Paul Kleinke

Glenmont, NY

1939

Interviewed at BPL on February 22, 2024 by Eric Bryant w/ Bill Ketzer & Tim Beebe present. Paul’s daughter Debbie Kitchen was also in attendance.

Many know the Kleinke Farm today as a rustic, seasonal space for local foods and gifts, but did you know four generations of the Kleinke family members worked this land for more than a century? We were thrilled to sit down with Paul Kleinke to talk about his 86 years in Bethlehem and the traditions his grandson Ryan Kleinke Kitchen carries forward into the present day.

Paul’s grandfather, William Kleinke, came to America from Prussia with his parents in the early 1870s, as did his wife Helena (nee Krause). They met here, got married in 1882 and raised a family in Albany’s South End.  A butcher by trade, William bought Pine Grove Farm from members of the Houghtaling family in 1915, on present-day Kenwood Avenue. Before the Houghtalings, either James Coughtry or Dennis O’Brian was the first European settler on the land, while a Revolution blazed dangerously close by.

Almost 250 years later – in a town that would look very different to all of them now – much of the Kleinke farmlands are still in agricultural production. Aside from centuries as a verdant woodland following the recession of an ancient glacial lake, farming is all this land has ever known.  It was Paul’s father Edward who transitioned what was primarily a hay business into Glenmere Geurnsey Farm, a 100-head dairy operation milking 60 cows twice daily. At its peak, the enterprise had routes in Bethlehem and Albany, and deliveries could include eggs, milk and cream (Paul still raises hens and sells eggs). Along with his twin brother Peter, he grew up working on the farm, which served our area for more than 50 years before calling it a day in 1973.

In a previous interview with BHA president Susan Leath, Paul said he started raising vegetables while Glensmere was still in business, selling the wares to dairy farm customers. At first, he did this from the back of a truck but gradually built a large farm stand to accommodate the popularity of his roadside venture. In 1977, his family moved across the street to the property Paul purchased from his father in the 1960s (this is the site of the current retail store). According to Susan, the original farmhouse there had burned down, but the old Dutch-style barn remained, as did a machine shop that Paul and his wife Ann converted into a residence.

Farmer, firefighter, feather-fixer and friend.  Enjoy this peek into the life and times of a local legend.