WAITSBURG – Rows of brightly colored pumpkins and a cheery wave from Clarence Stearns have been familiar sights to Preston Avenue travelers each fall. But this year, the produce can be found around the side of the house, off Harmon Street, where the operation has expanded to include much more than just fruits and vegetables.

Clarence Stearns says Mr. C's Smokin Co., located at 405 Preston Ave. in Waitsburg, is a true family endeavor. What started out as a simple produce stand several years ago, has now grown to include wild game processing, sausage and jerky making, and meat and cheese smoking.

Stearns, assisted by wife Lisa and son Greg, started selling produce from the family's 5-acre garden about three years ago. Stearns says they still grow and sell seasonal produce, including "the best beets in the country according to a thousand different customers," summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, pumpkins and kohlrabi. They also bring in local favorites such as Hermiston melons, Castoldi's Walla Walla Sweet Onions, and fruits from Milton-Freewater, including cherries, peaches, plumcots (a plum-apricot hybrid), nectarines, and apples.

A little over a year ago, the family built a commercial kitchen, smoker, and cool room in the building behind the house, allowing them to butcher and process wild game and domestic animals, make and sell smoked meats, and smoke cheeses for local creameries and their own shop.

"We've been smoking meats and making sausage for a long time for ourselves, because we loved doing it," Stearns said. "Once we built the kitchen and got legal we could do it for everybody."

Today, Mr. C's is fully licensed as a custom meat shop, which allows them to process USDA meat and butcher animals, and as a food processing plant, which allows them to smoke cheeses and process wild game.

Stearns said he currently smokes cheeses for the Umapine Creamery, the Walla Walla Valley Creamery, and Little Dipper Dairy. In addition Mr. C's typically carries nine to 11 different varieties of smoked cheeses in his own shop. His most popular cheeses are pepper jack, medium cheddar, provolone, mozzarella, and Swiss.

Stearns said his style of smoking, and the fact that he uses local fruit woods, give his smoked cheeses a distinct flavor. "You've got really big companies that smoke cheese but that stuff may have been on the shelf for a year before you get it. Mine's fresh," he said.

He makes his own sausages, snack sticks and jerky from purchased USDA meats. Stearns said the cheeses and meats are all smoked with local fruit woods.

Stearns says there is an art to smoking, especially when it comes to cheese, which is very sensitive and critical. "Temperature is everything. Good smoke is everything. Time is everything," he said.

Stearns says he's always playing with sausage recipes, but has a few favorites that can usually be found on the cooler shelves. Nearly all of his recipes were developed by friends and family.

The RBF Sausage, which stands for "Randy & Billy's Funeral," is a favorite mild sausage that Stearns first made for his sister-in-law's wedding. He said everyone loved it so much that he kept the recipe.

When asked why it was named after a funeral when it was made for a wedding, Stearns quipped, "All weddings are funerals – once you're married, you're done!"

Stearns said he and Cort Ruppenthal worked together to perfect his medium heat Beer Sausage. "We experimented with four or five beers, using different amounts before we settled on using Laht Neppur's Brown Nut Beer. It's the perfect beer for sausage," Stearns said.

The hot IC (Idaho Copy) Sausage is based on a recipe Stearns copied as best he could from an Idaho sausage he tried and loved.

"The man who made the sausage got very sick and I went and talked to him to see if I could get the recipe, but he wouldn't give it up. He died with that recipe. Mine is pretty good. It's pretty close to what he had," Stearns said.

Mr. C's Garlic Chili Sausage is a medium heat and "very delicious." Stearns said he received multiple requests for a Jalapeno Cheese Sausage, which he's still working to perfect.

"We really need more customer feedback on that one," Stearns said.

Stearns said his smoked cheeses can be purchased at Waitsburg Grocery and the Artisan Food Center at Blue Mountain Station in Dayton, but the meats are only licensed to be sold at the shop.

"That's not a problem. I'm usually here from the time I can get going in the morning until I fall asleep at night, seven days a week. If I'm not here, there's a number on the front of the building and they can give me a call," he said.

Dena Wood

Greg Stearns puts together ingredients for one of Mr. C's family sausage recipes.

Stearns said they would love to have feedback on what customers want as well as which current products are their favorites.

Mr. C's Smokin Co. is located at 405 Preston Ave., with parking off of Harmon Street. Stearns can be reached by phone at (509) 386-0562 or by email at mrcssmokinco@hotmail.com.