Timeless Seeds flourishing in Conrad, MT

Maybe it’s the Black Beluga Lentils. Or possibly the Kapuli Chickpeas

Either way, colorfully described organic products are helping Timeless Seeds http://www.timeless-seeds.com/ , a tiny Conrad company, make a name for itself in the food world.

The Black Beluga Lentils were featured just a couple of weeks ago in a photograph in Newsweek magazine. The picture accompanied a story about the rising popularity of "artisanal" foods.

Earlier this year, lentils and other Timeless retail products landed on the shelves of Whole Foods Market earlier this year, a 160-store natural and organic grocery chain. Based in Texas, Whole Foods gives the Conrad company a presence in urban markets across the United States and in Europe.

"It has given us tremendous credibility among some regional and national distributors," said David Oien, one of four organic farmers who founded Timeless in 1987. "We are confident we will be able to parlay that into getting into more markets in this country and around the world."

"We are getting some great exposure and it’s helping us," added Bud Barta, another Timeless founder who grows hay and is a building contractor near Lewistown.

Landing in Newsweek, or on the Whole Foods shelves, was sort of an accidental, to hear Oien tell it.

"It was just a string of good luck," he said.

By JAMES E. LARCOMBE Tribune Business Editor

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051016/BUSINESS/510160304/1046