Cottage Industries - Montana Style: Montana Jams and Candles

Made in Whitehall, using all-natural ingredients, Pati McLaughlin creates about 20 different jams and jellies, daughter-in-law Brandy Yates with her soy candles and wax melts of 25 to 35 different fragrances, epitomizes the concept of a cottage industry, Montana style. These two creators of Montana Jams and Candles love what they're doing, they value quality and the people who purchase and enjoy their products.

The idea for the business was hatched with the two women visiting Pati's kitchen. Brandy had already started experimenting with making candles; Pati was teaching her to make peach jam.

"I said wouldn't it be funny if we had a jam and candle business and called it Montana Jammin' Candles," Brandy said. "Then Pati called me one day and said she thought it was a good idea and we should do it."

Two years later, in 2018, they were on their way.

"We started out small, selling at the Farmers Market, then in November Brandy set up an Etsy shop and we set up the website in March 2019," Pati added.

Born in Bozeman in a family of nine children, jam making and canning were part of Pati's childhood. Her mother did everything, baked bread, canned everything, and Pati continues the tradition, with strict personal guidelines as to what goes into her jams, just fruit, sugar, pectin; some require lemon juice. High fructose corn syrup never gets close to her products.

Fruit is the first item on her list of ingredients, something that prevents her from obtaining a wholesale license, which requires 55% saccharide to be labeled a jam or jelly. For Pati, the first taste should be the fruit.

"I pick as much of the fruit as I can myself and keep a log of where I pick. I have to make sure it's a no-spray area," she said. "I love picking berries, especially buffaloberries. I pick crabapples, apples, chokecherries, and cherries. There weren't any huckleberries last year and I could have bought them, but I only use Montana berries."

Brandy began her candle-making by searching out the right recipe; she experimented with a lot of different waxes, wicks, and fragrance loads, trying to find the right combination. She's confident she's accomplished that. Her ingredients also set her products apart; she uses 100% soy wax and natural fiber wicks.

"With natural fiber wicks you don't get the soot output, no carcinogens in the air, and you get a much cleaner, more even burn, actually getting more value out of your candle that way because it will burn more completely," Brandy said. "As for the scent, I try to find a happy medium where you get that great scent but it's not going to be overwhelming."

Candles and wax melt, a cube of wax, come out of the same batch. Flameless wax melts, put into a warmer, provides the same great fragrance, and is ideal for people with children or pets concerned about an open flame.

Montana Jams and Candles are regulars at the Whitehall Farmers Market and community festivals. The two women have also branched out to a Christmas bazaar in Bozeman and Butte's Miners Market. They also participate in charity events with donations of their products, giving back whenever possible to the community that supports them.

Brandy came to Montana from Washington when she was 11 and feels at home in an area where people build up relationships with the products they buy and the people who make them.

"I think that's really important for us because we get to know a lot of our customers on a more personal level. They know who we are and that they can trust what we're doing," she said. "I think that's very Montana and I absolutely love these relationships we've developed."

Relationships extend to their online customers, with Pati regularly sending chokecherry jelly to a serviceman in Germany, taking phone orders from regulars in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, and shipping products to the UK, Denmark, Hawaii, and Alaska.

Running a cottage industry works. Both have children in school and Brandy works as a massage therapist in Bozeman and Whitehall. It gives them the flexibility to engage in the things they enjoy and still provide the service, making the jams and candles that give them such satisfaction and pleasure.

Both Pati and Brandy hope their jams and candles speak to what's important to them, that they operate with integrity and try their best to do their best. That people recognize that and appreciate it.

"I'd like to be known for making a quality product. I don't think there is anything more rewarding than making something and seeing that people enjoy it. It's great, I love that," Pati said.

"I want people to know my products are high quality and consistent and reliable and, really, I just want people to enjoy them," Brandy added.

Pati and Brandy thank Pam Polachi at Settings by All Things Montana and Laurie Perry at the Cardwell General Store for supporting them and carrying their products in their stores. They also send out the word that customers can look forward to new flavors of jams, jellies, and new fragrances soon.

For more information: Call, 406-202-1097, for orders and pick-ups. Website: montanajamcandles.com, and Montana Jam & Candles on Facebook.