A staple of the Shedden community since 1992, Evelyn’s Sausage Kitchen has been making homemade and hand twisted sausages, smoked and fresh meats for 30 years. Evelyn retired from the business in 2023, but not before mentoring and teaching the Harris boys, Carson and Eric, her recipes and techniques the Shedden community has come to know and love. The Harris boys officially took over operations in January of 2023, and began as a vendor at the Horton Farmers’ Market during the 2023 Winter Market. “We did the Winter Market and thought we would stay on and do the Summer Market just to give people a place in St. Thomas to find us on a weekly basis without having to drive out to Shedden,” said Heather. “We bring a really good selection each week,” Heather smiled. “We absolutely bring our pepperoni sticks and Polish coil every week to the market, as well as our fresh sausage, which is made every Thursday.” They also bring lunch meats, and usually have bacon and smoked chops at the stand, with their jerky also making some appearances. The business is completely family run; with Carson and Eric making all the fresh meats in the back, and their younger brother Cooper helping out when he is home after school. Eric’s partner Millie runs the stand at the Horton Farmers’ Market each Saturday, and their cousin Mikayla runs the store counter in Shedden. The Harris parents, Heather and Darryl help out occasionally with maintenance and during busy times, but the business is really run by the boys. They take great pride in continuing Evelyn’s legacy by making quality products and offering great customer service at both their store in Shedden and their stand at the Market. “The Horton Farmers’ Market allows us to get our name out there,” said Heather. “Surprisingly, even with the fact that Evelyn’s has been in Shedden for 30 years and does quite well, a lot of people in St. Thomas don't know about us. So getting into the Market and being able to do some product samples is allowing us to raise awareness that we are just a hop, skip, and a jump out in Shedden.” Their store in Shedden carries all of their products, as well as other local vendor products, many of which are also at the Horton Farmers’ Market; such as Palmer’s Maple Syrup, Wildflowers Honey, Mistyglen Creamery, and more. “Our desire for the store is to also become a local destination for other local vendor products,” said Heather. “We have tried to collaborate with other local artisans and producers to make our store kind of a one-stop-shop for all that is great and local.” The Harris family has spent a lot of time and put a lot of care and thought into attending local markets and sampling local products to find the ones that would pair best with their products. “We can give some of those businesses an opportunity to have their products out in our store on a daily basis,” Heather smiled. When they first took over the business in January of 2023, the family was nervous, but their hard work, attention to detail, and commitment to the recipes, quality, and traditions of Evelyn’s speaks for itself. “We think the quality and taste speaks for itself, and the community has been amazing and accepted us since taking over,” Heather proudly explained. “I think they appreciate that it is still a family run business, and that we have not and will not compromise on the quality of ingredients. We haven’t changed a single thing from the way Evelyn did it for 30 years. Don’t fix what is not broken, right?” said Heather with a smile. With the quality and recipes remaining the same, the only thing the Harris brothers have started to branch out with is trying out some additional variations of products, with different flavours of jerky or hot versions of other recipes. Other than that, “the staples of Evelyn’s have always remained the same and will remain the same,” said Heather. ![]() As for the care and work put into the products, the Harris brothers are in the back of the store preparing products each and every day; often running smoke houses and cooking products into the evenings so they can be ready for the store the next day. “It’s seasonal a little bit; obviously over the Christmas season it’s like nightly that we are there, but it takes a team and it takes a lot of time to handcraft it,” explained Heather. “We aren’t using one big machine that mixes the meat, stuffs the sausages, twists the sausages and packs them. Those are all individual steps for us,” said Heather. “Yes we use a mixer, but then we use a separate stuffer and we hand twist and hand package them all. I think that is probably what lends to our quality.” All of the pork Evelyn’s uses comes from Conestoga, which is a co-op for local pork producers from farms within a 3-hour drive of Breslau. “We choose a Thursday delivery because we know that pig was processed on Tuesday,” said Heather. “It comes to us Thursday, by Thursday evening it’s in our cooler as a sausage, and if it’s not sold by Saturday it goes into our freezer and is frozen. We try to keep it fresh, and we try to use as much locally sourced materials as we can.” Evelyn’s gets a lot of their spices and materials from The Butcher Supply Store in Thedford, and they work a lot with the Dutton Foodland instead of buying bulk supplies from larger retailers. “We always get our sub buns [a popular kind of hidden menu item] made by Dutton Foodland, along with all of our toppings and veggies,” Heather explained. “We want to support them because they have our polish coil in their deli counter. We try to locally source as many ingredients as we can.” Evelyn’s also offers wild game processing; a niche offering since there aren’t a lot of places locally where hunters can bring their deer, wild turkey, or moose to be made into products like pepperettes, jerky or sausages. “People come from far and wide for this because it’s been done for years,” said Heather. “Evelyn is well known in the hunting community for this service, and she has been doing it for so long that people just come to us. Just give us a call and we will explain how it works, but we basically take all of the existing recipes and use their game meat to make whatever products they want.” As for what Evelyn’s loves the most about the Horton Farmers’ Market, it always goes back to the community. “We love to collaborate and support each other,” Heather said with a smile. “It’s all about community; seeing all the people in the community, and supporting collaborations with other vendors.” They love the variety the Horton Farmers’ Market has to offer, and believe that “the variety at the Market only makes it a better experience for its visitors.” Next time you are at the Market, be sure to stop by Evelyn’s Sausage Kitchen stand, say hello to Millie, and don’t be afraid to ask to sample a product! They bring delicious offerings each week, and their full range of handmade products is just a short drive away.
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