Margaret and Larry of HardyWares spread love in their products
Each year for Christmas, Margaret Hardy would give her husband Larry a food-related gift, as he is an avid cook. He especially enjoys preparing international or ethnic dishes and often made Cajun, Chinese, French, Italian, and seafood dishes. The pair always enjoyed condiments with their meals, like homemade relishes, or pickles, but they were always store-bought. About 15 years ago, Margaret purchased a home canning kit, thinking that Larry would thoroughly enjoy it and get a lot of use from it. She was most disappointed when he didn’t use it at all! About 18 months later, Margaret told him that she was going to sell it on the local buy and sell. Larry went out and bought some produce, and tried a few different jams & pickles, and later that year the couple gave everyone on their gift giving list some jam & mustard pickles for Christmas.
Everyone raved about the preserves and strongly urged Larry to sell his wares at the farmers market. Several months later Larry found the nerve to rent a table using the clever name of HardyWares; on his first day he sold just 8 jars and felt discouraged. Margaret gave him what she recalls as “the biggest pep talk” and strongly urged him not to give up; she suggested that it would simply take time to establish a business.
There seemed to be no shortage of challenges in starting a small business from their home; the Hardys live in Necum Teuch (a Mi’kmaw name for Moose River, pronounced nee-comm taw) on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore—an area without cell phone service—and need to drive for 30 minutes before they are in a service area. The logistics of sourcing product, ingredients, or even getting new equipment often means a two-hour drive for the couple.
But Margaret says that the reward list is much longer. They have a solid network of friends, neighbours and local businesses who often step up to help them out whenever needed. A few years ago when they were having a new well put in, they were offered the local community hall’s commercial kitchen until they could use their own again. When their vehicle broke down on a long weekend, a local business told them that they were welcome to use their van.
All their hard work and dedication has paid off and after 13 years in business, the Hardys now have more than 40 flavours of jams and jellies on offer; they also make a traditional marmalade, relishes, and pickles. There is also a seasonal line up. When the pair can source the ingredients they make Quince Jelly, Crab Apple Jelly, Choke Cherry Jelly, Garlic Jelly, Gooseberry Jam, Grape Jelly, Black Currant Jam, Red Currant Jam, and Rosehip Jelly.
If this all sounds like a copious amount of work, consider that they have one full time employee, but the work is primarily done by Margaret and Larry themselves.
There are two very distinct reasons for the success of HardyWares; most important is that it’s a labour of love. Margaret and Larry use traditional recipes and cook in small batches. They still cut most of their produce by hand, and source local ingredients when possible. The greatest compliment that they can receive is hearing from a customer that one of their products tastes “just like their grandmother used to make.”
The Hardys also are successful because of their desire to deliver what the customer wants. While their original line of preserves was based on family recipes, many of their newer combinations have been customer suggestions. When a customer asked them to make carrot cake jam, they were hesitant because they didn’t think it would be very good. However, the gentleman kept returning and asking, and one day he showed up with a recipe. They gave it a try, liked it, and took it to the market. Now they love sampling Carrot Cake Jam and watching the expressions as each person steps up and tries it, and exclaims, “Wow, it tastes just like carrot cake!”
If you’ve ever attended a Saltscapes Expo you’ll be familiar with many of HardyWares’ products. Margaret and Larry continue to sell their products at tradeshows and markets all around the province, even though they are available in stores in almost every county of Nova Scotia, from Sydney to Yarmouth. A full list of available preserves and where they can be purchased can be found on their website hardywarespreserves.com.