Aspen Ridge Home and Garden: a place to lift the spirit
Every now and then, in my travels around the Driftless I get lucky and find two stories at the same time. Actually, a spin-off of our recent article on the Butternut Coffee Truck, the Aspen Ridge Home and Garden had a heart-warming feel to it that in my opinion, warranted a short article.
Located on the Southwestern edge of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, Troy and Marsha Wyatt opened up a few years ago, what seems to be more than your average home and garden center. Among the usual landscaping materials for both home and commercial use, Aspen Ridge features unconventional plant materials, responsibly restored antique furniture, garden art, home décor, local artisan products, and their own line of food products.
Entrepreneurs in their own right, the Wyatts are all about the little guy. “We love to support people who go out on a whim and start their own dream. I mean that's truly what we did,” Marsha shared. “We have an ice cream truck that comes regularly to our property. We sell apple cider donuts that are local from a friend of mine, actually from college, so it seemed like the perfect pair. When we heard that there was a coffee truck, we contacted Sam and asked her if she'd be interested and she made her first appearance at our fall festival weekend October 4th, and now is making regular appearances. We had lines, obviously in the front parking lot, and from that point, we just decided yes, this would be a really great fit. Anybody who knows Sam knows how sweet she is too,” Marsha said with a smile.
Acknowledging the fiscal benefit of having an added service of pop-ups at their place, Troy and Marsha feel it brings people in. “I think that there's a lot to be said about what she's (Sam) doing, where people are people and are looking for that comfort. And, you know, it's that good cup of coffee,” Marsha said.
The Wyatts found that with the ice cream truck and when their friend offers up apple cider doughnuts, even with a pandemic at hand, certain things bring happiness and comfort people are seeking. “That's what I like about our business. I don't want to say we've been unaffected by COVID, but we're finding a lot of people are coming in and they're buying things for their homes, and we’ve seen a lot of first-time home owners as well. People, they're buying especially the spring things for their yards, and we also see all the first-time gardeners. I mean, that gets us super excited.”
During a pandemic what does Aspen Ridge do? Well, the Wyatts came up with a adopt a plant weekend. “On that Saturday alone, we had like a hundred and eight houseplants go out. So, you know, there were a lot of people that came in, and we were the first place they went to after the shutdowns had started. That's such a good reminder of what's deemed essential to people. It was, I won't say retail therapy, but yeah, a little bit of retail therapy. I've always said sometimes adding just one or two things to your home in a room can totally change the outlook. Same thing works with your yards and your gardens and stuff,” Marsha said.
While it may seem that Marsha takes care of quite a bit, Troy has just a vital role. “I do a little bit of everything. I do deliveries of mulch, rock, and such. I'm kind of the handyman around here. I'm not really here all the time.”
Not there all the time for good reason though. See, Troy restores antique furniture along with a helping hand from Marsha and his parents. They acquire the pieces at auctions, flea markets and estate sales. As Troy put it, “We find these cool old pieces and give them life again. Yeah, that's my job. So, if I'm not working here, I'm at home working on that or helping take care of our six, eight, and 12-year-old boys.” The restored pieces eventually make their way to the family’s business for sale.
I would be remiss not to mention that Aspen Ridge has some very special pet goats that customers seem to really enjoy. As to their goats Marsha said, “All summer we had families coming and visiting the goats. I always say that some time with an animal you can just kind of put everything in perspective. Normally where we'd get the summer school kids all coming up and stuff, we just invited families. We just had a family here earlier and they come up every Friday night and have pizza with the goats. They live here in town.”
Acknowledging that it's been a crazy year, Marsha is enthused especially at all of the first-time gardeners, which she explained makes her so happy. Always happy to give them guidance, Marsha explains to some that she has a degree in horticulture and admits to killing some plants herself at home. “So, when people say ‘oh I'm not good with plants’, we just remind them ‘you're not growing the right plant, there's plants that you can grow.”
The consulting hardly stops at the homeowner though. Aspen Ridge offers a nice selection of materials appealing to commercial landscapers. “Where the landscapers might, I don't want to say, not have the plant knowledge, we have many new varieties coming in all the time. Often they'll send their clients here, and we'll go through all the plants with them, and then the landscapers do the installations,” Marsha said.
Open year round, this time of season finds customers coming in to shop Aspen Ridge’s large selection of Christmas and holiday decorations, other décor, local artisan products, and their own line of food products.
I would be far-fetched to say there isn’t something for everyone to find here, and a friendly staff, warm greetings, and smiles that make you feel like family.
Check out Aspen Ridge Home and Garden in Mineral Point on Facebook and the web.
