The Chris & Sarah Klawitter family of Crookston was recently named Polk County’s “2025 Farm Family of the Year” by the University of Minnesota. Kountry Korner Floral is their home based flower operation that has continued to bloom over the last three years.
Chris Kawitter says this family business is not the only profession held by him or his wife, Sarah. “I am a career on-shift firefighter for the City of Crookston, and my wife, Sarah, works at the Registrar’s Office at UMC.” The whole family is involved in the family farm and works hard to keep things operational. “We have three children, our oldest is Jacob, who is fourteen, and then we have eleven-year-old twins, Kaitlynn and Landon,” says Klawitter. “They do a lot of work. They weed, plant, pick, and keep the laundry up and the dishes done when we cannot do that, and that type of thing.”
The idea to start the business stemmed from a few changes happening around the area. “It kind of came from my wife in the middle of winter three years ago now, with certain other things that were happening around town,” says Klawitter. “There was one flower shop that closed down, and we had always grown a lot of our flowers and perennials and had a big garden, and she saw some things on YouTube of different places that were kind of doing that and said, Hey, let’s just try doing a little bit of this. From there, you could say it blossomed.”
A lot of things have changed since the Klawitters started out in 2022. “The scope of it, the size of it, and when I say size, we went from basically doing it in our 30’ x 70’ vegetable garden as kind of our first year to where we are at, which is approximately a half an acre of different beds,” says Klawitter. “Some of it is under cover with high tunnels, some of it perennial beds, other peony beds, and kind of just assorted.”
A half acre of flower beds is a lot of flowers, and the Klawitters have come up with different ways to market them. “We have a number of outlets. We do a little of sales through some florists, but the bulk of it is probably through farmers’ markets. We do the Crookston Farmers Market which is on Thursdays in the summer at the Downtown Square,” says Klawitter. “We do the Grand Forks Market, which is on Saturdays.” Residents may know of the Klawitter flowers from visiting Wonderful Life Foods in Crookston. “We also stock a cooler at Wonderful Life Foods in Downtown Crookston, and we also stock the cooler in the gift shop at Riverview.”
The Klawitter have been contacted as well for wedding flower, funeral arrangements, just because arrangement and more. They also have had groups out to the farm, church groups, ladies groups, and it doesn’t stop there. Kountry Korner Floral also sells bouquet subscriptions, although they are sold out for this year, Klawitter says that they have been a hit with customers.
The Klawitter family farm has grown over the last three years and looking into the future it the plan is to continue to grow and add new things. “I do see us kind of expanding our markets a little bit. Hoping to get more flowers to our local florists to push the locally grown idea,” says Klawitter. “A lot of the flowers commonly used are exported, granted, there is a place for that just because we can’t grow things here year-round.”
This year’s Farm Families of the Year will be recognized next month in a ceremony at the annual Farmfest in Redwood Falls. “They do it every year. Every Farm Family from every county is invited to a little luncheon, and I’m assuming you walk across the stage and get an award type of thing.”
The ceremony is on Thursday, August 7, in Redwood Falls, MN. Check out Kountry Korner Floral on Facebook and also their website https://kountrykornerfloral.square.site/. For more information on farm tours, ordering fresh cut flowers, and more, call 701-740-3041
