Aug. 21, 2023

Selling homemade strawberry ice cream is a full-circle moment for the owners of Berrybrook Organics.

Sherilyn and Will Ortman grew up on separate farms, but both had strawberry U-picks. When the couple went to create an ice cream together years later, the first flavor was a natural choice: strawberry.

Now, the Ortmans offer a variety of homemade ice cream flavors and will be at the 605 Made Night Market on Saturday, Aug. 26, with Berrybrook Dairy Nook.

“Berrybrook Organics is the umbrella for all our products,” Sherilyn Ortman said. “We brought homemade ice cream to the South Dakota Chislic Festival a couple of years ago, and as a result of that, we now have Berrybrook Dairy Nook – our ice cream.”

Ortman said they most likely will bring eight flavors of ice cream to the 605 Made Night Market, which is from 3 to 9 p.m. in the Raven parking lot at Sixth Street and Phillips Avenue.

“Our first ice cream was made with our chemical-free raspberries and strawberries,” Ortman said. “We showcased our farm goods. … We didn’t intend to get into ice cream, but this became something we enjoy doing, and our customers like it.”

Berrybrook recently became a USDA-licensed on-farm creamery, and now the couple can pursue retail sales of their ice cream. Ortman said they hope to begin that later this year and will work with local stores.

“We’re hoping after the summer ends to work on our retail of ice cream and sell pints,” Ortman said. “(The plan) is to have our ice cream pints at the (Sioux Falls) Food Co+op and The Cake Lady bakery in Sioux Falls.”

Other markets in Sioux Falls feature items from Berrybrook Organics. Pomegranate Market and Dakota Fresh Food Hub carry its products, particularly pork and beef.

The Ortmans use their farm-fresh eggs in their homemade ice cream. Ortman said they also sell to nine retail egg customers in Sioux Falls.

At the 605 Made Night Market, the ice cream will be available in dishes by the scoop.

“We also do root beer floats and Boston Coolers. Those are similar to floats but with ginger ale. They’re especially good with fruit-flavored ice cream.”

Saturday’s flavors will include vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, cinnamon, poppyseed lemon, cookie dough, caramel brownie, butter pecan and a dairy-free strawberry sorbet.

The Night Market is one of Berrybrook Dairy Nook’s last events for the season, other than its pop-up ice cream shop in Freeman, which happens on the weekends in the summer.

Ortman said they also will furnish ice cream at the South Dakota State Fair for the second time.

“The State Fair always sponsors an ice cream vendor, and so we’ll be at the Value-Added Ag Center Day.”

Ortman said the 605 Made Night Market was “probably our favorite event last summer.” She said they loved the friendly atmosphere and thought the artists and vendors were very talented. “It was exactly the crowd we wanted!”

The 605 Made Night Market is co-organized by Knotty Gnome Variety & Salvage and SiouxFalls.Business. It’s sponsored by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls and Pomegranate Market.