While there, he met Marie, a California native with no farming experience. Nearly 20 years ago, the 53-year-old Kiel native left his hometown to pursue a job as an electrical engineer in California. Owning and operating a farm wasn’t initially part of Steve’s plans, though. So it was only natural that he started a business using sustainable farming techniques. “Mom and Dad were interested in us learning how to do something,” Steve said. His parents taught him and his four brothers to tend a garden that produced a large percentage of their daily vegetables, partly as a cost-saving measure and partly as a life lesson, he said. Having grown up on a farm, Steve said healthy living and eating was always a part of his childhood experience.

It’s their concern for the animals, their interest in producing nutritious, high-quality foods and their attention to the effect they have on the environment, said Steve. It’s not just the Deibeles’ aspiration to market the desirable pig to chefs that drew the couple into the sustainable farming business, however. That’s what the Berkshire provides with its dark skin that allows the pig to graze outdoors without getting sunburned its hearty appetite and ability to easily forage on pasture and its heavy meat marbling that produces juicy, tender cuts. Golden Bear is one of the few local farms that offer the rare pig breed and the only one to keep corn, soy or any genetically modified crops out of their animals’ diets.Įven though Berkshires have been around for centuries, they’ve become a popular trend in the past 10 to 20 years with high-end chefs searching for a higher-quality, flavorful meat. “And that’s what we’re really trying to do is focus on the quality of the pork and quality of the beef we raise.”

“It’s not just the types of foods you choose but the quality of foods and the quality of ingredients,” Steve said. The Deibeles’ 350 Berkshire pigs are free to roam on the roughly 200 acres of Golden Bear Farm, grazing on fruits, vegetables, grasses, clover and alfalfa before they’re butchered and distributed to local restaurants and markets. “Healthy bacon” may seem like an oxymoron, but that’s what Steve and Marie Deibele are raising on their rural Kiel farm.

Golden bear farm in kiel