our story
One of only a few 100% natural and Certified Organic Hemp CBD companies, Dakota Organics is a real American Dream story in the making...
Our Story
In the rich and fertile South Dakota soil, you’ll find a hard-working family with humble beginnings and rich farming roots. Keen on making a positive impact in the lives of everyone they meet, the O’Brien family is on a life-giving mission to help people experience good health and happiness through the healing properties of their Certified Organic CBD and CBG products.
Dakota Organics’ owners, Chad and Nate O’Brien grew up on their family’s 2,000 acre farm raising cattle and growing corn, wheat and soybeans. Located 20 miles outside of a tiny town in the northeastern corner of South Dakota, this is one of those sweet middle-of-nowhere places that most people have never heard of, but that makes up the heart of America.
Their grandfather Mike established the farm by hand almost 100 years ago, with no running water and an outhouse. Every generation since has come to know the true meaning of grit, and the sweet reward of a bountiful harvest.
As Nate and Chad grew up, they both pursued different lives. Nate moved to the city to pursue his passion for engineering. He eventually missed farm and family, and decided to ditch the city hustle to work the farm with his dad once again, and raise his lovely family of five children on the farm with his wife Ann.
Chad moved to California to learn about massage and alternative health and wellness at a college in San Diego. At school, Chad met Kristen, and they eventually married and had three boys. Ever since, their lives have been focused on helping improve people’s health as massage therapists and holistic health practitioners.
But like Nate, Chad’s farm roots and love of the land kept him traveling back often to visit family and get his hands back in the dirt. They say you can take the kid from the farm, but you can’t take the farm from the kid…
When Chad and Kristen learned about CBD and its abundant ways to improve people’s lives, they knew they discovered something special… They saw themselves helping people bring even greater improvement to pain, anxiety, sleep, blood pressure, seizures, and more. This sparked an idea, and they soon started daydreaming about growing medicinal hemp CBD on their family farm.
When Covid shutdowns slowed their massage business, Chad and Nate decided to leap into hemp.
Chad took several 500-mile journeys from his home in Longmont, Colorado to Alamosa in Southern Colorado, to learn from expert organic hemp farmers, who also became good friends and trusted advisors.
They overcame several challenges, like when mighty prairie winds blew weed barrier everywhere and they had to secure it by hand-shoveling thousands of scoops of dirt on top.
Two weeks later, Chad journeyed to Alamosa again to buy 1,800 hemp plants, carefully packing them into their family’s minivan on homemade plywood shelves. The smell and humidity from the plants were wonderful at first, but eventually became overwhelming and he had to drive with the windows down.
They hand planted all 1,800 plants while fighting 40 mph winds and hot 100-degree temperatures. In fact, their dad said he couldn’t remember seeing such relentless, hot, dry winds for so many days in a row in all of his years on the farm! Despite all of the challenges, their plants did amazing and thrived in every way.
Two weeks before harvest, it was THC testing time. THC is what makes you feel “stoned”, and therefore isn’t allowed in CBD products. According to Federal regulations, if THC levels exceed 0.3%, the entire field has to be burned down. The Department of Agriculture came and tested plants from each row, and thankfully, they passed every test!
Soon after, it was harvest time! They cut down all of the plants and hauled them in an enclosed trailer to their huge 70x50x18 foot shed to begin drying. Cutting down the plants was quite fun for everyone! Nate and Chad used sawzalls to cut the stalk, and their kids made a game of handing them to Grandpa who loaded them onto the trailer.
In the shed, they used industrial fans to circulate fresh air, which kept humidity levels down while properly drying the plants. Each plant was hung upside-down on thick wire strung across the shed. Their harvest was so abundant that in order to fit all the plants, they stacked 3 rows high, with the top row hanging 15 feet in the air!
After drying, it was time to “shuck” all of the plants, hand removing buds and leaves from each stalk. The entire O’Brien family had fun helping, including grandparents and all of the kids. Even then, shucking took hundreds of hours!
There are machines that make shucking easier, but they often damage the buds. Keen on growing the best hemp possible, Chad and Nate decided doing it by hand was best. In the end, they filled seven gigantic sacks with over 1,000 pounds of organic CBD and CBG hemp!
Next came CBD oil extraction. It’s important to Dakota Organics that their CBD remains completely organic, which is why they chose Rocky Mountain Extraction Services in Windsor, Colorado.
RMES is one of the only USDA Certified Organic extraction facilities. Their strict regulations and triple CO2 processing make them second to none. Before any hemp goes into their equipment, samples are tested to be 100% sure there is no trace of pesticides, heavy metals or toxins. As expected, Dakota Organics passed!
From there, bottling began. Most companies mask the flavor of low quality tinctures with strong flavors like peppermint or cinnamon, but because Dakota Organics is as pure, natural and organic as it gets, they decided to keep the raw, natural and delicious hemp flavor – which their customers love!
Chad and Kristen now use their Certified Organic CBD Salve to bring extra relief to massage patients. Their salve is also providing amazing pain relief for headaches, menstrual cramps, achy joints, sports injuries, and more.
The CBD and organic CBG oil tinctures have become popular for improving sleep, pain relief, anxiety, digestive issues, and an overall sense of contentment.
Besides people, their favorite customers to help are dogs! Making organic CBD for dogs wasn’t the initial plan, but when Chad and Kristen’s own beloved labrador, Kira (read her story here), suffered 1-2 seizures per week from epilepsy, they tried CBD. When taking CBD tincture daily, Kira has gone 65 days without a seizure! They’ve discovered that CBD also drastically improves quality of life, reduces anxiety and pain, and much more in our most faithful furry friends!
The O’Brien family is optimistically looking forward to the future of CBD and Dakota Organics, hoping that their growth matches their abundant passion for helping people live healthier, happier lives.
At first, they had only heard rumors of hemp’s healing properties, but now it is their mission to get the word out about Dakota Organic’s CBD products so that they can help as many people as possible maintain good health with natural and effective relief.
From our family to yours, may the passion, prayers and hard work that went into bringing Dakota Organics to life, help you to experience good health and abundant happiness all the days of your life!
