Jill & Dave's Stories

During the same time, Dave began growing organic herbs and vegetables. At his Dad's suggestion, a tool shed was converted into the first herb shop named Bittersweet Herb Farm because of the profusion of bittersweet vines that grew on the farm. When he met and married his wife, Jill, her skills with herbs and dried flowers enhanced the business, and the company grew.

In 1983, Dave tapped into his love of food to develop a line of cooking oils and herbal vinegars, which sold with great success at arts and crafts shows and county fairs throughout New England. Shortly thereafter he entered the wholesale market. Transitioning into gourmet food products was a natural step for Dave. As a teenager, he had shown an interest in cooking, starting out grilling steaks for his family and working in the school kitchen. Growing up on a farm instilled a deep love of eating fresh, wholesome food. While in school, he bought the New York Times Cookbook and learned how to cook from the recipes in its pages. The tome, although tattered, still holds a place of honor in the Dave's kitchen.

Growth brought the need for a place of their own, and in 1990 the Wallaces bought a farm in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. With a growing season that is six weeks shorter than in Connecticut, Dave once again drew on his love of cooking and began formulating and packaging a line of all natural gourmet finishing sauces and jams.

As Bittersweet Herb Farm has grown, so has the Wallace family, which includes two sons and a daughter, all of whom have worked alongside their parents in contributing to the success of the business.

As a youth, she resided in an old farmhouse with several other young adults, and dinners together became an important part of the day. An oversized kitchen with lots of cooks created the beginnings of a love for good meals shared with great friends. Those joyful memories of sharing meals together followed Jill as she transitioned into motherhood. With three young mouths to feed, food now needed to be healthy and wholesome yet still delicious, helping to shape not only her home cooking but also her contributions to the family business. Jill's children have followed in her footsteps, experimenting with different foods and flavors.

Feeling the need for a simpler lifestyle, Jill uprooted a thriving business and growing family to move to the beautiful Berkshires of northern Massachusetts. It was here in the small towns and villages that the idea was cultivated to create a new look for Bittersweet Herb Farm products. The simple elegance of old New England homesteads combined with the deep-rooted heritage of the people were characteristics that Jill wanted to instill in the look and quality of her products. The idea was to create a product that was equally as beautiful as it was delicious. Her philosophy was simple: "When you take home a sauce that is packaged in an elegant bottle, you already believe that you can create a wonderful meal with it. And because you believe you can, you will."

Jill still takes time to wander the hillsides harvesting wild blueberries and appreciating the simple wonders of the natural world intent on feeding the soul as well as the body, which she believes will "keep us open to new and different experiences in everything we do in life."