Boersma Family Roots: Nichole Boersma
- Claire Troemner
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
Walking into Nichole’s home, I was met by excitable mutts, a waft of delectable farm-raised bacon, and an expansive view of their newly renovated home. With thick, reclaimed beams for the stairs and tall windows throughout, it’s hard to believe that the home was the original farmhouse. As we chat, Nichole chops and seasons, sautees and broils across the kitchen island. Faux candles flicker, houseplants reach toward the sun, and dogs adjust lazily to the space of themselves on couches in the living room. If ever there was a scene of hygge, this would be it.
Thank you Nichole for welcoming me into your home to chat and for the wonderful meal. Be sure to check out the amazing produce spread at the Boersma Family Roots table at the Houghton and Calumet Farmers Markets.
When did you start cooking?
I didn't grow up with people who were super into cooking. I've been cooking my whole life but I didn't get into cooking until probably about five years ago, that's when I really started getting into good cooking.
Who taught you how to cook?
I taught myself how to cook - no one taught me. It's just been a huge learning curve. I guess my husband has influenced me a little bit, but I'm stubborn and I don't like to follow recipes. I'm still learning for sure.
How would you define good cooking?
Real ingredients, reading labels, just knowing what you're doing with spices… I really had no idea how much there was to it.
Even ten years ago I’d only add salt pepper. I didn't even know that different herbs and spices were supposed to go in.
Has your interest in and learning more about cooking changed what you grow?
Honestly, no. We've been gardening - not just farming - but gardening for almost 14 years now. Even when we had our raised bed gardens, we had our staples. I guess we grow more onions and garlic now because it's like the starter pack for a good meal.
Both sides of [my husband] Matt’s family were farmers. A different type of farming - big farming - but he always had fresh food. His family - they are good cooks.
Ohh my gosh. His mom is amazing and his mom's mom Elvina made serious country cooking. Amazing everything. When she passed away, his mom made a speech and talked about how I called her the food pusher. She’d have so many different kinds of pie at the dinner table and you were eating it all.
Do you have anything in particular that reminds you of her?
Anytime anybody makes a fruit salad with marshmallows in it. I think about her every time. And gravy. My love of gravy - it started with her. Hers was freaking delicious.
What inspires your cooking?
My kids - they inspired me to get into gardening and farming. I did not grow up eating fresh food or good food. When my son was born, we really started to look at what we were eating.
And the fact that there was no local fresh food. Because my husband grew up with access to all of that, he wanted it for his kids.
Advice to fellow cooks?
Don't be afraid to try anything. I didn't even know how to make pancakes. Just try - it if it turns out bad, it turns out bad. You're going to get better at it.
What is your funniest failure?
I made a cake for my son’s birthday… I tried to make a lemon Pokémon cake. I think there's pictures on the Internet of it somewhere - it's zoomed in. It didn't taste good and it looked like it was bleeding. So he's having his party and he's like “mom you know… thanks for trying but this is terrible. Never make my cake again.” It was bad on all fronts.
What ingredient would you like to see fresh locally?
I'd like to see more ginger. We tried growing it last year and I got one. I did cook with it. Fresh ginger is freaking amazing and it would be awesome if somebody was growing it in abundance. I would buy it.
Do you have any heirloom tools in your kitchen?
I actually do and I don't use it because it's old. It’s gone through a fire - it was my grandma's and she sifted flour for her pies with it. When she passed away I was like “I'll take that!” She’d make grape pie.
What is a restaurant you love?
Locally Rodeo Mexican Kitchen. It’s absolutely delicious and during the summer time they buy local produce. In Marquette it's Bodega - freaking amazing and really well priced and it's like all local.
I love Mexican food. Matt and I, we make jokes that we fell in love over tacos.
What is something you wish people knew about the food you make?
I say it on social media a lot: cooking good food does not have to be labor intensive. There's so many things that you can make quickly and they’re good for you. I don't have time to cook in the summer - I have two kids and I work full time.
Take away the stigma that you have to be in the kitchen for so many hours and it’s expensive to make. There's a lot of stuff that's affordable, it keeps, and you can make a lot out of it.
As a vendor at the Houghton and Calumet farmers markets, what is a frequent question you get there and how do you answer it?
The biggest question we get is “what do you do with this?” Matt always says “you eat it” which really drives me nuts. It's a lot of me saying “this is how you can use it. This is what it tastes good with.”
Some people don't realize how food looks if they’re just eating prepackaged food. Someone didn't know how broccoli grows. If you grow up, and you're just eating it out of the freezer section, you might not know what it looks like. I'm like “yeah you can eat the stalk, you can eat the leaves, you could use it to make veggie stock, you can use all the plant.”
Do you like educating people in that way?
It's really cool because I learned about a lot of different types of vegetables in my adult life. I was surprised about certain stuff too - what things look like in their raw form.
What is a memorable moment from working the Farmers Market?
When we started doing the farmers markets - we were not big then - we had a family who was shopping with their snap benefits. When they went to run their card, it didn't work.
They panicked and tried leaving. I chased them down and I was “just take it.” They were like “seriously I owe you.” And I said “no just take it.” I didn't grow up with money - I've been there. That moment was really pivotal for me because I felt like I was making an actual difference. I got obsessed with making a difference in this community that I grew up in. It was huge for me.
What are your future plans for the farm?
We said we weren't going to get bigger but we are. We want to start doing strawberries and expanding our asparagus.
We wanna do more fruit trees. Right now ours are just for us - I have a hard time sharing. So just getting bigger and bigger and bigger until we explode. Hopefully doing it more and more sustainably in terms of labor. You can only work that hard for so long.
What is some advice for other farmers?
If you're going to be a farmer you just have to accept that there's very little work life balance. You work a lot and you work for yourself. There's a lot of things that are time sensitive and it's just extremely labor intensive. Getting people to work for you is almost impossible.
But you do have to take time for yourself. Last year was the first time that we really tried to focus on work life balance. We bought a tiny fishing boat and we just took time off. Some things got weeds in them and we lost some stuff and we just accepted it. It was worth it, absolutely.
What is something that customers can do to help support you in achieving your goals?
Doing what they're already doing - just keep showing up to the markets shopping at the coop. Support local, buy local, and do it as frequently as you can.
If you make the choice to go to Walmart or whatever, it really affects us.