to incorporate wellness in a different way but to complement everything that our community has so that there's just lots of room for people to have opportunities.

Well, you

have some outdoor

seating as well.

We have outdoor seating and plenty of space for people to get around the seating.

Cause I know that's always a concern when you have outdoor seating, but the outdoor seating, we have umbrellas.

I know there's hot days and things like that.

So there'll be a place that you can feel comfortable to sit outside and we'll continue to expand some of that outdoor area for people too on a property adjacent behind us with some green space.

You brought along a particular one for me to try here.

Tony, can you tell me what is in this?

No, I have no idea.

That one is called jam session.

And jam session is a combination of bananas and blueberries and peanut butter, cacao nibs.

We never really use ice in any of our smoothies.

So it's actually all fresh fruit that we blend together.

And that one has almond milk.

as its base for the liquid.

But we make cashew milk in-house of different varieties, so we can use cashew milk, oat milk.

And we're the first in Wisconsin to have kochi milk, which is a fermented Japanese rice and oat combination.

And it's super great in our coffees and things like that.

We'll actually retail that.

So we have lots of fun things coming up.

But yeah, that smoothie is called Jam Session.

It's so fun naming these two.

It's really, really good.

I love

peanut

butter too, by the

way.

So

absolutely.

No sugars

added.

No sugar added.

There are cacao nibs, but it's healthy cacao, you know, so there's little cacao nibs, but yeah, no sweeteners added, no sugar.

Yeah.

Very good.

Sure.

Sorry.

Are you going to have like some regular juices?

Are you just going to kind of maybe alternate

the menu from time to time?

Yeah.

So we'll have right now, we have a lot of regular juices.

We have eight regular juices, um, but we will definitely like be as

seasonal as possible.

For example, our summer juice, we were able to just put some of those out on our soft opening because I'm like summer is flying by and we've got to get them out there, but it's called chasing fireflies and it's watermelon and mint lime and cayenne.

Um, so it's just super refreshing with just a little teeny, teeny bit of kick to it that just kind of lights you up inside a little tiny bit.

I love that.

Were you, were you out watching fireflies when you created

that name?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cause I love those.

Yeah.

So I do too.

But yeah.

So it's in, you know, that's a total summer, Wisconsin, July kind of thing.

So, um,

We may still make some more of those, but I have to say some of my favorites are with squash and pumpkin and apples, and they are phenomenal juices.

And I do love beets, too.

And I am the crazy one that loves the deep greens.

We have one called Rollin' in the Deep.

It's not going to be everybody's favorite, in fact.

I could name people that tell me that they're not going to buy that one.

Your husband

Brian?

Exactly, that's the one.

Didn't want to mention he needs.

Brian's like, nope, I'm not for that role in The Deep.

But he loves free spirit.

That's his favorite.

He also likes radiant rebel.

And we have nature lover.

And yes, we have one called Forever Young, Good for Skin.

And just kind of compliments that glowing beauty, super hydrating.

Interesting.

I've learned over the years to not knock it until I try it.

I'm not a fan of beets,

but

maybe I'd be a fan of

beet juice.

You never know.

Yeah.

And we have a variety of different beet juices that we can do.

The one that we're doing right now is called farmer's daughter.

And it's a little bit of throwing in everything from the garden.

So it could be kind of like a V8 kind of type drink or again, not going to be ever, it's more savory.

So it won't be everybody's favorite lemonade, so to speak, but but I love it So and people could use it for like kind of a Bloody Mary mix or something like that too.

So there's lots of options with it But it's super great as far as like nutrient dense

and tell me about the granola you brought some along today as well

Yeah, so we make everything we make is housemaid

and with intention.

Everything that we've done has been highly with intention, but the granola we make, how it's made, and we add it to some of our smoothies and different things that we have.

We also will be selling that separately, so you can buy it like a half pound or a pound.

In fact, when we did do it for the soft opening, it sold out within that time frame.

We sold out of everything.

So we're ready to make new batches and we'll also be making in-house focaccia bread for some of our sandwiches.

And there's just a lot going on in the background.

That's super exciting that we can't wait to open the doors and share it with everybody.

So as well as we have an event coming up September 26th.

Tell me

about

that because it kind of ties in with your name of your business, isn't

it?

Yeah.

So Anna Voss is a singer and songwriter and she wrote a song called Wild Honey.

And I don't know, it's probably been a few years since I heard that song.

In fact, we named our camper Wild Honey, which is probably kind of geeky, but we'll admit we're those kind.

We're kind of geeky sometimes.

But it started there.

And then she was playing at the Sylvia in Madison, and we spoke.

But her song really struck me.

kind of like a little bit of a folk indie song maybe I think she had calls it something else her genre but anyway it's really kind of about like I don't even know quite how to explain it I was trying to make myself some notes but it's kind of about that untamed part of yourself in your life

that calls you to kind of really be your authentic self maybe, just to be kind of wild and free and courageous.

Just kind of holding on to that wonder in your life, you know, just keeping that curiosity alive and kind of sharing the journey.

And I felt like that's exactly, you know, fitting for who we are.

on top of the fact that honey in and of itself is sweet and it's also highly beneficial and it tied into the whole wellness thing so there's lots behind it you know and we will of course sell honey too but but that's where it came about but Anna is actually coming to sing in Richland Center September 26th so we'll be hosting a private dinner event it'll be put out

on social media for people to get tickets but will only have about 75 tickets sold and I have a feeling those tickets will go fast.

It'll be like a Harvest Moon event because it's the night of the Harvest Moon and so it'll be kind of an evening dinner event and that's something that with Wild Honey we plan to do some nice evening events for people and truly lots in store more than I probably have time to tell you all about but

That is

exciting.

Yeah.

And the pretty good named artists coming to our little town there.

And

so

outside kind of in the patio areas where she's

going to play.

Yeah.

So the building behind in the, there's kind of a shop in the back on the corner of mill and is that Jefferson?

We have some green space there that doesn't look like anything in the moment, but we will bring that to life with some adding some trees with burlap and some party lights and some tables and kind of create like

just a really nice little atmosphere and if weather is bad we have opportunities to remedy that too so it'll be a rain or shine event.

So kind of like a white party where people would wear white will instead wear kind of fall themes where it might be like the light creams, light beige and like light orange color but just kind of sticking within a theme.

And then we'll have in probably like an old pickup truck and some hay bells and some flower people there and some animals and I mean it'll be

along with the music, it'll be a nice event.

We'll hope for a nice night for you,

a nice

fall evening.

And she sings Harvest Moon, too.

So it's another one of her songs that she sings.

Really?

The Neil Young song?

Yep.

So she does her own cover version of that.

You'll have to follow her on Spotify.

She's a nice collect.

She just finished a song called Human Being, Not a Human Doing.

So another little nice song that some people would appreciate.

What will your hours be, Tony?

What's the plan?

We're looking right now at 6 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

every day.

We just really want that consistency that people will just know that we're, you don't have to worry, we're going to be there every day for you.

And eventually we'll extend into some evenings, but to start we just want to keep ourselves alive too and have that consistency that 6 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

and

get our game down and then be able to expand based on that.

Yeah, that's what people will know to stop by, even on Sundays and Mondays and sometimes off days for restaurants.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, we've had a lot of people worried that, you know, evenings and after school, a lot of the high schoolers have begged, you know, please be open.

We need something before we get on the bus.

So for their games or

whatever.

Oh, sure.

Yeah, maybe they love the Aussie bowls and the smoothie bowls and that type of thing So and we will have a grab and go cooler so people can come in and if they're in a hurry You know can quickly grab the overnight oats are called born to be wild and they really are amazing so They also sold out immediately and they're not the typical overnight oats that you'd make at home They're kind of jazzed up a little bit, but still super healthy with some chia seeds in there for some protein

Great.

Well, it's an exciting time.

Uh, you know, as you get ready for the, uh, the opening while honey, juicery and cafe and, uh, kind of keep us posted on, you know, what the plan is when you might be opening and things.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, you'll be able to follow us at right now.

We just have an Instagram page at wild honey, juicery.

Um, we will work on getting up a Facebook page and get better at keeping up with socials and that type of thing.

because I know that's been an area I wish I could have done a better job but my bandwidth has been pretty thin so yeah but no it's great.

Tell me about your your staff everybody in place?

Yeah so we have um gosh you know it's crazy we have a staff of about 16 17 people which many of them are going to be going back to school soon but we do have some solid people that are a little bit more permanent and I have more people that

If you're out there, I apologize, I will get back to you.

But we've had lots of people applying.

So it's really nice.

Just haven't had an opportunity to reach out to everybody.

But the staff is phenomenal.

I mean, they literally have helped clean things up and get things organized.

And I honestly couldn't have asked for a better staff.

So each one of them are super special.

Wonderful.

We look forward to meeting them as well.

We have

a

full-time person as a chef.

Yeah,

so that's just brand new to us as within like hot off the press like within the last 24 hours.

So we have a chef that he is highly skilled and he will take things to a whole new level.

It's going to make things so much easier to be able to really produce

a variety in the menu.

So instead of kind of having that set menu, we'll have some set items, but we're really going to be able to capitalize on that local and seasonal a lot more when we have somebody with skills to be able to really, you know, make our produce local shine.

So yeah, we say we're organic where it matters because not everybody's certified organic because there's a lot of paperwork and different things.

So we're, we are

organic, essentially, but we just don't go by that label.

But we're organic where it matters.

We're basically housemaid with intentions.

We say we're wellness without extremes.

You know, really seasonal and local whenever possible, and those are some of the things that we kind of stand by.

And some of our values are creativity and adventure and of course sustainability, community.

wellness, like those are the big things.

And in the end, at the end of the day, you know, we hope that our food is great, but more importantly, we hope that it's a space that people can come into and feel connected and seen and just valued and can feel at home.

And that's really what we want.

We just really want, we want people to feel good when they come in the space, because even the space has been created with intention and the subcontractors knocked it out of the park.

I couldn't

Imagine having done this job without them.

So,

well, you and your family, not natives have here either.

I salute you.

Yes.

You've made this your home and, you know, even maybe more permanently now with this business

in downtown original center.

Yeah.

And I, I'm sure that the business will outlive me.

So,

I mean, we kind of did it with that in mind, um, because, um, we know that at this point we're kind of at a, I mean, we didn't have to do this.

by any means, but it was something that the community has been great to us.

So it was an opportunity to be able to give back to the community that's given us so much.

So, you know, we hope that it's embraced and if not, you know, we failed trying.

But hopefully that won't be the case.

Hopefully, you know, we just, we're just super grateful for this community and having been able to be a part of it for over a decade.

It's just an opportunity, like I said, to be able to give something back that will outlive us.

Wonderful.

Well, we'll have you back or we'll go down there too.

You know, so I can be close to the smoothies

and everything.

Exactly.

And we do have like a little cable area that you can plug into and you can, you know, sit in the front window and you can even come down and do

broadcast,

wave with the

people going by.

Yep.

Exactly.

Just take you

up on

that.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

And so, I mean, we will have opportunities for speakers to come in karaoke and different things.

And there is a basement that we'll be able to use for overflow and it could be used for private

at meetings or events and things like that too.

Really?

Because

I had heard that that was kind of a scary place.

It used to be.

Yeah.

But not now.

We have changed it.

The ceilings are still low.

We didn't like dig out any space.

So like if you're six foot three or something like that, you'll just have to wheel yourself in instead of, you know, standing up.

They'll have to duck for some duct work, but.

It's a nice space that will really be comfortable for people to do lunch and learns or even little showers or book clubs, girls' nights, guys' nights, whatever.

It's an opportunity, again, to kind of have a private little space.

The wheels are turning, aren't

they?

You must lay

awake at night.

Oh gosh, I've aged about 50 years in the last two years, so yeah.

Time to take care of myself a little bit too.

Sure, we'll have a smoothie.

Exactly.

Thank you for coming in today.

We

appreciate you.

Thank you, Phil.

It was great.

Thanks for having me.

Tony McCarville.

Thanks to the community as well.

You bet.

Wild honey, juicery and cafe.

you

Tony McCarville is our guest on WRCO radio, wild honey, juicery and cafe.

Tony, you were here a year ago and this was still in the works, still in your mind basically.

And here we are a year later and you're about ready to go.

Aren't you?

I am.

Yeah.

It's crazy how much you can accomplish in a year and how fast time goes.

And at the same time, it feels like it's slow.

So it feels like we'll never open.

And when people ask, I hope to say, you know, something different than soon or next year.

So, um, so we'll get to that later.

But there have been a lot of people curious as you know, you were making changes to the building inside and outside.

And, uh, so that's all set to go.

Is it where you want it to be now?

Yeah, we're really, really close.

Um, and I think that's one of those things that you're always working toward.

It, it's never going to be.

complete.

I think it's always an evolutionary process.

So we are where we need to be to be able to open at this point.

We're waiting on a couple of few little things to just really feel solid to open the doors and feel like we can produce something consistently at the highest quality every single day that we want for our customers to experience.

I'm excited too because I'm, I'm a guy that loves history.

So you're, you're preserving an old building, which is not always easy to do.

And then you're bringing a new business into at the same time.

Yeah.

And you know, honestly, like that has been such a rewarding aspect, um, to be able to take something that some people said that building needs to be tore down.

And we were able to look at it with a different eye and say, this is an iconic building to Richland center.

And there's got to be a way that we can keep this and make it work.

And we've had so many people coming to the door just because they used to sit in gables every day for years.

And they're just super duper excited to be able to come in there and re-experience their memories, I think, in a different way.

So tell us a little bit about, uh, you know, you, you did a soft opening or earlier in August and, uh, and things went all right, I guess.

Good enough to kind of make you feel like you're confident about opening here soon.

Right?

Yeah.

Yep.

It was honestly great and it was.

kind of an unexpected opening so it was a little bit of not necessarily to be a secret or anything like that but we have been working with a chef who's helped curate our menu and our recipes and he had come to town and so he said let's open the doors and we scurried and our staff is absolutely amazing I'm so proud of our staff to be able to just

come in and do what they did and train so quickly and open the doors and we feel that it was very successful.

And we're super grateful to the community and the support and the people of Richland Center and the people who traveled from that we're traveling through.

It was crazy how many people were traveling through from Minneapolis and Chicago and even out of the country and surrounding communities as well.

Did you have a business that you visited like you decided like I want to do this in Richland Center or how did you come about this business plan?

Yeah, so that's a great question.

You know, this is all stemmed from years of wellness that I've practiced in different areas of my life and I've always been kind of passionate about wellness.

And so for probably 20 years, of course, I'm only 21, but I'm

sorry, I shouldn't laugh.

Yeah, no, that's awesome.

I

am too.

Yeah, I know you're forever.

You know, we just hang on to that.

But, um, but so it's been a seed for a really long time, um, not necessarily to create a juice ring cafe.

I would have never bet money and I can tell you my family would have never bet money that I would have been opening some sort of restaurant.

Um, but.

Yoga and wellness was initially where this started and we'll eventually get to that that will be our phase two So things just kind of shifted a little bit We wanted to have juicings smoothies and healthy food options and some health coaching and all of that before but when Pearl Field when Lindsay and Mike decided to transition to different places in their life And we're forever grateful for them too for giving us the opportunity and having created what they did

But that kind of opened the door for us to see things in a different way.

And so then we decided this makes more sense to start here because my farming roots suddenly just like grew.

exponentially to come back to life and then being able to connect with local farmers and being able to create a space where we know at the table we all connect.

So it truly is more about nourishing more than just our bodies.

It's truly a place to nourish our mind, body, and soul and connecting community.

And never to create silos like only to add to what our community has because the more people we get to our downtown, the more it offers for all of us to have people exploring and keeps people staying.

So it's truly one thing that we hope just compliments what we already have because I highly respect all of our businesses in town too.

I think we're great.

You were here a year ago, Tony, and you were a grace ambassador.

I know you consider yourself a survivor.

And you put that to good use, but you want to maybe extend that idea of better health and better living and better wellness into your business,

right?

Absolutely.

Yep.

And there will be benefits charts to help people when they come in.

Nobody has to ever feel overwhelmed.

It doesn't even have to feel like wellness.

And so being able to use that with a deeper understanding, I guess, I think can only

possibly help people in a deeper way.

I always think that there's a plan and a reason.

So I think I said a year ago, maybe cancer is a gift in its own way.

Sometimes not that I would ever want that gift for anybody, but you know, sometimes there are things behind, you know, if you utilize that, it's there's purpose and meaning behind it that can be a gift to others.

So hopefully this can be an extension of that to the community.

Can you talk about your menu and what you plan to feature, Tony?

Yeah.

So on our menu, we have of course cold pressed juices and cold pressed juices.

We use what we think the best machine in the world by good nature.

Um, but what it does is it literally, um, you grind the fruits and vegetables and then it presses them without any kind of heat pasteurization or anything.

So it's just completely fresh fruits and vegetables that are squeezed into that.

bottle that is recyclable because that's also important to a sustainability.

So you're literally getting fresh ingredients straight into the bottle and anybody looking for compost or scrap material that's another thing like we want to be able to get our scraps to farmers and gardeners and anybody that wants compost material.

So every single day, we will have something for people to come and pick up if they want.

So reach out to Wild Honey, and we would be happy to do that.

So menu, getting back to that.

So cold pressed juices, and we have smoothies, and we have breakfast sandwiches, and sandwich items, and pancake options.

And of course, we're not necessarily vegan, but we have vegan options.

We have gluten-free options.

and we have bacon sausage all using as local as we possibly can and then we have coffee because coffee complements everything that we have and it also creates community and again it's kind of our way of being able to incorporate wellness in a different way but to complement everything that our community has so that there's just lots of room for people to have opportunities.

Well, you

have some outdoor

seating as well.

We have outdoor seating and plenty of space for people to get around the seating.

Cause I know that's always a concern when you have outdoor seating, but the outdoor seating, we have umbrellas.

I know there's hot days and things like that.

So there'll be a place that you can feel comfortable to sit outside and we'll continue to expand some of that outdoor area.

for people, too, on a property adjacent behind us with some green space.

You brought along a particular one for me to try here.

Tony, can you tell me what is in this?

No, I have no idea.

That one is called Jam Session, and Jam Session is a combination of bananas and blueberries and peanut butter, cacao nibs.

We never really use ice in any of our smoothies, so it's actually all fresh fruit that we blend together.

And that one has almond milk as its base for the liquid.

But we make cashew milk in-house of different varieties, so we can use cashew milk, oat milk.

And we're the first in Wisconsin to have kochi milk, which is a fermented Japanese rice and oat combination.

And it's super great in our coffees and things like that.

We'll actually retail that.

So we have lots of fun things coming up, but yeah that smoothies called jam session.

It's so fun naming these two

It's really, really good.

I love

peanut

butter too, by the

way.

So

absolutely.

No sugars

added.

No sugar added.

There are cacao nibs, but it's healthy cacao, you know, so there's little cacao nibs, but yeah, no sweeteners added, no sugar.

Yeah.

Very

good.

Sure.

Sorry.

Are you going to have like some regular juices?

Are you just going to kind of maybe alternate

the menu from time to time?

Yeah.

So we'll have right now, we have a lot of regular juices.

We have eight regular juices, um, but we will definitely like be as

seasonal as possible.

For example our summer juice we were able to just put some of those out on our soft opening because I'm like summer is flying by and we've got to get them out there but it's called chasing fireflies and it's watermelon and mint lime and cayenne.

Um, so it's just super refreshing with just a little teeny teeny bit of kick to it that just kind of lights you up inside a little tiny bit.

I love that.

Were you, were you out watching fireflies when you created

that name?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cause I love those.

Yeah.

So

I do too.

But yeah.

So it's in, you know, that's a total summer Wisconsin July kind of thing.

So, um,

We may still make some more of those, but I have to say some of my favorites are with squash and pumpkin and apples, and they are phenomenal juices.

And I do love beets, too.

And I am the crazy one that loves the deep greens.

We have one called Rollin' in the Deep.

It's not going to be everybody's favorite, in fact.

I could name people that tell me that they're not going to buy that one.

Your husband

Brian?

Exactly, that's the one.

Didn't want to mention he needs.

Brian's like, nope, I'm not for that rolling in the deep.

But he loves free spirit.

That's his favorite.

He also likes radiant rebel.

And we have nature lover.

We have one called Forever Young, good for skin and just kind of compliments that glowing beauty, super hydrating.

Interesting.

I've learned over the years to not knock it until I try it.

I'm not a fan of beets,

but

maybe I'd be a fan of

beet juice.

You never know.

Yeah.

And we have a variety of different beet juices that we can do.

The one that we're doing right now is called farmer's daughter.

And it's a little bit of throwing in everything from the garden.

So it could be kind of like a V8 kind of type drink or

Again, not going to be ever.

It's more savory.

Um, so it won't be everybody's favorite lemonade, so to speak, but, um, but I love it.

So, and people could use it for like kind of a Bloody Mary mix or something like that too.

So there's lots of options with it, but it's super great as far as like nutrient dense

and tell me about the granola.

You brought some along today as well.

Yeah.

So we make everything we make is house made.

and with intention.

Everything that we've done has been highly with intention, but the granola we make, how it's made, and we add it to some of our smoothies and different things that we have.

We also will be selling that separately, so you can buy it like a half pound or a pound.

In fact, when we did do it for the soft opening, it sold out within that time frame.

We sold out of everything.

So we're ready to make new batches and we'll also be making in-house focaccia bread for some of our sandwiches.

And there's just a lot going on in the background.

That's super exciting that we can't wait to open the doors and share it with everybody.

So as well as we have an event coming up September 26th.

Tell me about that because it kind of ties in with your name of your business, isn't

it?

Yeah.

So Anna Voss is a singer and songwriter and she wrote a song called Wild Honey.

And I don't know, it's probably been a few years since I heard that song.

In fact, we named our camper Wild Honey, which is probably kind of geeky, but we'll admit we're those kind.

We're kind of geeky sometimes.

But it started there.

And then she was playing at the Sylvia in Madison, and we spoke.

But her song really struck me.

kind of like a little bit of a folk indie song maybe I think she had calls it something else her genre but anyway it's really kind of about like I don't even know quite how to explain it I was trying to make myself some notes but it's kind of about that untamed part of yourself in your life

that calls you to kind of really be your authentic self maybe, just to be kind of wild and free and courageous.

Just kind of holding on to that wonder in your life, you know, just keeping that curiosity alive and kind of sharing the journey.

And I felt like that's exactly, you know, fitting for who we are.

On top of the fact that honey in and of itself is sweet and it's also highly beneficial and it tied into the whole wellness thing.

So there's lots behind it, you know, and we will of course sell honey too, but that's where it came about.

But Anna is actually coming to sing in Richland Center, September 26th.

So we'll be hosting a private dinner event.

It'll be put out