Andrea Johnson/MDN Becky Zahn Walcker owns and operates Memories of Home in Minot. She is a member of Dakota Pride and this is her first time as a vendor at the North Dakota State Fair.
Delicious fruit breads, choice eggs, asparagus and snack mixes are all available at Becky Zahn Walcker’s booth in the Commercial III Building at the North Dakota State Fair this week.
Zahn Walcker, of Minot, is the owner and operator of Memories of Home. The Minot business has been in business since 2016, but this is Zahn Walcker’s first time as a vendor at the State Fair.
“I saw new opportunities to reach people” who might not have heard of her business, said Zahn Walcker, whose business is also a Pride of Dakota participant. The State Fair celebrated Dakota Pride and North Dakota businesses on Monday.
Zahn Walcker grew up on a farm in Westhope and has always loved nature. When she was a child, she and her grandfather made strawberry jam together, and it was her job to puree the strawberries.
it “likes canning”, which she taught herself to make as an adult, and always enjoys finding new things to pickle. Her pickled eggs are a food that people either love or hate, Zahn Walcker said, but she always tells people they make a great egg salad sandwich.
Andrea Johnson/MDN Another Dakota Pride member is JoAnna Stinar, who runs Vitality LLC in Inkster and sells emu oil for skin conditions. Stinar said she and her former partner, who has since retired, started the business and had participated in Dakota Pride at the North Dakota State Fair for more than 20 years. Stinar now operates the business with a new partner. The business sells emu oil. More information about the business can be found at www.vitalitynaturals.com
Baked goods with rhubarb and lemon are especially popular with her customers now. She said rhubarb is very popular in North Dakota.
Some of the fresh baked goods, canned goods and home goods for sale through Memories of Home are based on family recipes that Zahn Walcker has tweaked slightly.
For example, if she wanted a softer cookie than the one produced by the family recipe, she decided to add more flour.
She also questions her repeat customers and others about what they like or don’t like about the taste of something, and can increase or decrease spiciness based on their feedback. Zahn Walcker earned a degree in animal care and was working full-time in a completely different field when he started Memories of Home. After moving to their farm around 2012, Zahn Walcker started a garden and eventually grew many vegetables for her family and friends. She ended up joining the farmers market and selling there and then started wholesale. Its goods are now sold at Super Pumper petrol stations in Belfield and New Town. They are also distributed to stores across the state by a wholesale distributor.
Zahn Walcker said she still has a garden, although she buys some of the ingredients she needs from local suppliers. She had help from several people to help produce all the baked goods, preserves and household goods before the fair. She said Dakota Pride has also been a big help. Businesses that are members of Dakota Pride must make and sell their items locally.
Zahn Walcker also has a website at memoriesofhomebybecky.com
