Farm living is the life for Jesse and Carla Hanke

For the past 39 years, Jesse and Carla Hanke have been busy farming, and raising a son and a daughter. Jesse Hanke also worked full time as a rural postal carrier for 27 years while his wife, Carla, operated their garden market.

Like most markets, the food is picked fresh each day, but unlike other places, the food stays fresh all day long. The fresh produce they offer is displayed on their wagon, but it is also stored in covered insulated cartons when there aren’t any customers around.

“Styrofoam is one of the best insulations and I got the grape storage cases from my cousins down the road who own Hanke’s Sentry Foods,” said Hanke. “I put ice packs under a layer of plastic and it keeps the produce fresh rather than wilting away all day.”

Not that anything goes to waste at their market. Over the years they’ve figured out what they can sell and what they can’t is turn into something else. Tomatoes are transformed into Carla’s Famous Spaghetti Sauce or salsa, which also receives rave reviews from loyal customers.

The Hankes also make the most of whatever else grows on the property. Jams and jellies are made from pears, wild black caps, dandelions and wild grapes; things you can’t find on a store shelf. Hanke noted that some people only come to buy his wife’s canned goods. She sells a lot of canned goods in quarts and pints and half pint sizes.

Maple syrup is their biggest money maker and they produce between 1,000 and 1,500 gallons of syrup each year. Gone are the back breaking days of carrying buckets of sap when great-grandfather Wilhelm Hanke first tapped those trees. The Hankes now have their woods set up with a vacuum tubing system instead.

Farming has been a longtime family tradition for the Hankes.

In 1898, Jesse Hanke’s great-grandfather, Wilhelm Hanke, settled the farm just east of Wittenberg. It passed from Wilhelm to his son William then to William’s son George. When Hanke’s dad, George, was thinking about selling the farm he offered it first to his three sons and daughter and Jesse decided he wanted to take over. He and his wife, Carla, had been living in Wausau and decided farm living was the life for them.

Over the years, the Hankes have planted 140 apple trees, 10 different varieties. Although the produce is grown organically, the apple trees are a different story. Twice a year, the trees are sprayed with commercial applications of pesticides to ensure they produce number one grade apples. Hanke finds that even though he uses organic sprays through part of the growing process, most of the organic sprays are not as effective.

The early apples are done for the season, but the Honeycrisp, Cortland, Liberty, Linda Mac and Wolf River varieties will be ready soon.
In years past, the Hankes have brought their wagon of produce across the road to Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats retail store parking lot on the weekends. This year to allow more room for social distancing they decided to stay put on their side of the road and it hasn’t affected sales. The only other COVID-19 adjustment they’ve made is prepackaging the beans in half- and one-pound boxes, an idea they say they should have embraced years ago. Some people come with masks on but the majority feel comfortable being outside shopping.

“You meet all kinds, but most of them are friends and we appreciate their patronage. We’re just trying to provide fresh local produce and we’re the only market here so that’s a good set up,” said Hanke.

Gardening is hard work, and the customers who can no longer garden frequently tell the Hankes that they appreciate that the Hankes have kept their market open.

“It’s a little social time for them,” said Hanke of the locals. “One of the two of us will always visit with them when they stop by.”

Noting that the Hankes each just drew their first Social Security checks, Jesse and Carla know the day when they will have to close up shop isn’t that far off.

About seven years ago, the Hankes got rid of the cows and farm animals and started renting out most of their land. Their focus now is on their market and it takes up most of their year. Mid-February they start planning for tapping trees which usually happens in March and is done by the first week of April. Then it’s time to think about the garden, working the soil, rotating the crops and getting everything planted. They stay busy with the market until Halloween. November through January is used for taking vacations.

The Hankes have a son and a daughter who could take over the farm when they decide to call it quits, but their grandson might be the one most likely to take over. Until that day comes Jesse and Carla Hanke plan to keep working the garden and enjoying life on the farm.