History of the NorthWedge

Rick Koch had a horticulturist’s dream job. He was managing a large greenhouse complex on an estate in Delaware, which was owned by the CEO of the DuPont company. Rick’s main job was to grow plants in order to keep fresh flowers in the mansion.

But Rick yearned to use his talents to grow for anyone, no matter what their income was, and he had a desire to run his own business. After six years of planning, in 1977, Rick and his wife, Nancy, moved to a 120 acre farm in Crosslake, MN to fulfill his dream of growing fruits and vegetables.

That first spring, Rick built a plastic covered lean to on the side of the garage so he could start sowing seeds to get a jump start on the short growing season. He planted a large garden, and they had plenty of produce to sell to families in the area. The second year was a repeat of the first with many people admiring the garden and inquiring where Rick and Nancy purchased their plants.

The Koch’s minds were whirling around the fact that growing the plants was a lot easier than planting, harvesting and selling of the fruits, vegetables, and some cut flowers. In 1980, they decided to change their focus and erected their first greenhouse. They had young flower and vegetable plants for sale! Over the next nine years, the one small greenhouse expanded to two 100 ft houses. Business was going great.

Then in 1989 the present location of The Northwedge came up for sale. The Kochs could easily see the advantage of a busier location and separating the business from home. They moved the two existing greenhouses to the new location, and since that year, three more greenhouses have been added.

The dream came true - Rick was growing plants, and families and neighbors of the community were enjoying them and a successful business was born!

Rick helped that dream come true for two other families in central Minnesota who he mentored as they set up their own greenhouse businesses.  Sadly, Rick passed away in 2014, but his dream lives on with Nancy, and his son Eric. This year the Northwedge is celebrating 42 years of growing for you.