Pictured left to right: Ron, Heidi, Monica & Jason
OUR STORY
Heidi:
It began ten years ago. Or maybe 80 years ago. Maybe longer. I have loved dill pickles since I was tiny. In elementary school, I was lucky enough to have a friend whose grandma made fabulous homemade dill pickles. I would eat as many as I could when I visited - and even remember being a little embarrassed about it.
When I met my husband-to-be's family for the first time, I fell in love on another level. Homemade dill pickles. It was like a confirmation that this was where I belonged. My fabulous and wonderful mother-in-law set aside time and taught me the tradition. Since then, we've worked to make the recipe our own. We've shared it with countless friends and family, even some random strangers who probably thought we were bizarre. But that's our passion.
Several years ago, our good friends - Jason & Monica Gabrick - joined us to learn more about pickling. We spent the day working hard - and having fun. Since then we've talked about making this a business, sharing our passion for homemade pickles with others. So - here they are. We hope you love them as much as we do!
Ron:
Growing up, every summer we drove from Worland, Wyoming to Bemidji, Minnesota where my mom and dad were raised. One of the most exciting things about the 1600 mile road trip was going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Oelrich’s. Grandma’s old fashioned dill pickles were always a favorite of everyone who visited. Sitting around the table eating dill pickles and reminiscing, sharing favorite memories and funny stories.
As time passed it became harder and harder for Grandma to do her canning. Accustomed to growing her own cucumbers, dill and garlic – the work became too much. My mom, Deb, took over the duty of continuing the pickle canning and continued the legacy of homemade pickles. Grandma O, with the help of her family, still has a garden and cherishes watching it flourish.
My wife, Heidi, expressed interest in learning the process of canning dill pickles and asked my mom to teach her. Heidi made them for a number of years, starting soon after we got married. As I witnessed her love for making these pickles, I decided I would lend a hand in the production. After a few batches, we made some minor changes to the recipe to make it our own. I assisted for a few years, carefully crafting tasty pickles to share with friends and family. Then we met Jason and Monica - one of the best things that happened to us. We connected on so many levels that we joked about how much we had in common. One of those things was a love for delicious food – and our pickles.
We spent a few summers making pickles with Jason and Monica every year making more and more for friends and family – having a tough time keeping up with all the requests. After talking about it, Heidi and I decided that it made sense to take this to the next level, and that Jason and Monica were the perfect partners to join us on this adventure. 2013 was our first shot at selling and sharing our pickles with a larger audience. We sold out of almost everything, close to 800 jars.
In 2014 we officially created the company with the State of Minnesota, starting to go through the processes of starting a food company. We’ve discovered there’s a lot more to it than we had ever imagined. We are all learning an enormous amount about laws, processes and procedures. But - we’re up for the challenge and plan to continue growing our business – first with our famous pickles, and then we hope to share our homemade salsa (and maybe more) with you someday!
Grandma O is still doing well at 93! My goal is to share her well-loved pickles with the world, and to have Grandma see this company sell 10,000 (or more!) jars per year! We’d love for her to know how much her pickles have inspired us! J
Thank you to each of you who’ve bought from us or cheered us on as we try to make this dream happen. Thanks for your continued support!
Monica & Jason:
We somewhat “lucked” into pickling. Jason and Ron met through a work function, and after realizing we had a lot in common, decided that our wives should meet as well. We met for sushi one night, which turned into a 3.5 hour dinner. Instead of a boring business dinner, it was four friends enjoying good food, good drinks and fun.
After trying pickles Heidi and Ron shared with us, we thought it sounded like fun to try making them and made plans to spend a day together pickling. “Pickling” on a Saturday allowed for some of the good food, fun and drinks we’d discovered we all loved. What we thought was a great hobby quickly gained the attention of our friends and family who received jars of pickles as gifts. Again and again, we were asked when we were going to start selling our pickles. When Ron and Heidi caved into the prodding of our friends and approached us in the summer of 2013 to turn this hobby into something bigger, we were apprehensive. With backgrounds in Nursing and Construction, neither of us had any experience in food production. But we both knew (and still know) that we had something special, so we agreed that we should give this adventure a shot.
We’re still learning a lot about food production, but are enjoying every minute of it. We are so proud of these pickles, and are very thankful for our friends and family who have supported us along the way. We hope you all enjoy our pickles as much as we do!
OUR STORY
Heidi:
It began ten years ago. Or maybe 80 years ago. Maybe longer. I have loved dill pickles since I was tiny. In elementary school, I was lucky enough to have a friend whose grandma made fabulous homemade dill pickles. I would eat as many as I could when I visited - and even remember being a little embarrassed about it.
When I met my husband-to-be's family for the first time, I fell in love on another level. Homemade dill pickles. It was like a confirmation that this was where I belonged. My fabulous and wonderful mother-in-law set aside time and taught me the tradition. Since then, we've worked to make the recipe our own. We've shared it with countless friends and family, even some random strangers who probably thought we were bizarre. But that's our passion.
Several years ago, our good friends - Jason & Monica Gabrick - joined us to learn more about pickling. We spent the day working hard - and having fun. Since then we've talked about making this a business, sharing our passion for homemade pickles with others. So - here they are. We hope you love them as much as we do!
Ron:
Growing up, every summer we drove from Worland, Wyoming to Bemidji, Minnesota where my mom and dad were raised. One of the most exciting things about the 1600 mile road trip was going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Oelrich’s. Grandma’s old fashioned dill pickles were always a favorite of everyone who visited. Sitting around the table eating dill pickles and reminiscing, sharing favorite memories and funny stories.
As time passed it became harder and harder for Grandma to do her canning. Accustomed to growing her own cucumbers, dill and garlic – the work became too much. My mom, Deb, took over the duty of continuing the pickle canning and continued the legacy of homemade pickles. Grandma O, with the help of her family, still has a garden and cherishes watching it flourish.
My wife, Heidi, expressed interest in learning the process of canning dill pickles and asked my mom to teach her. Heidi made them for a number of years, starting soon after we got married. As I witnessed her love for making these pickles, I decided I would lend a hand in the production. After a few batches, we made some minor changes to the recipe to make it our own. I assisted for a few years, carefully crafting tasty pickles to share with friends and family. Then we met Jason and Monica - one of the best things that happened to us. We connected on so many levels that we joked about how much we had in common. One of those things was a love for delicious food – and our pickles.
We spent a few summers making pickles with Jason and Monica every year making more and more for friends and family – having a tough time keeping up with all the requests. After talking about it, Heidi and I decided that it made sense to take this to the next level, and that Jason and Monica were the perfect partners to join us on this adventure. 2013 was our first shot at selling and sharing our pickles with a larger audience. We sold out of almost everything, close to 800 jars.
In 2014 we officially created the company with the State of Minnesota, starting to go through the processes of starting a food company. We’ve discovered there’s a lot more to it than we had ever imagined. We are all learning an enormous amount about laws, processes and procedures. But - we’re up for the challenge and plan to continue growing our business – first with our famous pickles, and then we hope to share our homemade salsa (and maybe more) with you someday!
Grandma O is still doing well at 93! My goal is to share her well-loved pickles with the world, and to have Grandma see this company sell 10,000 (or more!) jars per year! We’d love for her to know how much her pickles have inspired us! J
Thank you to each of you who’ve bought from us or cheered us on as we try to make this dream happen. Thanks for your continued support!
Monica & Jason:
We somewhat “lucked” into pickling. Jason and Ron met through a work function, and after realizing we had a lot in common, decided that our wives should meet as well. We met for sushi one night, which turned into a 3.5 hour dinner. Instead of a boring business dinner, it was four friends enjoying good food, good drinks and fun.
After trying pickles Heidi and Ron shared with us, we thought it sounded like fun to try making them and made plans to spend a day together pickling. “Pickling” on a Saturday allowed for some of the good food, fun and drinks we’d discovered we all loved. What we thought was a great hobby quickly gained the attention of our friends and family who received jars of pickles as gifts. Again and again, we were asked when we were going to start selling our pickles. When Ron and Heidi caved into the prodding of our friends and approached us in the summer of 2013 to turn this hobby into something bigger, we were apprehensive. With backgrounds in Nursing and Construction, neither of us had any experience in food production. But we both knew (and still know) that we had something special, so we agreed that we should give this adventure a shot.
We’re still learning a lot about food production, but are enjoying every minute of it. We are so proud of these pickles, and are very thankful for our friends and family who have supported us along the way. We hope you all enjoy our pickles as much as we do!
