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Walnut Grove is a small, simple rural society situated in the beautiful rolling hills of Southern Indiana. Once a bustling pioneer town, Walnut Grove is now inhabited by only a few residents. Atop a prominent hill, the original Walnut Grove Church boasts a steady congregation of nearby residents for over 100 years. Walnut
Grove’s breathtaking beauty seemed to call out to career bi-coastal
business people Duane & Leslie Smith on a visit to their home state of
Indiana.
The couple longed to drink deeply themselves of the beauty and solitude the
Walnut Grove area provides.
Yielding
a strategy for a retirement “fun” business, the couple planned to found the
country’s only organized Wild American Persimmon farm in the unique fruit’s
native habitat. Duane & Leslie realized their persimmon farm dream, aptly
naming it Persimmon Valley Farms.
However, the land had another gift for them: the Walnut Grove
Spring.
Keeping
the water to themselves seemed a selfish move to the couple, and selling the
spring to a conglomerate bottler would compromise the natural beauty of the
area. A vision was born to create a company of their own.
The spring
water would be respectfully collected and hand-bottled into the perfectly
portable habitat of the glass swing-top bottle using as little non-renewable
energy as possible. The company’s facilities would complement the beauty of the
area and fit in with its immaculate environment. It would make a commitment to
give back to the earth, society, and the local economy. It would be a company
with an outlook as rare as the water itself and an example for others to follow
- A company determined to set new
standards – based on the old
values learned from the spirit of Walnut Grove.
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