04/23/2026
Hello! We’re Ashley and Jon, the husband and wife duo at the heart of Driftless Minerals. We wanted to introduce ourselves to all of our new friends and update all of our familiar faces!
We are both from Wisconsin but this journey began in North Carolina. Shortly after we got married Jon joined the Army and we moved to Fayetteville, NC. Ashley opened up a retail store there that we ran for 8 years. It was the start of a wild adventure.
In 2019, Ashley went to her first gem show and we started carrying a handpicked selection of crystals in our store. Then a pandemic would test our resilience and launch our mineral business.
When we had to temporarily close our retail store during the pandemic, we did our first live sale from the loft we lived in, above our store. Before long, it was overflowing with rocks and we quickly discovered that our new journey was more than a business venture, it became a passion of ours. We went from the loft to a warehouse, then a bigger warehouse.
Our journey took another turn when we decided to move back home to Wisconsin. We packed up and headed to our new home in Bagley, Wisconsin.
This next phase is everything we dreamed of. A home surrounded by nature, close to family with a big warehouse right on our property.
Once we got to Wisconsin we began to explore the unique geological area we live in here, the Driftless Region. This small area of the upper midwest was untouched by glaciers, unlike the surrounding areas. Leaving behind a landscape of steep, rugged terrain, deep river valleys, and limestone bluffs. We even got our hands dirty and found some incredible driftless region rocks!
That inspired us to make one more big move in our business. Over the years our taste for crystals evolved. We started as a gift shop but fell in love with collecting unique mineral specimens and learning the stories behind them.
We decided to rebrand, connecting our passion to our roots. We needed an identity that resembled who we have become in this long and wild journey. So Driftless Minerals was born!
We can’t wait to see where it takes us, and we are so happy to have you be a part of it!
