Employees First

Chuck Knierem likes to make lunch for the employees at his family’s business, Wildrose Farm Organics, at Breezy Point, Minnesota. Chuck, a former logger, and Karen, a custom seamstress turned clothing designer, believe that a commitment to a healthier planet involves making a commitment to their employees. Besides daily lunch, which may include eggs from the Knierem’s flock of hens, organic produce from the farm’s garden, or milk from the farm’s goat herd, the staff that produces the farm’s line of organic cotton clothing and accessories has a flexible work schedule, deep discounts on the products made by the company, and a “sew your own day” where Chuck and Karen provide the equipment and fabric necessary for employees to make their own clothing. “All the women who work here have their own families. We let them set the schedules to keep us pro-family,” Karen said. “A child who is ill comes first, and a doctor’s appointment assumes priority over a rigid production time table.”

American Grown

Wildrose Farm takes the same responsible approach to their customers. Organic cotton clothing, because the fabric is not treated with formaldehyde or chlorine like regular cotton is, is easier on theskin and does not cause irritation or allergic reactions. Organic cotton – the Knierem’s only use American grown – is softer and more supple also, according to Chuck. Wildrose customers come from internet sales that are shipped directly from the farm, retail sales from the Wildrose Organics store in Peqout Lakes, and national sales through a Massachusetts wholesale marketer. But a manufacturer’s responsibility doesn’t start with the customer or even the employees, as far as Chuck and Karen are concerned. It starts with the company’s suppliers. “We thoroughly check out all suppliers to see if they really are making organic products and if their items are truly natural,” Chuck says.

Full Circle

The claim of “organic” for cotton is unusual. Cotton agriculture involves the use of a lot of agricultural chemicals. Chuck says that part of their business is the need to keep educating people who want high quality chemical free products about the nature of cotton agriculture. “Few people are aware, for example, that conventional cotton is grown on 3 percent of American agricultural land but uses 25 percent of all the agricultural chemicals,” he says.

The idea of a full circle of responsibility has taken the Knierem’s down some interesting paths as a business and, in 1999, resulted in Wildrose Farm being awarded the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Waste and Pollution Prevention. The genesis of the award was based, in part, on a desire not to have to throw away the beautiful scraps of cloth left over after cutting out patterns. With that in mind Karen applied for, and received, a $20,417 grant from the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance. The plan was to reclaim 100-percent of the waste fabric. With the grant funds Wildrose Farm figured out a system for manufacturing cotton rugs from the fabric scraps. Now the rugs, instead of moldering as garbage in a land fill, will grace and warm the floors of appreciative customers for years to come.

As a former logger and with an interest in sustainable living, Chuck has established part of the land as a certified tree farm. Chuck is managing the woods on the 22 acre farmstead for a sustainable harvest. Part of his approach to sustainable forestry is to utilize carefully selected pine trees for the lumber in the buildings needed by Wildrose Farm to expand its clothing making enterprise. Firewood is also used to operate an efficient central hot water heating system for all the buildings that are heated on the farm.

Chuck and Karen envision their company a part of an economy that has loops of responsibility that don’t stop at the company’s bottom line. That economy will be one that cares as much for the vendors and employees of a company as it does for the company owners and its profits. It will be an economy that nurtures equally those resources in their backyard and those on other continents. And this “enlightened capitalism”, as Chuck calls it, will be profitable for all concerned. Knierem’s insistence that the glass is half full has served them well to date. While customers, employees, and the environment have been well served so have the owners. The business has grown and profited.