Brenda

I am an avid gardener and food preserver. I wait all winter long to get my hands in the dirt, but I can year-round. My journey has been a hard one, especially as of late. As of 2024, I had just started my third year of Chronic Lyme+ treatment. It took over 30 years to finally get my diagnosis. The battle has been long! I was diagnosed with Celiac’s disease 20+ years ago and have used food to nourish my body ever since. Through this long journey, I made sure to fuel my body with the most nourishing food we could manage. Up until the fall of 2024 we had been raising our own pork, chicken, eggs and majority of our fruits and vegetables for the year.

I noticed a desire for fresh greens during the winter and started looking at my options. Living in the UP means long cold winters. My greenhouse allows me to start early and extend my harvest beyond the early frost date, but it is not large enough to feed our entire family, and it is not heated. I started exploring the option of growing microgreens. I immediately fell in love. My Lyme+ treatment became very intense in 2022, and I could barely manage to get out of bed, so the microgreens were put on the back burner while I recovered. As we approached winter in 2023, I knew I needed to make my microgreens a priority. My body needed the nourishment. I have now been growing enough for me to eat as much as I want. I dry the extras to make green powder and specialty Super Salt seasonings. I now share the microgreens nourishment with others. I am more than happy to share with others through delivery.

A circular sign with a painted tree featuring green leaves and a white trunk, with the text 'Popple Hill Farm' across the bottom.

Brenda & Kori

We are a mother daughter duo learning our way around dairy goats. Kori decided she wanted to buy her first registered Nigerian Dwarf back in 2021. She researched for months and read goat books front to back, every single page. She started watching Weed ‘em & Reap’s YouTube videos and we both fell in love.

Kori bought her first two does in 2022 and she committed to milking them twice a day. They had not been milked before. I saw her patience and perseverance shine bright. She loved and took care of those two and when she had the chance to buy two more does, she did. The following year we added our first buck, Oakley.

As of 2024, we had experienced all 4 does giving birth and were excited to expand our herd to support our milk goals. It was Kori who named our farm and goat herd Popple Hill Farm. The name will stay!

As of October 2024, my (Brenda) health took a major turn. Nothing we could have predicted. My healing from Lyme+ took an abrupt halt when I realized my thyroid meds were making me unable to eat because of severe nausea. I had struggled with this for years but had never made the connection until I started looking at the timing of when I would get sick. My thyroid medicine was pork based. After replacing my thyroid meds with synthetic I instantly noticed the nausea was gone. I had been bitten by yet another tick and had contracted Alpha Gal sometime in the last 6 years. All mammal products needed to be cut out.

This turned my world upside down.

What I didn’t realize is how this would affect our farm. As winter continued, I also developed MCAS a month later. Between the two I ended up home bound, reacting to even the slightest smell of mammal products. I became fume reactive to pork. Our household went from cooking home grown bacon every single weekend to me being trapped in my bedroom struggling to breath for hours if it was cooked in the house. We continued to care for our goats only to realize I started reacting severely to them. I struggled to be able to breath after going in the barn if they had even slightly dirty bedding. I fought months of anaphylaxis reactions only to realize I would not be able to keep the goats after Kori graduated high school. I could not even pet them anymore let alone be able to milk them or clean their pens. As much as this broke our hearts, we had to make the decision that was best for my health. That meant selling all of our goats. We will not be able to raise pigs any longer either, but they had already been processed.

Our lil farm got a lot smaller really quickly as we sold all of our does and their babies. Our bucks have slowly been sold too. We worked so hard to become self-sufficient. I was living the dream! We raised our own pork, chicken, hunted for our venison, caught our own fish and bought pasture raised beef from a local farmer. We drank the milk our goats gave us, and I was making yogurt every week while experimenting with making cheese, cajeta, ice cream and other goat milk-based products.

I am still growing a majority of our vegetables, and I continue to expand the fruit we grow every year but there is a huge part of me that is incredibly sad I was forced to end our journey with our goats. I watched my daughter mature while caring for them. I saw her dedication and was in awe of how hard she worked. I watched as they brought more life to our farm every single year. I look back at their photos fondly and appreciate their new owners sending me updates of their new babies and them being loved as much as we loved them. I will forever be grateful of their time on our farm.

As all things change in life, my focus has shifted drastically to focus on growing healthy food and living with intention. Slowing down, enjoying my family and all of the other adventures that await.

A mother goat with white fur and small horns nuzzles a baby goat with white fur and gray markings, inside a barn with straw on the floor.
A small white goat with a blue collar standing behind a black and brown goat, both in a grassy outdoor enclosure with wooden logs and a fence.

Our Goats

A white goat peeking over a wooden fence in a barn.
A young woman giving a goat a drink of water from a metal bowl on a wooden floor.
Two goats, one black and tan and one light-colored, touching noses inside a barn or petting zoo.

Raven Star Rayne

Date of Birth: April 29, 2018 Color: Gold Roan with white; blue eyes ADGA: D1968469

Rock-N-Ridge OA Caramel

Date of Birth: July 14, 2018 Color: Buckskin, minimal white ADGA: D1985256P

A young black goat with white patches, a curved black horn, and a white marking on its forehead, standing on grass with a blurred background.
A small brown goat with blue eyes eating hay from a container.
A woman with glasses smiling and holding a small black and brown puppy inside a wooden shed or barn.
A small black and white goat standing on grass, holding a leaf in its mouth, with a blurred background of green grass and another goat.
Two baby goats, one black and white and one brown and black, grazing on green grass.

UP Pride Cadbury “Poppy”

Date of Birth: April 11, 2022 Color: Chocolate with minimal white; blue eyes ADGA: PD2251246

UP Pride Everest Darling

Date of Birth: May 2, 2022 Color: Black, minimal white; blue eyes

Everest’s Daughter Nala-Unregistered

A black and white goat standing outside a wooden barn next to a wood and hay feeder, with a black and white kid lying inside the feeder on hay.
A small black and white goat standing on a wooden log outdoors while inspecting a power drill and screws.
Close-up of a small puppy with black and brown fur resting on a person's arm, surrounded by beige fabric.
A person in a gray winter jacket and hood cuddles with a baby goat in a snowy outdoor setting with trees in the background.
A small colorful piglet with black, white, and brown markings in a barn, lying on a bed of straw.

Jilly Bean’s Oakley James

Date of Birth: January 26, 2023 Color: Light Buckskin white; blue eyes

Popple Hill’s Maverick

Date of Birth: February 66, 2024 Color: Buckskin; minimal white

Brenda learning how to weld.
A young girl hugging a large dog while lying on a couch, both with eyes closed.
Kori driving grandpa's side by side.
Hanging out in the barn.
A woman in a black jacket is working on a woodworking project inside a wooden structure, possibly a cabin or shed, with unfinished wooden walls, a small window, and construction tools and materials around her.
A young girl in an orange jacket and matching orange beanie, squatting outdoors on dry grass, holding a deer by its antlers. The scene is set during sunset with bare trees in the background.
Smiling girl holding a glass baking dish filled with rolled cinnamon and dough pastries in a kitchen.
A woman wearing a mask and gloves sweeps the floor in a garage. A bicycle is hanging on the wall behind her, and a yellow and green riding mower is partially visible in the corner.
A girl in a navy shirt petting three goats in a wooden animal enclosure.
Young girl smiling and holding a clear plastic cup with a purple-colored beverage inside, sitting in a boat with water and sky visible in the background.
Two people in a car, with a woman in the front seat, wearing glasses and a plaid shirt, smiling. A girl in the back seat holds a Nintendo Switch, sticking her tongue out, with a dog in a cage behind her.
A person working on a wooden staircase inside a construction site, using a cordless drill.
A person working inside a wooden structure, using a cordless drill on a vertical wooden beam, with unfinished walls and small windows surrounding them.
A woman smiling and holding a black and tan puppy inside a wooden shed or barn.
A woman with glasses and curly blonde hair taking a selfie inside a car filled with blooming branches and flowers.
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