Couple market pancakes, By TOM LAVENTURE, Staff Writer

Whether its an instant meal to take along camping or a hot breakfast that even the most culinary-challenged member of the family can handle, Barstad’s Buttermilk Pancakes mix just might be the answer.
Two local pastors, Randy and Donna Barstad of the Lindford Christian Fellowship Church in Littlefork, have taken their ‘just add water’ buttermilk pancake mix to the public and report that sales are surpassing their expectations.
The recipe is the invention of Donna Barstad, who has experimented for more than 20 years to make an instant buttermilk pancake mix that she says is wheat based, healthier, fluffier and tastes good.
Now, she has a one-to-one, water to dry mix blend that requires only a griddle.
“I was always searching for more healthy ingredients,” said Donna Barstad.
Randy and their two sons did not enjoy sacrificing taste when it came to their pancakes, she said. So it became Donna’s challenge to develop a quality, all powder mix, but she could never find an acceptable powder substitute for butter.
Then in the late 1990s as the new millennium neared and the Y2K scare loomed, several new products emerged as people indicated they wanted to stock up on survival goods. That’s how Donna found her powdered butter and completed her dry mix.
She still had to tweak the wheat based mix to find the right combination of ingredients to make them come out fluffy. This blend includes natural unbleached wheat flour, sweet cream buttermilk, powdered eggs, natural sugar, powdered butter, baking powder, whole wheat flour, rye flour, barley flour, wheat germ, soy flour, oatmeal, buckwheat flour, oat bran, corn meal, wheat bran, baking soda and sea salt.
“I don’t use white flour,” she said. “It’s not healthy and does not digest well.”
To become licensed to sell the pancakes, the Barstads needed a facility that was dedicated to the manufacturing and packing of the product. They converted a portion of the former bus garage in Littlefork into their packing facility. Randy added stainless steel sinks and a table, with scales and a system to pack the mix.
The 24-ounce package will yield many pancakes. The label has a photo of Randy’s grandfather, Richard Barstad, a Norwegian immigrant logger who moved to the Littlefork area in the 1920s. The photo includes one of his horses, Lady, the other was Lucy, who knew their logging route back and forth on their own.
“The recipe is all Donna’s, but the picture is to show that pancakes have been a part of our lives forever,” said Randy. “My grandmother cooked in a logging camp and I am sure that meant making a lot of pancakes.”
After taking care of other licensing requirements and passing the inspections, the Barstad’s started the business in January. Randy said he found good sales at local craft fairs where it was among the most popular items.
“We are pleased that it has really done well,” said Randy, who helped the product by holding sampling events at grocery stores from Thief River Falls to Nashwauk and International Falls.
In just three months, Randy said the number of grocery stores, resorts, service stations and specialty shops that carry their product in the region has tripled. The couple is looking to work with a grocery warehouse distribution center so the stores can order direct and then reduce Randy’s delivery area.
“It’s been selling pretty well,” said Dan Tuchek, manager, of the International Falls SuperValue.
Tuchek said he was surprised to see the product stand up so well against the relatively lower prices of the national brand competitors. He attributed the strong sales to being a local product, use of organic flours and the sampling events.”
The Barstad’s aren’t looking at an immediate expansion into a larger market, at least until their son Neil, who is currently in Texas, returns home to run the business and allow Randy and Donna to focus on their ministry.
“He is a Minnesota boy who loves his fishing and he wants to come back here,” said Donna. “We hope that our other son will come home as well.”
Their other son, Ryan, is still in Oklahoma, where both sons have attended a bible college.
Some of the proceeds will go to fund missionaries in the Ukraine.