A new, locally sourced fair food Elgin

A new, locally sourced fair food

Kleins supply pork for Minnesota Farmers Union’s pork schnitzel

PHOTOS BY KATE RECHTZIGEL The Klein family (front from left) Lisa, April, Eric and Kathy (back from left) Sarah, Andrew and Isaac stand in their rotationally grazed pastures on Aug. 1. Not pictured is Benjamin Klein.

BY KATE RECHTZIGEL | STAFF WRITER

ELGIN - When looking for a sandwich to feature at this year’s Minnesota State Fair, the Minnesota Farmers Union was looking for something that could be sourced locally and would promote Minnesota farmers and their members.

“We had a few ideas,” Chris Koch said. “But we wanted something that would pair well with fair foods and be either fried or on a stick.”

Koch is an executivechef at the Farmers Kitchen + Bar in Minneapolis which is owned by the Minnesota Farmers Union. The Farmers Kitchen + Bar, along with the Minnesota Farmers Union, decided to serve the pork schnitzel sandwich at the state fair this year and get 200 whole pork loins from the Klein family who own and operate Hidden Stream Farm near Elgin.

“We had to keep it top secret for a while,” Koch said. “But the Kleins were really easy to work with, and their loins were fresh and still had the bellies attached which meant we could also use them for our carnitas tacos in the restaurant.” Eric Klein agreed.

“We had been working with them for the past two years providing bacon for their BLTs at the fair, and on a weekly basis providing vegetables, eggs, beef or pork for the restaurant. So, when they asked us if we could provide the loins for their booth, we were excited to help out and sell our pork to them,” he said.

Eric and his wife, Lisa, and their kids - Andrew, Benjamin, Katy, Sarah, Isaac and April - raise 1,000 feeder pigs as well as 3,000 broiler chickens, 300 laying hens, and 70 beef cattle a year.

They also run about 500 acres of certifi ed organic cropland consisting of hay, oats, wheat, corn, soybeans, cover crops and rye.

The Klein family has been a part of the Minnesota Farmers Union for 12 years and is the third-generation on their farm.

“We’ve been involved because they really took an interest in promoting small farms and local food which aligned with our goals,” Klein said. “It’s been a really good organization.”

Lisa’s dad, Everett, fi rst started raising pigs on the farm in Wabasha County in 1989. He had recently retired from milking cows.

“He milked cows for 40 years and then put some pigs out in the pasture,” Klein said. “The old story is that people driving by saw the pigs out in the pasture and they wanted one of those; they didn’t want a confi nement pig.”

Eight years later, in 1997, Eric and Lisa came back to the farm and started expanding the farm. They now work with a local farmer to feed out Yorkshire, Duroc and Hampshire pigs.

“The commodity market is so unstable and we couldn’t build a small family farm not knowing what we were going to get every week,” Klein said. “So, we thought that by setting our own price, it was the best way (for us) to make a living.”

The pigs are housed in hoop barns that are deep bedded with straw and corn stalks and fed non-GMO grains.

Eric Klein opens the door for an excited group of chickens on Aug. 1. He lets them out to graze each day around Noon, and puts them back inside around 8 p.m. so they can lay their eggs. Kleins page 6

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“We tried raising farrow-to-fi nish pigs on pasture for a number of years, but it got too hard,” Klein said. “Lisa was raising all of the kids and trying to do the chores and I was making all the deliveries. So, we transitioned into feeder pigs so we could have more time with marketing and family.”

The family also implements regenerative practices such as rotationally grazing the other animals, implementing waterways and growing cover crops.

“We rotate the cattle and the chickens and they both help the ground,” Klein said. “We rotate the broilers every day, egg layers every fi ve days and cattle every other day.”

Selling products, however, is not new to the Kleins as they also own Dover Processing in Dover and work with local businesses within a 50-mile radius of the farm to sell local produce.

“It’s a one stop shop whether that be direct to consumers or wholesale to schools and restaurants,” Klein said. “We sell to Carleton College and St. Olaf College in Northfi eld, through a food management company called Bon Appetit. And, it worked out really well because they were buying all of our loins and then all of those kids went on vacation for the summer so we had more loins.”

To run their successful farm and business, each family member helps out. Andrew heads up the food business working with the chefs and the consumers to get orders and deliver products, Benjamin splits his time between working for a landscaper and helping on the farm, Katy takes care of the egg business when she is home from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, Lisa handles the bookwork, works with the chefs and maintains orders, and Eric and the rest of the kids handle chores on the farm.

“It depends on the day,” Klein said. “Some days I am down in Dover hauling animals in and helping customers get their animals unloaded, while the boys are working on chores. Four days a week, Andrew drives to the twin cities or La Crosse, Wisconsin for deliveries, or he drives to the processor for product. If both Andrew is gone and Ben is out landscaping, then I am on chores with the rest of the kids. We kind of all do everything.”

In addition to the pork products, the farm also sells grass fed beef and chicken such as brats, snack sticks, roasts, chicken hearts, chicken breasts, chicken thighs, legs and whole chickens as well as many other products which are raised on their farm.

“Consumers love it,” Klein said. “The biggest reaction is ‘This is what I remember when I was growing up on a farm, or this is what I remember grandma making.’”

The Kleins market the products on their website and through social media, and deliver products in a refrigerated van or ship directly to customers in insulated coolers with dry ice. Most are sold regionally, and over the years, they have enjoyed building relationships with their customers.

“I like meeting the customers, seeing what they like and seeing their families grow as ours does,” Klein said.

Some of their favorite memories on the farm consist of being able to raise a family and work with their kids outside doing what Lisa’s dad started.

“It’s not work if you enjoy what you are doing,” Klein said. “The kids are always with us and I like seeing the next generation take an interest in the farm.” The family typically only attends the state fair if one of the kids is taking a project or if they are to be recognized in the Minnesota Cooks events. The family was highlighted in 2007, 2010 and 2015. “We would go up on the day we were to be featured, and they

see tion the cal sta kid or og so Th lig an o b would have a chef cook the meal and give out samples while another chef or a TV personality would emcee the event,” Klein said. “It was really fun.”

This year, the Kleins have been stockpiling their pork loins since May.

“We put our heads together on what we could do, kept track and made an inventory,” Klein said. “We set 10 to 20 pork loins aside a week and fulfi lled the order in July.”

Throughout the venture, Andrew delivered the product weekly to the Farmers Kitchen + Bar where Koch and his team would cut, bread and freeze the loins until they will be deep-fried in the mobile food trucks at the fair.

“Surprisingly, the pork loin stays fresh when frozen,” Koch said.

The sandwiches will be topped with pickled cabbage and served with mustard-mayo on a toasted bun.

“The sandwiches will be a slice of everything and promote local farmers,” Koch said.

One of Koch’s biggest challenges was realizing that he couldn’t process all the pork by hand, and that as the Minnesota Farmers Union will be making 10,000 sandwiches to serve at the fair, about one-third of those will be from the Kleins pork.

“It was hard to come up with 15,000 pounds of pork so we couldn’t get everything from the Kleins,” Koch said. “But we enjoyed working with them as they are one of the few who also delivered the product.”

The Kleins are honored to represent Minnesota farmers at the fair this year.

“We are excited for this farm recognition and we really enjoyed working with the Minnesota Farmers Union,” Klein said. “We don’t always have an outlet for the pork loins so it really helped us out and we are excited to see what next year will bring.”

The sandwiches will be available beginning Aug. 25 at the Minnesota Farmers Union Coffee Shop on the northside of Dan Patch Avenue between Cooper and Cosgrove streets.

If people can’t make it to the fair and still want to try the sandwich, it will be served at the Farmers Kitchen + Bar in Minneapolis after the fair.

PHOTO BY KATE RECHTZIGEL Hidden Stream Farm sells pork products as well as grass fed beef and chicken. All the beef, chicken and pork are raised on their farm near Elgin and processed at Dover Processing.

PHOTO SUBMITTED This year’s new fair food, the pork schnitzel, will be served at the Minnesota Farmers Union booth during the Minnesota State Fair. The Kleins at Hidden Stream Farm are supplying 200 pork loins to the Farmers Union for the schnitzel.

PHOTO BY KATE RECHTZIGEL (above) The Kleins raise 1,000 feeder pigs, 3,000 broiler chickens, 300 laying hens, and 70 beef cattle each year on their farm in Wabasha County. They also run 500 acres of certifi ed organic cropland consisting of hay, oats, wheat, corn, soybeans, cover crops and rye.

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