Brotzler Farms

A Tiny Homestead

Today I'm talking with Kayla and Trent at Brotzler Farms.

"We are a sustainable family homestead. We have over 120 free range egg laying chickens, fresh sourdough, herbal remedies, a few goats, and we make pure Wisconsin maple syrup. We believe you should know where your food is coming from! Local!"

If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee

https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes

00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Kayla and Trent at Brotzler Farms, I think is the way I pronounce it. How are you guys? We're good. Thank you for having us. Did I pronounce it right? Yes, you did. Okay, good. All right. So tell me about yourselves and what you do.

00:29
Well, we have a tiny little three acre homestead in Osceola. We moved there about three years ago now. And we kind of do a mixture of all sorts of things. We kind of started out with 20 chickens that were handed over to us from the old owners. Trent has been doing maple syrup for a good while now. And then I started into...

00:56
herbal remedies and different concoctions that I make, gardening. And now we have, I don't even know how many chickens, over 100 chickens, three goats, and I do sourdough now. So we kind of dabble in a few things. I also was doing microgreens last year and that turned into a pretty decent sized little business that I was doing pretty much all by myself, but I stopped doing that just because it took.

01:24
quite a bit of time, but everything else we're still doing. There's nothing prettier than a tray of microgreens, I swear to you. I know. They're so cool. So for the listeners that aren't Midwesterners, Osceola is in Wisconsin, just so everybody knows. Yes, Northwest Wisconsin. Okay. All right. So does Trent have anything he wants to throw into that description? She pretty much covered everything. As far as the maple syrup, I started in 2018 myself.

01:54
My grandpa done it many decades ago, but I never, unfortunately, never met him. Um, so I kind of, I guess I picked up a little bit where he left off and I started with one tree, one tap and now I'm over about 150 taps. And we do about 40 gallons of syrup a year. So, and just kind of looking and expanding that every year. So it's going good. Wow. I love maple syrup. I'm not kidding you. We always have some in the fridge because.

02:23
I can't do pancakes or waffles without it now. Without real maple syrup. The stuff that is manmade or factory made, forget it. I don't even have it anymore. Yeah, I was just saying that the other day. I'm ashamed to say that I was raised on the store bought stuff and I didn't, at first I didn't like real maple syrup and I started eating it more and I was like, wait a minute, how did I ever eat the fake stuff? That's how I was too. Yeah.

02:50
I had no idea that maple syrup that was made from maple tree sap was so yummy. Right. And especially when you look at the medicinal properties of it too, I think that's one of the things that I'm kind of passionate about is looking at the nutritional value and the medicinal aspects of different foods and different plants and herbs and everything. And it's really cool to learn about. Yeah. Two of the things that will never be missing from my pantry is real maple syrup and honey because they both have such great...

03:20
medicinal and nutritional qualities that I don't want to be without it. Yeah, absolutely. We've talked about getting honeybees too, so that's probably on the list eventually. Mm-hmm. It's a great thing to have, but I don't know if you've looked into it at all, but it's an expensive hobby. Yeah, my parents did it for many years, and my uncle did it for many years, so we have supplies and stuff to view it. But yeah, you're right. It is a lot of work, so that's kind of why I haven't done it yet. But it's something I'd like to at least try at least once.

03:49
Yeah, the reason we haven't tried it is because number one, we don't have all the things yet, and it's expensive to acquire them. But I'm also afraid that we're going to kill the beehives by accident. I would be so sad if we got them and they just died over the winter. Oh yeah. So no, we're not doing bees. We're doing chickens. Chickens and barn cats, those are pretty much the only things we do right now. So yep.

04:16
Okay, so I was looking at your Facebook page because I do my homework, and you had a post on there about ghost pipe mushrooms. And I had to go look them up because I thought they were poisonous, but they're not across the board poisonous. They're poisonous in certain ways. So can you tell me about that? Yeah, so ghost pipe, it's actually a flower, but they do generally grow amongst mushrooms.

04:44
From what I understand, they kind of work synergistically with the fungus and the different bacteria in the ground. So that's why they grow amongst the mushrooms. But yeah, they're really cool looking flower. I'm sure you've seen them. They're like a translucent white color and they lack chlorophyll, which is why they're that color. And they are medicinal and they're usually used as like a sedative.

05:14
for anxiety and pain. And so what I did is I harvested some this year and I tinctured them. You want to tincture them right away, right after you harvest them. So you'll put them in a jar of alcohol and then you let them sit for six to eight weeks and then you strain it and then you have your medicine. And it turns into a really nice like deep purple color. So I've sold...

05:39
quite a bit of it already and people have been having really good results as far as sleep, anxiety, pain. I use it myself for just like muscular pain and anxiety, tension, whatever I need it for. Yeah, it's a really really cool plant and I'm glad I discovered it. A friend of mine I figured out has basically the jackpot growing in her five acres that she has so next year I'll be going up there to harvest some more.

06:06
Yeah, I assume it grows in Minnesota, but I don't know for sure. I have not seen it in person. Yeah, you know what? It's crazy because I had never seen it either, but now that I know where and how to look for it, I found it everywhere and it's the coolest plant I've ever harvested. It's so cool. It doesn't look real. It looks like a toy that some kid left on the ground. Right, and even like the stalk of it is so, I don't know, it's like a sturdy little

06:35
plant, but it's also kind of dainty. But you have to kind of harvest it sustainably too, because in some areas it can be endangered. I don't think it's considered endangered in our area, but you still want to harvest just a little bit from each little plot just so that it can regrow. Yes. And I'm going to do this because anytime we're talking about something that people aren't necessarily sure of, I always say this. If you're going to forage, make sure that you have done your research.

07:05
And then if you're not positive, take someone with you who knows what it is that you're looking for and can identify it distinctly. Because I would never want anyone to go hunting for a mushroom or whatever and get the wrong thing and get hurt or die. And when I researched the ghost pipe thing.

07:27
It says that you can eat it in small quantities and that it tastes sort of like asparagus. And I love asparagus. So I might have to go find them and try it. Yeah. I actually did eat one because I was like, oh, let's just see what it tastes like. And it did. It kind of did taste like asparagus. And it's, I don't know, it was kind of cool. And then from the herbal remedy books that I have, from what I've learned about it, you can't overdo it as far as the tincture. So I always give instructions when I sell it.

07:56
Yeah, you just don't want to do too much. And that's really the same with any tinctures. Too much can be, you know, poisonous to an extent. So you got to be careful with it. Yeah, it's that everything in moderation situation that I keep hearing about every time I talk about things or learn about things. Okay, cool. And then the other thing I saw on your Facebook page was some kind of sprout that tastes like

08:25
Oh, watermelon maybe. Oh, I wonder if was it the borage that tastes like cucumbers? Yeah. Yep. So that was the when I was doing microgreens. I did I have like, kind of my staple greens that I would grow like broccoli and radish and cabbage and those kind of things. But I would grow some specialty ones every once in a while and borage was one of them. And if you let them grow to maturity,

08:52
I'm sure you've probably seen them before, but they have like a really pretty blue flower to them and they kind of have fuzzy leaves. But as a microgreen, you're just growing it to the true leaf stage and they just have those fuzzy little leaves. And yeah, they're kind of crunchy and they taste like cucumber. Well, I had no idea about that. But what I do know about borage, we grew it. We grew it a couple summers in a row. Those dainty little flowers will change color from year to year. And one year they'll be that lavendery purpley color.

09:21
or blue. And then the next year they can be white. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, I didn't either. I was like, why is my borage on that, putting out white blooms? This is very strange. Interesting. But the other thing about the blossoms is if you want to get real fancy at a dinner party, you can put those blooms in ice cube trays in the water and they will freeze in ice cubes and it makes really pretty ice cubes. Yeah, that's a good idea. And you can eat the blossoms in salads.

09:50
Yeah, for sure. I wanted to dabble in edible flowers, but I just didn't really get that far. But like nasturtium is another one that are edible flowers. If you've ever tried nasturtium, they're very like peppery. I did infused vinegar this year with them. We grow nasturtiums with our tomato plants because supposedly they repel insects, I guess. Oh, sure. Probably because they're peppery. Yeah. And marigolds, of course, grow. We grow those in the tomatoes too.

10:19
Our tomato patch is the prettiest tomato patch on the planet every summer. So okay, so how did you guys get into this? What's your history on becoming homesteaders, farmers, whatever you want to call yourself? Man, it's kind of a compilation of things I feel like. I didn't grow up doing any of this stuff. I mean, I grew up on store-bought eggs, fake syrup.

10:47
boxed foods, like I didn't grow up canning, gardening. I didn't even have pets growing up. My dad wouldn't even let us have pets. So this is a huge change for me. But Trent, he has much more of a history, a family history with gardening and crops and syrup and I don't know, why don't you talk about it? Trenton Larkin Yeah, I mean, we grew up in that country. So this is just, it's just kind of like normal for me. And I'm so like

11:16
having a different lifestyle just doesn't really, I don't know, it doesn't really make, I don't wanna say it makes sense, but to me, just living out in the country, we're on well water, we had our own septic, my parents did the gardening, we had chores, we had to go snap beans, weed the garden, pick rock and all that stuff. So just living in the country, that was just the way of life. So I guess when we got this property, we...

11:45
I always kind of wanted to do stuff like that and here we are. So that's kind of my background on that. Okay. And how long have you been doing this? Well, we've been in Nostia La at our property for three years. So we've kind of started back then. But I mean, before that, we lived kind of in a neighborhood northeast of Rochester, Minnesota. And we...

12:12
started to dabble a little bit. We had a garden down there and Trent, like you said, what did you tap? Like one tree, one or two trees. And he was super proud of his tiny little jar of syrup, but that's how he practiced, you know. And now, I mean, you should see, I don't know if you've seen any of the pictures of his operation, but it's a whole ordeal. Yeah, he's got like lines running all through our woods to different collection points. He's got a really nice evaporator. I mean, he's got it pretty much dialed in now.

12:42
Yes, and Trent, you should be very proud of that first little jar of maple syrup because every win is a win. It doesn't matter how tiny it is. Right. I still have it in our cupboard, so I don't think I'm ever going to open it. It's like the first money you make when you open a business. You have to take a copy of the check or the dollar bill or the $5 bill or whatever and frame it and put it somewhere so you can see it to remind you of the beginning.

13:09
Yeah, I know he started out with like this tiny little pot. I don't even, it was tiny. Yeah, I just did it on our stove in our kitchen and yeah, it was a tiny little pot. It just really made just a little bit, just to try. And then a couple of years ago, we drove to almost Green Bay in the Green Bay area to pick up his evaporator from, what was it called? Smokey Lake Maple. We're by Green Bay, yeah. Okay. Cake every win. Every win.

13:38
every win just gives you the fortitude to keep moving forward. I think. I think so too, yeah. We've just been learning so much throughout the years and a lot of trial and error. Not everything's gone perfect, obviously, but it's been fun. And we're teaching our kids, you know, we have three kids, ages one, three, and five, and they're still pretty little, but they kind of help with different things and they enjoy all the things that we add. And they like...

14:07
planting their seeds in the garden and visiting the goats and helping get the eggs and whatnot. Yeah, it's a wonderful way to raise children. And it gives you guys so many opportunities to spend time with them and bond with them. The connections you are making are forever. Absolutely, yeah. And I enjoy it especially myself just because, like I said, I didn't grow up with a lot of this stuff.

14:36
to see them grow up with it. Like, it's just normal, it's awesome. I mean, I go outside and we look at plants and I tell my son, I'm like, that's mullin, that's the mullin plant, if you know what that is. And that's medicine, you know? And so he knows now, he's like, that's medicine. So he's just gonna grow up learning that plants are medicine and whatnot, so. Yeah, I don't think that kids need to associate the coroner pharmacy with medicine. I think associating. Exactly.

15:03
plants growing on their property is probably the more, I don't know, not appropriate, but better association. Yeah. I mean, there's a time and place for everything, but definitely like herbal medicine is just, it's very effective if you know how to use it correctly. Absolutely. You were saying you have a bunch of chickens. We got rid of our chickens over a month ago because they were basically slowing down and not earning their keep.

15:31
And so my husband was like, we'll just buy eggs over the winter and we'll get new chickens in the spring. I was like, okay. And so we've bought maybe a couple dozen of store bought eggs in the last month. And I hate them. It's the worst. It really is. You can never go back after you've had fresh eggs. Yes. Luckily we just acquired like five or six dozen of actual real chicken eggs from real chickens that people own. And I said,

16:01
I said, I'm going to make some egg salad this week because I really want egg salad sandwiches and I don't want store bought eggs to make them like that. I know. Yeah, it's just not the same. It's insane. I know. I sell egg, well, we both sell eggs to our coworkers at work as well. And they always, you know, a lot of them have never had farm fresh eggs they've only bought from the store. And when they eat them for the first time and crack them open, they're like, wow, these are way different than the store.

16:29
And they're the same price nowadays, really. Yeah, I was so mad. I made two butternut squash pies on Wednesday, I think, this week, this past week. And I used a whisk, I used a spoon, I stirred it by hand, the filling, and I used store-bought eggs. And when my pies came out of the oven, I was like, that's not right.

16:53
And all through my pies, there's little tiny pockets of egg white that's just cooked egg white because it didn't mix in. That's crazy. I wonder if it's just because like what they can sit on the shelf, I think for what, 30 days? Yeah, the farmer has 30 days to move the eggs from farms to store and the store has 30 days to sell. So you could potentially get eggs that are 60 days old, which is not a gross to me. Yep. So I basically after those came out, I...

17:22
tried the pie, it's fine. It doesn't taste bad. It's not going to kill anybody. But I said to my husband, I said, I need you to get hold of the lady from the farmer's market who sells eggs every summer and see if she has eggs. And we need to go get some every couple of weeks because this store bought egg thing is going to drive me into a bar. Yeah, I don't blame you. And I don't even drink. So he was like, really? You're going to drink? I was like, I'm, I'm.

17:47
thinking real hard about it. If we don't get some real eggs in this house, he just laughed at me. Yeah, I know. So yeah, there's, I never really thought about it because we haven't had store-bought eggs in the house in over five years. So when he was like, we'll just get store-bought eggs. I was like, sure, that's not a problem. It is a problem. It's actually a problem. I didn't know what it is, but it is. So I'm testifying. Get some chicken and get your own eggs because it's way better.

18:16
Yeah, definitely. They're not hard to take care of either. No. No, he just didn't want to have to be slipping and sliding to go feed him and water him this winter. He was like, I just had hernia surgery last year at this time. He said, I really don't want to have to be in the hospital over Christmas again. I was like, that would be good. Let's not do that. So there's all kinds of things that really are a benefit when you do it yourself. And... Yep.

18:45
Chicken is one of them. And, and if we had room, beef would be one of them. I know. Yeah. Same are, are, I don't know. I don't even want to call it a five year plan, but sometime in the future, after our children are not in daycare and we're paying basically a second mortgage for daycare, we would like to, you know, buy more land and expand eventually, but that's, that's on the horizon at some point. And that's also something that.

19:15
We have both never done is raise beef cattle at all. And we've raised meat, birds, meat, chickens. We did that, uh, what, two years ago now. That was pretty cool. Um, but Trent's mom, right? I think she was saying, I mean, they, that's all they grew up on is their own raised beef and raw milk and their own chickens and whatnot. So it's like, that stuff's only been lost over the last one or two generations. It's kind of sad. So there's a big comeback though. It's

19:44
it's coming back. Yes. And for the listeners, if you're not in a position to have chickens or cows or steers or animals, just go support people who do have the resources to do that. And then you're supporting your local farmer, grower, and you're getting stuff that's good for you too. Yeah. And there really is a big difference. I mean, I've noticed, and I don't know, I've seen other people say the same thing, but

20:12
Even the store bought chicken is just not the same. I don't know what's going on, but I bought some, and maybe I just got spoiled because we raised our own, I don't know, but I bought some and I made it and I was like, I can't even eat this. And our, we did 50 meat birds. We sold a lot of them. We split them up between like, um, Transparents and a bunch of our coworkers and stuff, but we kept about 20 for ourselves and it lasted us probably two years. I mean, that's a lot of chicken.

20:41
Especially when our kids eat like mice because they're little. Yeah, just wait mom wait until I like 10 10 12 and 13 you won't be saying that anymore. I promise. I have four who are adults and they ate us out of the house and home for for many many years. So yeah, I'm waiting for that day. It's gonna be interesting time. Mm-hmm. All the reason to grow your own food really. Absolutely

21:09
And can I give you a hint on getting them to try new stuff or are they good eaters? Oh, yeah. They're, yeah, it's hit or miss. Okay. The trick I learned with the last kid out of four, I wish I had known this trick at the beginning, is he was very, very curious about our food on our plates by the time he hit 10 months old. And I wasn't going to give him food off our plates that were seasoned because I didn't want to blow his little brain out of his mind.

21:37
with new flavors, but by the time he hit about one and a half, he had had mashed bananas, he'd had applesauce, you know, the stuff that you do. And he reached into my plate and grabbed some green beans that had some mildly hot pepper powder on them and some salt. And I looked at my husband because I grabbed the kid's hand before he put it in his mouth. And I said, do you think it's okay? And he was like, yeah, what's the worst? Can you spit it out? And I was like, okay. So he tried it.

22:07
And he was chewing it and he had that look on his face like, I have made a mistake. And I grabbed a napkin and I said, it's okay, you can spit it out. And I put the napkin over his face and he spit it out. And from that point on, I was like, food doesn't have to be a battle. And basically, as soon as he really could understand what I was telling him, I said, from now on, try everything. That way you know whether you like it or not. Give it an honest try.

22:33
You have to taste it, you have to chew it a couple of times. If you don't like the taste, you don't like the texture, you can spit it into a napkin politely. Or if you're at home, you can walk right over to the garbage can and spit it out. I don't care, but just please try everything. This kid has the most, I don't know, curious palate on earth. And he loves to cook. And we went to a restaurant one time when he was probably 10.

23:03
And of course they have the kids menu and the waitress was got to him and she was like, what would you like to eat? And he was like, I would like the stuffed tilapia with the, the whatever, the sides. And she said, are you sure? And looked at me and I didn't say anything. And she looked back at him and she said, she said, are you sure? And he was like, well, yes. He said, I like tilapia and I see what it's made with. And I like all those things. So, so yes, please. I would like that.

23:33
And she looked at me again and I said, bring him the food. The worst thing that's gonna happen is we pay for it and you dump it in the trash. Oh my goodness, that's funny. And she brought it to the table and he dug in and she walked away after she put the plates on the table. And she came back maybe 10 minutes later and his fish was gone. Wow. And she was like, did you really like it? And he says, I loved it. He said, I wish I could have more. And she said, I wish I could bring you more.

24:03
And before we left, I had my husband take the kids out to the car and I walked over to her and I said, I understand what you were doing. And she said, yes. I said, maybe, maybe don't do that. I said, because if there's a kid who's just for the first time being brave and trying something new, you're going to discourage them. That's not good. Don't discourage them. Right. And she was like, oh, I never thought of that. And I said, yeah.

24:32
them explore their horizons with food. It's fine. She's like, she's like, I'm so sorry. She said, the look you gave me was like, stop. And I said, that was exactly the look I gave you. Yeah. I said, but I wasn't going to be rude or anything. But just from now on, if a kid is saying what they want, let them try it. As long as the parents are like, no, you know?

25:00
And still kind of the same values and our kids with eating and trying to eat you're trying to create healthy eating habits you know like my oldest son he's five and sometimes his Well, how do you say it? Your eyes are bigger than your stomach And he'll say I want so much of this and whatever and he'll eat it and he'll get sick And sometimes he has to go throw it up and I'm trying to teach him like listen to your body if your body is full

25:28
just stuff. It's not a big deal. Like there's going to be more. Or, you know, we teach them this stuff. This is the kind of food that has protein and protein makes you full. And if you eat a bunch of sugar, it's going to make your body think that you're more hungry and then you're going to want to eat more. And, and a really big thing for us and a lot of families nowadays is the dyes. You know, we try to avoid dyes at all costs. And I teach the kids why we avoid dyes.

25:56
what they do to their bodies and their little brains. And, you know, my kids are not dumb. They're like, oh, why do they put dyes in kids' food? And I'm like, that's a great question, son. I don't know. And hopefully one day that changes, you know? Yeah. So. Yeah. I don't know. Did you guys grow up with the clean plate club rule? You kind of did, didn't you? Yeah. For us, we didn't have to eat all of our food.

26:26
almost bad in a different way where my dad, because he grew up poor, so he was like, well, if you want more, eat more. And so we would overindulge. And so that's why I don't want my kids to overeat. It's such an icky feeling to overeat, like just eat till you're satisfied and that's enough. But I don't want them to go hungry either, you know, trying to teach them the balance.

26:56
plate club thing is because my husband was raised that way and he is the biggest eater now because of it and I was really picky when I was growing up and my mom would always say I hope you have a kid just like you someday. I don't have a kid just like me my husband is the kid that's just like me. And so in our house we don't we never had that rule.

27:19
There was no, you will sit at the table until everything is off your plate because it just causes so many hard feelings. Yeah, thank you. But anyway, as usual, we get talking about kids and it becomes how to raise kids. Oh yeah, I could talk about that all day. I've done it and I love my kids and it's so much fun. Okay, so we're at 27 minutes. Let's see. Try to keep these to 30. So let's see what I can do. Are you happy? You sound happy with what you're doing.

27:47
Yeah, we are. We enjoy everything that we've been doing. It's kind of a struggle at times trying to balance, well, I won't go talking about kids again, but raising kids and trying to do the chores. Trent does most of the chores, honestly, while I'm inside getting dinner ready or bath or whatever. But I honestly have a list for him all the time if he hates it. He's like covering his face. He's like, oh, add that to the list, you know? But I don't know.

28:16
you can answer for yourself. I mean, I guess just to build off what she said, I think we're in a good position and we're grateful for what we hang up. I think a lot of people think it's just a natural human like thing to always want more. And I keep telling myself not right now and just kind of live in the moment and take each day as it comes and not try to think about tomorrow. So I think we're good. I know there's stuff gonna come in our future. I think

28:46
God has answered a lot of our prayers on where we're at and I feel like eventually we're going to expand and we'll grow on what we have. So yeah, we're happy where we're at right now. Good. And I have two things on that. Number one, being present is the best gift you can give yourself because the moments don't, they don't last. You know, the moment you're in is the moment you're in. Take everything you can out of that and enjoy it. And then the second thing.

29:15
You were saying, Kayla, that you're usually in the house doing stuff because Trent's outside doing the other things or he's outside doing the other things. So you can do the things in the house. Everybody has the roles that they play on the farm or on the homestead. And the thing that I've found for us and for the people that I've talked with over the last year or so is that everybody is good at something like really good at the things that they're good at. And so.

29:41
the chores and the activities get split up in that way. If Trent's really good at something outside that needs to get done, and I think you're probably a really good mom and the kids need you, it makes sense that you're splitting it that way. So don't feel bad about being in the house if you're doing the thing you're good at, you know? Yeah, yeah, we've been able to divide our chores and tasks up pretty well. And I have to work long shifts at work. I do 24-hour shifts. And so he's...

30:11
kind of default parent a lot of the times when I'm not here too, so that can be challenging, but we've been able to split it up pretty well. Yeah, and that's really good for the kids too, because mom shouldn't be the only one they're looking for to help them. Yeah. It used to drive me crazy, because when my kids were younger, my husband had the full-time job and I was the one who was at home with the kids. That's right. And I loved it, but if he was home on the weekend, if they needed something,

30:39
He'd be sitting right there in front of them and they'd turn around and say, Hey mom. Oh, I know. I'm like, and if it was something, if it was something right there that I could do, you know, if it wasn't a big deal, no problem. But if I was in the middle of something myself, I would be like, your dad's right there. Ask him. It's like they forgot. The blessing and the curse of being a mother. Yeah. It's like they forgot that he was a fully functioning adult human could help them. Definitely.

31:09
It's crazy. It's nuts. All right. So we're at, we're at 31 minutes. We did it. You guys, thank you so much for your time today. This was really fun. Yeah. Thanks for having us. We appreciate it. Have a fantastic day. You too. Thank you. Yep. Bye.