Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Trent Stimpert, Pickle Cottage
At a glance: Trent Stimpert’s parents raised vegetables and opened a business called The Pickle Cottage to market the pickles they produced. Years later, Trent and his wife reopened The Pickle Cottage using the family recipes and more. Their gourmet pickles have been shipped to customers in 38 states.
More information: Ron Wilson, rwilson@ksu.edu, 785-532-7690
Photos: Ron Wilson | Trent and Rebecca Stimpert and family
Website: Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Aug. 26, 2026
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
How do you find a solution when you are in a pickle?
Today we’ll meet a rural Kansas family which found that pickles themselves could be part of a solution to a problem. These rural-preneurs are using family recipes and gourmet flavoring to advance their rural business.
Trent and Rebecca Stimpert are the owners of The Pickle Cottage near Bucklin, Kansas. Trent grew up in Bucklin where his parents, Barry and Shirley Stimpert, raised vegetables, including those they made into pickles. Their family recipes became popular.
Pictured (l to r): Trent, Rebecca, Hanna and Abby Stimpert | Download this photo
“My parents were truck farming,” Stimpert said. “Mom was also a writer.”
Merchants in nearby Dodge City became interested in their products and asked if the Stimperts could supply them with pickles.
In 1992, the Stimperts opened The Pickle Cottage. They also joined the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s From the Land of Kansas program. The state was working on a promotional program for Kansas products.
“Mom sent a handwritten note to the head buyer for Bloomingdale’s (an American retail chain founded in New York City) with some of our pickled beets,” Stimpert said. “The buyer loved them.”
The Pickle Cottage became a supplier to Bloomingdale’s and other major retailers such as Pier One Imports, Cracker Barrel restaurants, and hundreds of gift shops. In one case, Mrs. Stimpert’s pickled raspberries were an ingredient in a product that went to London’s Buckingham Palace.
In 2004 the senior Stimperts retired and closed the company, but much of the equipment and the family recipes remained.
Trent met and married Rebecca, who was originally from Nebraska and came to Kansas to work for KJIL radio. They have two daughters, Hannah and Abby.
Barry and Shirley Stimpert were stricken with cancer and passed within seven months of each other. “We were faced with the possibility of losing the family farm on which Abby and Hannah are sixth generation,” Stimpert said.
The family was, so to speak, in a pickle.
The Stimperts decided to reopen The Pickle Cottage to help retain the farm. After inspection and licensing by the Kansas Department of Agriculture, The Pickle Cottage reopened in 2021. The Stimperts used family recipes and gourmet flavorings and rejoined From the Land of Kansas.
Today, the Pickle Cottage offers a variety of hand-packed pickled products. These include products with names like Bread and Butters, Abby’s Little Miss Dills, Hannah’s Country Sweet Sticks, Dilly Green Beans, Kickin’ Cauliflower, Old Fashioned Beets, Pickled Garlic, Summer Sensation, Sweet Hot Jalapenos, Blueberry Bash, Southwest Dilly Green Tomatoes, and more.
All products are produced and packed on the farm.
“We live in a 110-year-old farmhouse and our cannery and fields are right here,” Stimpert said. They use the slogan, “Old-fashioned pickles with a gourmet flair.”
Freshness is important. “For example, we pick okra every two days and typically pack it within hours,” Stimpert said.
Rather than selling wholesale, the Stimperts are marketing direct to consumers through farmer’s markets, craft shows, home and ag shows, and online. They go to events in eight different central US states and ship nationwide.
“I have a passion for the farm and I love interacting with people,” Stimpert said. “I’m very picky about the produce we source. We use natural herbicides and garlic-based pesticide.”
“It’s a lot of work but it’s important to us to keep the family values and farm heritage going. We like promoting the lifestyle.”
When customers get a taste of the Stimperts’ classic pickle recipes, it harkens back to their grandmother’s kitchen for many of them. In some cases, the memories bring tears to their eyes.
“It’s touching to see them smile or cry,” Stimpert said. “It’s rewarding to see you’re making a difference.”
The Pickle Cottage produces nearly 20,000 jars per year and has shipped product to 38 states. It’s impressive for a business located in a rural community such as Bucklin, population 727 people. Now, that’s rural.
For more information, see www.picklecottage.com.
We commend Trent and Rebecca Stimpert, Abby and Hannah for making a difference with food entrepreneurship while honoring farm heritage in rural Kansas. It’s exciting to see that solutions can be found in a pickle.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at www.huckboydinstitute.org/kansas-profiles. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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