The Start of Pork
& Plants (1967-80)
Edward and Joyce Kreidermacher purchased the farm just outside Altura, Minnesota
in 1967, shortly after their marriage.
At
that time, they raised mainly dairy cows, but soon they expanded into raising
hogs. Joyce was always very
interested in nutrition and dietary research, particularly in growing specific
vegetables that were promoted to be better for certain vitamins or nutritional
aspects. When she wasn’t able to
find these specific vegetables at nearby greenhouses, she researched how to get
seeds and grow the plants herself. Eventually
Joyce was growing all her own vegetables (and a few flowers of course) and being
asked by family members to grow a few extras for them.
One room of the old farm house (which was considered the office, sewing
room, etc.) was always lined with hog mats and mist controls (from the hog barn
of course) for the many trays of seeds to be germinated in the early spring.
In 1972 a “lean-to” was added to the south side of the small hog barn, so
that the small seedlings could be grown to maturity before being transplanted to
the garden. At this point, word of
mouth had spread from family members and neighbors to others in the area, who
would come to buy vegetables or flowers from Joyce.
It didn’t take long for Joyce to outgrow the “lean-to” and put up
her first real greenhouse.
Year after year, word of mouth spread and more people came to buy plants.
The Kreidermacher family also continued to grow and each of the 4
children spent much of their childhoods helping with the small plants in the
greenhouse, making change for customers out of a yellow tackle box, and spending
the summer gathering vegetables in the gigantic garden.
(1980-2000)
For many years Joyce’s hobby was really not considered a full-fledge business
and customers just visited “Kreidermachers” for their vegetables and
flowers. Finally around 1985, Ed
and Joyce accepted the fact that they needed to really expand and make it
official by coming up with a company name.
Their oldest daughter joked with them one day, “You know Pork &
Beans, just call it Pork & Plants!”
As
luck would have it, her joke hit with the rest, since it encompassed the entire
farm, which by that time consisted of 2 large hog barns and the greenhouses.
In 1986 the greenhouse was moved (and more greenhouses constructed) on the
current site. It seemed that ever
year there was another greenhouse being put up, since we were sold out of
everything early the year before. Most
of the original buildings on the farm have disappeared, even the old farm house
and barn to be taken over by greenhouses.
There were several years that Pork & Plants even tried selling frozen pork
(pork chops, roasts, etc.) through a freezer in the greenhouse, but the
seasonality and demand for certain cuts over others made this extremely hard to
predict and thus was discontinued.
The Current Pork & Plants
In 2002 all of the old production greenhouses were dismantled in order to
construct a new greenhouse range that would be more efficient and produce better
plants, since the roof peaks open up to direct sun and cool temps.
With
this new construction the whole site covers approximately 1.3 acres.
Of course it’s never ending.
Three
of the old greenhouse structures were reinstalled on another part of the farm
for additional space, since there isn’t enough room once again in the new
production range.
Over the years, each of the children have spent their
school years working in the greenhouse and even helping when home on vacation or
visiting for the weekend. In 1997
Ed and Joyce’s son, Eric, returned to the farm to partner with them on the
farm and greenhouse. As the hog
market bottomed out shortly after his return, Eric found that he actually
enjoyed learning to grow the plants more.
Naturally
the greenhouse has grown while the hogs have become a minor part of the farm
then. Shortly after Eric’s return
to the farm, his wife, Ann, joined the family and although her passion is
horses, she found a natural talent in working in the greenhouse as well.
As Eric has taken over more of the business
responsibilities, so that Ed & Joyce can enjoy what they really like to do,
as well as spending more time with their 6 grandchildren, he's tried to
convince his sister, Maria, to return home. After 10 years of working
for PanAmerican Seed, an international flower seed breeder/producer, Maria
decided to take him up on the offer Spring 2007.
People that have frequented Pork & Plants over the
years know that everything is grown on site and we are known for quality and
selection. We remain mainly a family run operation with only 5 full time
employees; Ed, Joyce, Maria, Eric, and Ann, and a few neighbors that work part-time
during the spring.
Recently an older gentleman showed
up at the farm, and looking very puzzled, commented to Joyce that he was
retiring from his job of taking pictures of local farms and had a photo of
what he thought was this farm back around 1969. Well, his puzzled look
made sense since not one building in the photo he held still stood on the
farm. Other than a few trees, the driveway to the house was the only
thing the same.
Ed & Joyce Kreidermacher's farm around 1969
New customers still ask what the Pork stands for in Pork
& Plants, and although it’s a small part of the farm nowadays, it’s
still a large part of the beginnings of the greenhouse business.
