Aug. 24, 2023

Back Forty Beef’s owners are resourceful when it comes to waste. A freezer of leaf fat, which is fat from around an animal’s organs, has become another useful product to market. How? Tallow candles.

It’s an almost three-hour drive for Kelly and Clint Brandlee from their farm in Pierpont, but they are ready to connect with a new audience base in the Sioux Falls area.

Look for their meat products and tallow candles Saturday at the 605 Made Night Market.

How it works

“We render our leaf fat down in a roaster, which takes about a day,” Kelly Brandlee said. “Then we strain it twice, add soy wax from our own soybeans and finish it off with essential oils and scents.”

Brandlee described a few of Back Forty’s creatively named classic candles: 

• Wild Horses has “a leathery smell.” This candle has a blend of outdoor scents, leather aromas and essential oils. 
• Take a Backroad “smells outdoorsy.” This scent includes a blend of oakmoss, amber and lemongrass essential oils. 
• Summer Pastures offers “a nice grass smell.” This candle has a combination of grass scent and eucalyptus essential oils.

Brandlee said she hopes to have a fall scent ready for 605 Made. 

People find it interesting that Back Forty turns leaf fat into candles, Brandlee said.

“Not a lot of people realize you can do that. We can utilize the whole animals this way,” Brandlee said. “I mean, this is how people got light a thousand years ago: lard fat candles.”

The creation of the family’s candles was “kind of an accident.” Brandlee said they did not want the leaf fat going to waste anymore. They started doing research, and eventually it led to candle-making.

“In the future, I’m thinking about making some tallow lotions too.”

This is the Back Forty Beef’s first time at the 605 Made Night Market.

“It seems well attended, and people are excited about it,” Brandlee said. “Last year, I saw it happening and was like oh, I really wanna do that!”

Brandlee said the family is excited to find another audience for their products.

For the night market, they plan to bring packaged beef, hamburgers, steak, turkeys, turkey sticks and the tallow candles.

Back Forty Beef is a USDA beef locker and can sell directly to customers. It also has a subscription club and ships beef.

The Brandlees run Back Forty Beef with Clint’s parents. The Brandlees’ daughters, Jaycee and Kylie, make the sixth generation on the farm.

The main products from their farm include cattle, soybeans and corn.

On Sept. 9, the Brandlees will launch a corn maze for family-friendly events. They plan to have a hay tunnel, farm animals, picture-taking opportunities, local food trucks and, of course, the 12-acre corn maze.

“It’s a beef cow and calf,” Brandlee said of the design.

After people enjoy the corn maze and other activities, the Brandlees will have their farm open for purchases of homegrown beef, pumpkins and gourds from area growers, and Stensland Family Farms ice cream.

Saturday’s 605 Made Night Market is co-organized by Knotty Gnome Variety & Salvage and SiouxFalls.Business. It’s sponsored by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls and Pomegranate Market.

Find it in the Raven parking lot at Phillips Avenue and Sixth Street. Hours are 3 to 9 p.m., and admission is free.

For a complete vendor guide, click below.

Here’s your guide to shopping, food, entertainment at Saturday’s 605 Made Night Market