If the question is about herbs or native plants, coppicing trees, water-glassing eggs, making a wattle fence or foraging mushrooms, Julie Ibarra probably knows the answer. Gardening and communal sustainability have long been her passions.

“I’m a Jill of all trades and master of none,” Ibarra quipped as she took a moment to relax on a recent Saturday afternoon.

Ibarra learned much of what she knows about gardening from her mother, who used flowers to transform her backyard. Ibarra also reads research papers and books on topics related to homesteading and sustainable living.

“There are many goals I have for our family with communal sustainability: to produce enough food on our land to feed us comfortably, to set back produce for revenue or barter and to provide for local folk in need.”

Ibarra lives just outside Oak Harbor on a one-acre farm with her National Guard husband, Austin; their toddlers, Julia and William; and dog, Charlie. The backyard boasts a raised bed garden, chickens and a newly added wattle fence she created using branches from a birch tree. Her kitchen is the epicenter for many projects in progress including a batch of elderberry wine to be bottled and a plastic tote housing a small flock of baby chicks that her children are enthusiastically helping to raise. Sprinkled about the kitchen are various glass and ceramic mushrooms.

“I’m a stay-at-home mom now. From 1 to 3 p.m., when my kids are down for quiet time, is the sweet spot for accomplishing tasks,” Ibarra said. Time management is huge for her, planning goals for the month and breaking down projects such as brewing mead and preserving foods from her garden into smaller projects over weeks or months.

Ibarra attended Bowling Green State University and earned a fine arts degree in 2006, with the licensing and qualifications to teach K-12 art. Unfortunately, there were no positions available at that time. She went to work for Walmart for 15 years, first in the lawn and garden department, which helped to expand her knowledge of plants and gardening, then as a pharmacy tech. She also worked at the Haunted Hydro for many years. After taking a break for a few seasons, she has recently returned, portraying characters based on the theme or room in which she works.

Work experience leads to creation of mushroom-based small business

Along the way, Ibarra started a business that she named The Misty Mushroom, designing the logo and graphics herself. She initially looked at mushroom cultivation as a business but ultimately decided to go another route.

“There is interest there, a market there, but the money wasn’t there when you factored in the licensing and other costs,” said Ibarra. Not wanting to have to create an entire lab including equipment, she opted to go another route. “I can make teas with foraged mushrooms and plants with much less investment.”

Even though she didn’t pursue large-scale mushroom cultivation, Ibarra did keep the Misty Mushroom business name. As she became more conscious of a healthy ecosystem and growing native plants, the name represented “the biggest trees to the smallest mushrooms.”

“Gardening is a spiritual thing. We have the responsibility of being wardens of the wild,” said Ibarra. “I’d love to work for the ODNR (Ohio Department of Natural Resources), working with conservation of native plants and forest management.”

Teaching background leads to work with nonprofit

Several years ago, Ibarra attended a meeting of a local chapter of the Ladies National Home Gathering. It appealed to her that it was a nonprofit with a focus on women in homesteading. The group did not have an educational coordinator and, since she had a teaching degree, she decided to put it to use and jumped right in.

Ibarra is now writing articles and scheduling speakers for the monthly meetings. She has enjoyed networking with other enthusiasts to trade plant cuttings or starts, seek out small growers, forage for wild opportunities and start countless plants from seed.

“I feel like I get a lot of completion, better food for my family, and groceries are expensive. Trying to feed them as inexpensively as possible with the most quality possible,” Ibarra said. “I’m also big on sharing information and that information being free.”

In addition to LNHG, Ibarra shares her knowledge on social media via The Misty Mushroom pages on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, where she recently reached 10,000 followers. She describes her content as “homesteading adventures with mushroom cultivation, native plants, herbs, veggies, and more.”

Ibarra will host a LNHG Homestead Tour at her farm April 6 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Topics will include native plant permaculture, tree coppicing, mushroom inoculation, spring planting, aquaponics, and wool processing.

More information about LNHG or the farm tour is available by emailing themistymushroom@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Oak Harbor OH resident puts garden knowledge to good use