It all started with Grandma.
Grandma and Grandpa opened their first general store in the early 1920's from which they sold many items but none so good as Grandma's all-natural and homemade jams and fruit butters. Even as she grew older, Grandma continued with the other women in the family's help to make her jams and fruit butters for the store and to share with family and friends at holidays and on special occasions. As children, we loved these goodies.
Years later with both Grandma and Grandpa gone, we moved to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. Being two school teachers, we always enjoyed the summers off. In the Spring of 2005 we decided to revive Grandma's jams and fruit butters and sell them at a local flea market during the summer months. They were such a hit we could barely keep up with production. That fall, much to our surprise, we received a call from a local merchant asking us to wholesale our products to him. We accepted his offer. It wasn't long after that we decided to try and create a business out of something we enjoyed so much.
Over the next few months we organized our new business into a Limited Liability Company (MoonShadows Farm LLC). A website came next and soon we began offering a line of Salsas and BBQ Sauces in addition to our original products. With our fledgling business starting to grow, it was time for one of us to tend to it full time while the other continued teaching.
As our products continued to grow in popularity, it became imminently clear we needed more help. After much searching we partnered with a local Mennonite family to assist us in our efforts. Time-honored recipes and plenty of wholesome ingredients continued to produce those “old fashioned” tastes like grandma used to make and allowed us to bring our outstanding tasty treats to new customers. It also gave us the "breathing room" to add another product line, and our line of homemade savory dips was created.
With less time in the kitchen, we decided to start providing more goods to our customers. Soon, we brought on our own line of all natural - all herbal soaps. We have now branched out and have begun working with other small, like-minded family endeavors. Our new lines of peanut butters, mustards, ketchups and hot sauces are examples of our cooperative efforts with these families. Together, we work with one another to help one another.
As a small business entity, a lot of hard work goes into producing and bringing high quality products to our faithful customers. As was the case when we sold our first jams, we pride ourselves on one to one customer service. So when you contact us, you'll always get "the owners", not a sales person or company rep. We will continue to sell our products on our website, in local stores and at various seasonal markets and shows as always...to one satisfied customer at a time.
If you are new to our site, we invite you to come in and browse around our web store. If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to contact us.
Jim & John
