BY JEFFREY HAGE STORIES OF THE HEARTLAND

SAUK CENTRE— After decades of milking cows and hauling manure, Todd and Louise Malecha are betting on something unexpected: frozen fruit pops headed for school lunch lines and grocery freezers.

The longtime Stearns County dairy operators have invested“ a couple million” dollars into a new frozen food venture called Papa and Nana’ s Chillery that turns simple fruit blends into shelf-ready popsicles designed to meet strict school nutrition standards.

“ We’ re just simple people who love to work,” Todd told visitors during a recent tour of their Villard farm.“ If we’ re not adding value to other people’ s lives, we have no business being in business.”

The Malechas are producing the fruit pops in a Sauk Centre building that once housed a vegan sausage operation. The facility comes with a Safe Quality Food( SQF) safety rating, a high bar for sanitation and process control that gave the family a running start in the regulated world of wholesale foods.

Working closely with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Todd said, was key to making the transition from farm to food plant. He described the state’ s ag network as unexpectedly collaborative once he found“ the right people with the right answers” who were willing to help the family meet licensing and regulatory requirements.

The family has developed recipes for school systems, including apple and apple – honeyberry flavors that Todd calls“ very, very simple” but flavorful.

Each bar uses real fruit and a short ingredient list intended to appeal to parents and regulators alike.

“ Boy, was that ever enlightening when you use real products, how short that nutrition label is,” Todd said, noting that the pops contain“ no nuclear waste” and only about five ingredients.

When the fruit content reaches 80 percent or more, he added, schools can qualify for state reimbursement, creating a financial incentive for districts to choose the locally made treats.

The retail side is beginning to grow

as well. After redesigning the product box for Coborn’ s, the Malechas have started with a small footprint: Shaefer’ s Hometown Market in Sauk Centre and natural-food outlets in Rochester and Cannon Falls. Todd said those placements came through connections made by the Department of Agriculture.

The new company is still in a“ soft launch,” and the Malecha’ s hope eventually to use cream from their own herd to make ice cream once long-lead imported equipment arrives and is installed.

For Todd, who has spent a lifetime working 100-hour weeks in dairy, the fruit pops are more than a side business. They’ re part of a larger push to diversify, create better quality of life and offer the next generation of Malechas a reason to stay rooted in rural Minnesota.