By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent SUGARCREEK, Ohio — No one loves pigs more than Amber Kuemerle of Sugarcreek; she owns 18 of those grunters and wants more. “Those pigs are my passion,” she said from her Tuscarawas County farm. “I love them. Me and my husband, Jason, just erected a small barn just for these 4-H pigs.” But Jason and the couple’s three young children (Emily, Colson, and Blake) tell a different story, saying Amber’s infatuation is cooking. “I do love to cook,” she admitted. “I call cooking my pastime; my chill time.” From her small, 14.5-acre farm, she produces, cans, and distributes four varieties of salsas, as well as pineapple and peach dressing. Most adored – as her friends and neighbors will attest – is her hot-and-sweet pepper butter. So popular is it that it required her to grow 2,000 Hungarian waxed peppers. With so many peppers on hand, the idea came to can and market the two pepper products. At about the same time in 2005 the Kuemerles learned that Zifer’s, a local family-owned business, wanted to sell the rights to its spaghetti, marinara, and other sauces. The Kuemerles suddenly spotted an opportunity. “The Zifer foods were already marketed, so this was our foot in the door,” Amber said. She worked with the Zifers in 2004 and purchased that business in 2005. The Kuemerles added on to their garage to create a 30-by-45-foot certified kitchen. After a few years, Amber introduced the pepper butters to the market and started adding other recipes such as a sweet vinaigrette and the sweet, textured salsas. The following year her company, Starfire Farms, was launched. At first she sold or gave products to friends and those residing in her county. Within the next year her 12 products were sold through distributors, at local stores and her own store, Starfire Farms County Store in Berlin, Ohio. She even sells her products through her website at starfirefarms.com All canning is done in a barn that is 200 feet from their back door. “I’ve done a ton of marketing because it’s just in me, I’m that type of driven person,” Amber explained. Business began to swell and all five family members found themselves tending to pepper plants continuously. “We started growing 200 pepper plants for the pepper butter, and before we knew it we were up to 2,000 plants,” she said. The plants, and their care, were consuming the family’s time. So much that the Kuemerles found relief when they partnered with Yoder Acres Produce, a 60-acre Amish produce farm nearly. This was how they could source their peppers. “We don’t raise any of those peppers now,” Amber said. “We buy all our peppers. With three kids in sports, 4-H, and all that, it just became too much. And how stupid were we, anyway? We live in Amish country, where every Amish family has its own garden patch, so why not buy from them? This way we’re supporting the local economy.” When the Kuemerles set up their home cannery, both Jason and Amber brought some important skills. They grew up working for dairy farms and canning/freezing produce from gardens they helped plant and harvest. Amber’s experience working at a meat shop and lunch deli made her familiar with quality standards and sanitation inspections. To this day, all the couple’s recipes start as small-batch recipes that Amber perfects before multiplying them to make batches large enough to fill the 40-gallon water-jacketed, gas-powered kettles in which she cans. She plans for year-round canning by cleaning, grinding, and freezing 2,000-3,000 pounds of Hungarian wax peppers each summer, as well as sweet banana peppers for butters and salsas. She typically cans products 3-4 days a week as needed to meet demand. “The cannery gives me the freedom and flexibility to raise our kids and bring in some income,” she said. “We need to look at our roots and core values: gardening and fresh produce. It’s important to know where your food comes from. Many companies have their recipe and pay others to have it processed. I refuse to do that because I have no control over quality. We build the cannery and do everything.” |
