Homemade pizzas and sausage. Meals by order on Wednesdays and Saturdays. An array of soaps, lip balms and other novelties made on site by Jennifer Slagle, who runs the farm along with her husband, Jason.

“We’re diversified,” Jennifer Slagle said, rather than relying too much on one area of production.

The 2,800-square-foot commercial kitchen and other renovations have helped convert the former Steinbrecher potato warehouse at N7705 Metropolitan Road in Felch Township into a business that’s part restaurant, part gift shop, part custom meats store along with fresh produce in season.

In 2017, the Slagles secured a $84,110 Rural Development Fund Grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development that, along with their own investment, allowed them to remake a building that once housed livestock into a workspace that could be used year-round.

A DISPLAY OF the many varieties of cocoa butter Mama Bear’s Soap that Jennifer Slagle makes at Slagle’s Family Farm. The building at N7705 Metropolitan Road in Felch Township has a merchandise area highlighting the soap and other items the Slagles make on site.

The commercial kitchen expands what the Slagles can do: processing meat — including making sausages and lunchmeats — and fruits and vegetables; canning salsas and sauces, pickles, jams and other products made with its home-grown fruit and vegetables.

They also now have a takeout menu of prime rib burgers, chicken and fish sandwiches, wraps, even a shrimp basket they prepare on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On most Saturdays, they’ll add a special item, often something done in the smoker, such as beef brisket this past week or pulled pork.

The farm is open on Thursdays as well but devoted to preparing items to stock the freezers or custom orders. Some weeks it’s pizzas, with sauce made from tomatoes grown on the farm. On others, it’s cranking out sausage and “Yooper” and jalapeno cheddar brats.

Thursday, the kitchen team — Jennifer Slagle; her daughter, Lauren; and Ashley and Mollie Steinbrecher — were assembling pizzas that ranged from “Barnyard Meaty” to “Greenhouse Veggie,” available on a thin or hand-tossed crust or a gluten-free cauliflower crust.

They’ll put together about 30 pizzas in a prep session, all of which reliably sell out, Jennifer Slagle said.

For now they don’t have the license to cure meats, so don’t produce their own bacon, hams or pepperoni.

But they do have a number of farm-raised meats — beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey — some from their own stock.

They’re raising about 40 pigs, along with chickens, ducks, geese and seven head of cattle right now. They used to have sheep but ended that in January, though they still have lamb and even gyro meat in the freezer.

The shift to more kitchen work has meant adjusting other parts of the operation. The Slagles decided this summer not to participate in regional farmers markets, which had been a staple of their business in the past. The time needed to pack and set up the booths in Marquette or Escanaba just proved too much, Jennifer Slagle said.

Customers now seem willing to come to them. “We’re kind of getting to know enough people in the area that it’s a nice little drive,” she said.

She also coordinates by email to deliver pizzas or other orders to Iron Mountain when she has another reason to go to town.

While they reduced what they planted in the field in half as well, they still cultivate about 6 acres of vegetables and fruit, so should have plenty of fresh produce to offer when ready — except strawberries, which got nipped by the late cold snap. They’re still waiting to see if their 400 blueberry bushes will yield any fruit this summer.

They finally got the last of the plants she started — her favorite part of farm life, she said — in the ground this past weekend.

The kitchen building also has a display of Jennifer Slagle’s Mama Bear products, made on site. The cocoa butter soaps come in more than 100 scents; she offers an unscented version as well that contains goat’s milk, along with glycerine and liquid soaps, aftershave, shave sticks and lip balm.

They had hoped this year to add a new greenhouse for selling plants on site but it didn’t come together in time, though the frame is in place. They do expect to have it ready for next year.

The Slagle’s Family Farm building at N7705 Metropolitan Road in Felch Township is open 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. To order or for other information, call 906-221-5937.

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.