Jim Karsnia needs to thank his wife.
The local butcher attributes his success to his wife, Paula, who encouraged his talent in the trade 46 years ago when she bought him his first meat-cutting saw.
“Back in the day, I cut meat by hand,” Karsnia explained. “When my wife bought me my first Hobart saw, I got serious.”
That same saw still sits on the counter of the shop Karsnia owns, located a few miles down the road of County Road 90 — out in the middle of nowhere. The blade may have been replaced a few times, but the original machine still runs like new, according to its owner.
At the peak of his annual four-month season, the butcher who many hunters and farmers in the area have grown accustom to seeing year after year, announces he may be calling it quits.
“I’d like to sell (the business),” Karsnia admitted. “But if this isn’t my last year, I’ll be here next year.”
While Karsnia’s future at the shop may be unclear, his partner, Cece Norton’s is decided.
After 10 years of working by Karsnia’s side, cutting, slicing, and packaging meat, Norton says this season will be her last.
“It’s just getting too hard,” she said.
And while Norton joked that it isn’t the smell of the meat processing shop that is getting difficult to bear, it is the long hours the pair puts in — especially during deer season.
“We work seven days per week from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,” Karsnia said. “It gets to be a lot.”
Regardless of what next year will bring, Karsnia and Norton have shared countless memories and made hundreds of friends and certainly have no regrets.
Learning the trade
As a youngster, Karsnia started working at Park Grocery in the Falls when he was 18 years old.
“I had the choice to either go to the mill or learn how to cut meat,” he said.
A decent wage kept him at the grocery store, located where Top Ten Video now sits, and his interest in cutting meat only grew from there.
After learning what would grow to be a lifelong trade at Park Grocery, the butcher packed up and moved across the street to SuperOne, where he worked for 16 years.
“I quit SuperOne and did some work on my own,” Karsnia explained.
For the next 13 years, he settled into the shop he had built in 1967, doing his own work until he landed a job at Paulbeck’s SuperValu.
The next 17 years were spent behind the glass of the butcher section of the grocery store before Karsnia retired in 2001. He has now spent the last decade working in his meat processing shop every year from September to January.
“It’s seasonal work, but it’s busy,” Karsnia said.
Karsnia laughs that spending his day surrounded by so many deer, cow, and pig carcasses “doesn’t bother him at all.”
“I just like cutting meat,” he said.
Specialty work
November tends to be a busier month around the meat processing shop, with deer season open the first two weeks of the month. Karsnia said when deer come in, he cuts off the hide, butchers the carcass, and packages the meat.
“I do it all,” he said as he sharpens his knife — a habit he doesn’t even realize he does anymore.
For people who like to hunt deer, but don’t like to eat venison, they can donate to a food shelf through Karsnia, a licensed processor participating in the Minnesota Hunter Harvested Venison Donation Program operated by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and state food shelves.
“It is a very slow process,” he said of the time between getting the deer and distribution of the meat to a food shelf.
When deer are brought to him, Karsnia prepares the meat in chunks, packs what he has processed and stamps each package. From Karsnia’s shop, the meat is transferred to Grand Rapids where it is sent by the DNR to St. Paul to be x-rayed for lead. Once it gets a clean stamp of approval, it goes to a food shelf center where it is distributed across the state.
“It’s worth the while,” he said of the program he’s had involvement in for seven years. “It’s for a good cause.”
Before the final weekend of deer season, Karsnia already had four deer to donate to the food shelf. The most he’s ever received is 16.
Aside from preparing meat for the food shelf, he also accepts donated deer for the annual law enforcement deer feed.
“About 150 people attend that feed and I supply 600 pieces of meat for it,” he said. “I like helping out.”
Knowing
everybody’s name
After being in business for so many years, it is rare that Karsnia comes in contact with someone he doesn’t know. Karsnia has been providing service to generations of Borderland customers.
It was no different when Bruce Lucachick walked through the door.
“I’ve been bringing my deer to this guy since I was 10 years old,” Lucachick said as he pointed at Karsnia.
Lucachick’s father brought him along for years when he delivered deer to Karsnia. And because the two have run into each other for 45 years, Karsnia doesn’t even bother asking Lucachick what he’d like to order.
“He just knows,” Lucachick said with a laugh.
Karsnia said if he were to quit his business, it is the public he would miss the most.
“I like the people,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of friends over the years.”
Many of those friends don’t even refer to Karsnia by his name. Years ago, Bud Rasmussen started calling Karsnia ‘Tough Steak’ and the nickname stuck.
“Everybody calls me ‘Tough Steak’,” he said with a chuckle.
“Even little kids call him that,” Norton added.
A success
Karsnia said that if this season turns out to be his last, he looks forward to having more time to do what he likes to do.
“I love fishing,” he said. “I plan on doing more of that.”
Oddly enough, he admits he doesn’t hunt.
As Karsnia talked about Norton’s departure, emotions stirred as her eyes welled with tears.
“She’s been great to work with,” Karsnia said of Norton. “I’m going to miss her.”
Having all 10 fingers and only two small scars prove that Karsnia has been successful in what he does, and along with Norton, he agreed the business has been an enjoyable experience.
“I don’t even think about the process anymore,” he said of butchering. “Like I said before, I just like to cut meat.”
Tough Steak assures his customers he will soon make up his mind if he will continue on to next season, but for now he can be found cutting, slicing, and grinding away at his shop at 4580 County Road 90 East.
