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There’s a new smell in the air at the corner of Main and Sixth, but it originates from an old and beloved Christmas tradition.
As of the middle of November, Prairie Harvest Market & Deli at 601 N. Main St. in Newton has begun baking peppernuts. These tiny, crunchy cookies are a familiar sight in the store, especially during the Christmas season. What’s different is having them produced on-site.
For the last five years, Prairie Harvest has been the largest wholesale purchaser for Voran-Goertzen Peppernuts, which Denise (Voran) Goertzen started in Goessel nearly 20 years ago.
Goertzen began the peppernut-baking enterprise as a business that would allow her to be a stay-at-home mother to her young children, Jessica and Stephan. She used the peppernut recipe she learned from her own parents, Marlys and Ted Voran of Goessel.
In the early years of the business, Goertzen’s parents worked with her, babysitting the children as well as helping with the baking, which took place for a while in a converted dairy barn on their farm.
Voran-Goertzen Peppernuts moved into its own building in Goessel in 2004. It employed seasonal part-time workers. In addition, Goertzen’s husband, Kevin, was involved with production, marketing and delivery during the busy holiday season.
But the seasons and directions of life have been changing for the Goertzen family, said Denise Goertzen. In the last six years, her parents have died, Jessica has gone off to college, and her and her husband’s job situations have changed.
“Our personal ministries are taking us in different directions,” she said. “With the kids growing up, it’s more important during the holidays to have time. It’s the season of life when we want to be freed up.”
She was sensing more and more, Goertzen said, it was time to sell the business — yet it was hard to let go.
“I birthed this,” she said. “I blew breath on the fire from the beginning. I didn’t want it to go to just anyone. I knew I would rather liquidate than sell to someone who would make it into something I couldn’t bear to see.
“There have been so many transitions in the past five or six years,” she said. “Selling the business has been part of letting go. I’m so happy about it. People call to order their peppernuts, and I say, ‘That’s wonderful — we sold the business to Prairie Harvest, they bought our recipe and equipment, and here’s how to contact them.’ And I feel no regret.”
There’s a new smell in the air at the corner of Main and Sixth, but it originates from an old and beloved Christmas tradition.
As of the middle of November, Prairie Harvest Market & Deli at 601 N. Main St. in Newton has begun baking peppernuts. These tiny, crunchy cookies are a familiar sight in the store, especially during the Christmas season. What’s different is having them produced on-site.
For the last five years, Prairie Harvest has been the largest wholesale purchaser for Voran-Goertzen Peppernuts, which Denise (Voran) Goertzen started in Goessel nearly 20 years ago.
Goertzen began the peppernut-baking enterprise as a business that would allow her to be a stay-at-home mother to her young children, Jessica and Stephan. She used the peppernut recipe she learned from her own parents, Marlys and Ted Voran of Goessel.
In the early years of the business, Goertzen’s parents worked with her, babysitting the children as well as helping with the baking, which took place for a while in a converted dairy barn on their farm.
Voran-Goertzen Peppernuts moved into its own building in Goessel in 2004. It employed seasonal part-time workers. In addition, Goertzen’s husband, Kevin, was involved with production, marketing and delivery during the busy holiday season.
But the seasons and directions of life have been changing for the Goertzen family, said Denise Goertzen. In the last six years, her parents have died, Jessica has gone off to college, and her and her husband’s job situations have changed.
“Our personal ministries are taking us in different directions,” she said. “With the kids growing up, it’s more important during the holidays to have time. It’s the season of life when we want to be freed up.”
She was sensing more and more, Goertzen said, it was time to sell the business — yet it was hard to let go.
“I birthed this,” she said. “I blew breath on the fire from the beginning. I didn’t want it to go to just anyone. I knew I would rather liquidate than sell to someone who would make it into something I couldn’t bear to see.
“There have been so many transitions in the past five or six years,” she said. “Selling the business has been part of letting go. I’m so happy about it. People call to order their peppernuts, and I say, ‘That’s wonderful — we sold the business to Prairie Harvest, they bought our recipe and equipment, and here’s how to contact them.’ And I feel no regret.”
