WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN

My name is Rena Kientz, born and raised in Calgary, AB didn't think I would end up marrying a farmer, oddly enough met him through a dating service back in 1987. Hit it off from the start and in a year to the day we were married. My parents came from a homestead farmer background in Saskatchewan and I spent my summers from the time I was three till I was eighteen on my Grandparents farm, so was no stranger to the farming life style.

In the first two years of marriage I started to raise my own chickens for meat, had laying hens for egg, and decided (because goats were a big thing starting back then) to get a couple of goats. When we decided to start our family I was going to be a stay home mom and thought that raising goats for meat would be a way of helping with the household income. Between 1989 and 1996 I accumulated 96 breeding does, had a half dozen sheep, chickens (both meat and layers), turkeys, and dabbled in raising pigs and ducks too.

We already had two children by 1992, then in March of 1996 we had twins. Four children under the age of 5 and all those animals, well let's say I was very, very busy so over the next two years I sold all of the goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, turkeys. I still raise our own chickens and layers for the eggs.

One of my sisters who also married a farmer, in Saskatchewan, was going to their local farmers market she was running the kitchen in the building. Thought that would be something I could do to help earn some extra cash and there were several local farmers markets around us. Did some investigating and read a few articles, but what to make and take.

By this time my kids were going to school and in Irish Dance and the oldest was starting Navy League Cadets. While taking my kids to their different activities I kept hearing the same thing when parents were talking about what they were feeding their kids for supper because of always being on the run, it was fast food, Wendy's, A&W and so on. I was now finding I was doing the same thing. Here was a possible target market, people who needed a quick, nutritious meal that was easy to serve.

Looking in the grocery stores for ready cooked frozen meals was a thought, tried some, definitely didn't like them. Decided to make my own and settled on making homemade meat pies, easy to make and can make so many different kinds of fillings. This started the love affair with farmers markets.

When our oldest started post secondary school I had to find an off farm job to help pay the bigger bills that would be coming. Long story short - kids are all grown up and doing their own thing,  had no job to go to for the past seven months,  it was time I followed my dream and start my meat pie business and go all the way. February 2020 The Seasoned Kitchen (2020) Inc. was started.

I will be starting with the original meat pies I did for the farmers markets. I have a lot of ideas to add to that list so over time I will be adding new meat pies, breakfast pies, quiches and much more.