Busy as.. well, our Bees…

June 4th, 2009
Wow! It’s been a whirlwind kind of life this past couple of weeks!

The market on Fountain Square in Cincy may turn out to be good. (Every Tues. from 11-2). We have a little hurdle to cross and some decisions to make - but if not having electric and moving booths gets worked out and isn’t detrimental, we could do quite well. People seem to want eco-friendly, healthy and quality made products. I think they appreciate the fact that we raise the dairy goats/bees that help us to produce the products we make.

We will have to travel to the commercial kitchen many times to make our products . . . but there’s a great joy in taking my family down there and all working together to make products out of our beeswax, honey and goat milk that we know is good for our customers and friends.

We have been talking to a very large business that has Amish furniture, cheeses and foods, Antiques and other things for sale that is interested in our products. It is not a done deal yet, but we’re hoping to talk more with them about maybe carrying our products. I’ll let you know more about that later.

We are going to be having our products at the Daylily Farm again this year! Come see Dan and Dana and their wonderful daughters at Sugar Bay Daylilies and shop in their arts and crafts store while you’re there. Free of charge to visit, bring lunch and eat while enjoying the daylilies around you! June and July usually- while the daylilies are blooming.

We start our craft fair season on October 3rd/4th at Lakota West - as of right now, we have 8 shows/boutiques that we have consented to be at. We are still waiting to hear from Lakota East.
The show schedule should quickly be posted on the website - thanks again Pat!

Now if the rain will stop, the evenings/mornings be mild, we will attempt to pull all the weeds that have sprouted and grown like crazy in the past couple of weeks and get 5 acres of mowing done.

I’m off to make some more shaving soaps - today’s line up so far has been: peppermint soap, lemongrass soap and herbal shaving soap (full of bentonite clay to make it slicker than slick). I have some girls that are begging for it because they don’t want to go back to cream. And, not paying attention closely enough - I’ve run out! I have one disc of unscented goat milk shaving soap in stock . . .

Got to get back to work, just thought I’d give you a heads up!!

The Goat Woman

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Ala Technorati

May 28th, 2009

Technorati Profile

Got right in for this one.

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Inclimate Weather - and Whirlwind lifestyle

May 26th, 2009

Whew! It’s been a whirlwind few months . . . maybe it’s only been weeks and feels like months.
Sorry - but I haven’t had one minute to write anything for so very long.

All of this wet, soggy, hot/humid weather has caused a little distress for the goats. They don’t do well walking or living in the muddy, sticky conditions - and on top of mud/yuck - our goats are mostly black. Today, I gave specialty worming meds for all the males. The females that are giving milk will not be given this wormer unless they need it - it has milk withdrawal time periods. The other ladies will be given this wormer and then in 10 days all will get it again. I want to get it all gone and then we’ll check for worms in Fall.

Pat has been building a wonderful fencing system on the hill that we cannot use for us humans. But the bucks will LOVE it. It has roses, blackberries, locust, and weeds/brush of all kinds. We will not even have to feed hay! We will provide plenty of fresh, clean water and the boys will get fresh food without any parasites. We like to use the pasture rotation that is most healthy for animals and the land.

The ladies are producing more milk per goat than ever. Probably because their environment keeps improving every year - thanks Pat!!! He works so hard at work and then comes home and gets stuff done!

I’m making goat milk soaps like crazy . . . I was blessed by being selected as one of 16 vendors to participate in the summer-long open market on Fountain Square in Cincinnati. It runs Tuesdays starting June 2nd from 11-2 all summer. Come and visit if you’re anywhere close! This Friday we will travel to Versailles and make all of our products fresh for the summer. (I can bring special orders to the square for anyone who needs that service).

If the blueberries do well, we will be bringing them to the market with us. We hope to double the strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus so more people can get them fresh from us. We still have eggs, and more all the time.

The lavender, comfrey and assorted herbs are growing wonderfully. Pat put in one of 3 counter-tops in my retro kitchen and it looks marvelous - something is always happening around here!

The last SCHEDULED cheese class was this past weekend. If you want to book a private class this summer or want to learn something specific such as soapmaking - give us an email or phone call and we’ll do our best to accommodate you. (If you came to a cheese class and your mozz. didn’t work - we have a wonderfully easy fix for you - just email or call for details). Starting on getting hard cheeses perfected so we can help you along with them.

Everyone helped in the rain yesterday and dug the beds and sowed, weeded, planted. We only had to run to the house twice. Our boots were slick with thick, yucky KY clay - but a quick once-over with a shovel helped that situation. We have some very special heirloom and organic seeded tomatoes this year. We can’t wait to share them with you now that the chickens have been kept at bay. (Our chickens have the run of the farm - true free-range chickens - but they ate my garden planting twice!!!).

We are planting our front “lawn” with melons, squashes, corn, beans - anything to double and quadruple the space and the goodies we produce.

We are looking to please you with what we grow. Let us know what you want us to grow for your eating pleasure!!

the Goat Woman (aka Marilyn).

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The Goat Pile

March 17th, 2009
A pile of newborn "Nupines"

Look at this little pile of goats -
One although I do not know which one at the moment, is a doe.
She has lots of brothers, cousins and friends on top of or beside  her.
1st year here on the property all the does were black with a little white and the bucks were all white with a little black and sometimes brown.
Last year the does were all white with black and the male was black with the spot/star on his head. This year - all but 1 out of 6 babies are black with white spots. One is brown just like his mama.
Yes, this buck threw almost all bucks. They are beautiful, but only the little lady is staying.
These, although they look like Nubians are truly Nupines. Their mother(s) are black Alpines and their father is a white/black Nubian. Aren’t they cute??? (In better times all the twin boys would be wethered and pull goat carts for us . . .)

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Ah, the labors of Spring certainly do bring rewards . . .

March 17th, 2009

I just finished the last cheese getting ready for Saturday’s first cheese class of the year. (The 3rd one is filling fast. I think we only have 3 spots left). I make all the cheeses in various stages so the people coming can see it all and then they make all new cheeses. They get to take home all kinds of cheeses with their new-found knowledge.

The Feta is soaking in the salt to help it lose all it’s whey and the Panir is chilling in the fridge. I did put the Chevre or Fromage Blanc in the freezer so it would stay nice and fresh.

Spring is here . . . or so it seems today. The crocus and daffodils are blooming and we are getting seed to sow the pastures with goat and bee friendly grasses and clovers.

It’s always busy here . . . I have to go and make some replacement goat milk soaps . . . I’m out of a lot of the favorite kinds.

The chickens are loose and rooting thru all the lavender, bee balm, garlic and assorted herbs looking for bugs - I just wish they wouldn’t spread the mulch over every inch of sidewalk.

Well, I need to get to the weeding of the front bed - the lemon balm, oregano and St. John’s Wort really need my attention . . . I guess while I’m there I can check the strawberries and asparagus . . . I can’t wait to eat well with all the fresh bounty and blessings around here.

Come and visit . . . the babies need lots of handling to stay sweet and friendly.

Blessings! The Goat woman

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Victory Gardens…

March 6th, 2009
In the midst of kidding season we’re taking a step toward trying to find
a way to “revive the Victory Gardens” of the past.

The first of next month we will have a raised bed gardening class. We
will be sharing and answering questions on making and using raised beds
over poor soil. We will be using our garden area to show how this can be
done. We will also be using our front yard where, by standard gardening
practices, it is totally useless for growing. It will become - with a
little help, a huge area to grow sprawling plants of all kinds - melons,
squashes, etc. to eat, store, sell, give to the local mission and save
seeds from.

Our greatest desire is to have people return to health. We should be the
most healthy people in the world, full of vitality and energy and
without sickness . . . at least with all that’s available to us. We
aren’t. We have the ability to change our lives through simple gardening.

I love these pictures of the past and the information on this site:

http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/

Please join us in a Victory Garden this Spring - whether it’s a pot on
your porch or a bunch of herbs in your window or a full-blown garden
outside. Just start - and let us know your small or large beginnings
with pictures if you can. We’d love to have a page of friends and their
Victory Gardens gracing our website.

I can’t wait to taste the first sweet, juicy flavorful non-cardboard
tomatoes of the season -

The basement has kale, lettuces, spinach, broccoli and many other things
started. We will be selling the plants (always heirloom or organic) and
the produce at the roadside - I bet you can’t wait to get all this from
the boys under their white canopy . . . we’re making it a family
adventure this year.

Now to go clean up the wind damage from the storms of winter and get
ready for the bounty and restoration of spring . . . (and to go check to
see if those ladies up the hill are showing any signs of giving us a few
more blessings to be thankful for).

The Goatwoman (aka Marilyn)

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Milking time

February 26th, 2009
Springtime means milking the Goats

Springtime means milking the Goats

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Looks like spring is here…

February 26th, 2009
Well the milk is starting to trickle - not flowing yet, but we have a few more does to go. The first girl, Hope, is just a first freshener so she’ll have probably another year before we get much - but her bag looks very promising. There will be milking does for sale and/or shares in a few of the goats in a couple months.

The new chicks are starting to lay - about 3 dark brown eggs a day. It’s a good thing too - the oldies, but goodies are laying very few eggs right now. And, no, the roosters still aren’t in the freezer yet and Thanksgiving & Christmas (the Narragansett Turkeys) are still strutting around contrary to their specific names . . .

The new, retro-looking kitchen isn’t complete yet - but it’s down to painting the shelves and making counter tops with the flat laminate sheets. All this to house my beautiful 1950’s Chambers Gas Stove which I got “free”. (My husband cringes when I get something free - well deserved too I guess). It’s waiting patiently to come upstairs after the gas is plumbed and several of its parts are put back on. Can’t wait to do my cheese classes on that stove!!!

What else have we been doing? I helped Pat put in a stove pipe for the wood burning stove - what a nightmare trying to get it into the firebox area! He ended up cutting a piece of the top of the metal firebox out to get the pipe to make the turn into the area where the insert goes - hopefully it’ll make all the difference in how this stove heats.

We are getting ready to head down to Versailles to make product. We are going back to putting Ostrich/Emu oils in most of our products - we miss the qualities they impart.

We are deciding right now when to have a soap making class. Many of you out there have asked - and we try to do as much as we can to please you . . .

We have onions, lettuce, spinach, kale and wheatgrass growing in the basement. We will be starting tomatoes, peppers and flowers very soon. Some of this can be set out during the raised bed class if the weather allows.

The bulbs are starting to push up through the ground, the garlic is peeking up and the babies are starting to be born - it must be Spring is really coming - I just can’t wait!!

The Goatwoman

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Almost Spring

February 17th, 2009
Good morning!

We have new babies - both Nubian bucks. We’re beginning to milk the doe. She’s not too happy about it  - but loves the grain involved!

We have two more does due soon. These does will kid Nupines - a pleasant blend of the finest Alpine/Nubian genetics - with “airplane ears”. Then we’ll be back to fresh milk and no more frozen milk.

This will be the best time to be making cheese. Mozzarella is awesome when made from fresh spring pastured goat milk. Signed up for the 3rd cheese class for this season yet? Hurry, they fill up FAST!

I can’t wait for spring and pasture. Flowers, herbs, setting the starts out of all the heirloom and organic seedlings. The garlic is showing signs of growing - even in all this ice and cold. I’ve even seen some bulbs poking out and the fruit trees in the orchard are getting ready to leaf out.

We are adding emu/ostrich oil back into all of our products that we can. We love what we have found that these oils do for skin. We stopped adding them since they are trans-dermal and would take fragrance oil deep into your skin along with the beneficial ingredients. We will also be adding honey again to most of our products.

The new blueberries are on order and should be here in March-May. We bought much older plants this year so that they can be producing faster. If you signed up for the raised bed classes then you will be helping us by getting some of the beds started for these new plants as well as the continual building of our soil in the market garden.

I hope you’re staying warm and safe!

The Goatwoman

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Getting Licensed

December 19th, 2008

Good morning - and it’s almost Merry Christmas! (Did you know that Merry meant Mighty and not Jolly as we’ve come to know it? Well, it did! Just a little info to lighten your day).

We are rescheduling our training for licensing day until after January 5th - I caught a cold. Been a while since that’s happened. I think it’s directly related to getting myself unhealthy during the rush of the craft season. The food alone was not what my body needed. A lack of rest showed in almost all areas. But - I digress . . .

I was going down to start the process of learning how to pass my State’s requirements for Cosmetic Manufacturing. These rules are much more rigid than the FDA’s which is good for you, our customers. I will now be using a, (maybe 2), commercial kitchen(s) to produce all products except soap. (Soap is not regulated as long as it makes no claims except for cleaning).

We packed all the things that we would need and then the rain hit this morning. Besides having a very foggy head, I was worried about driving 2 hours through the storm. So, I’m putting it off. I’m hoping to do a test run in the morning and then do the real thing in the afternoon to save a bit of driving and time. Still don’t know if this is possible - but we’re hopeful.

Of course, as soon as I called and cancelled, the storm stopped except for the wind. Now we’re chasing the roofing metal around the yard putting things on it to keep it in place until it’s put on the new hay storage area. Whew!

It looks like all the goat ladies are pregnant that should be and that we will have an abundance of milk and cheese this spring. Can’t wait to do another cheese class! This year we will probably add hard cheeses as well to our class lineup.

Did you read that we will have a raised bed gardening bed class starting? We will be making a bunch of beds for the new blueberries (100+). We learned what we think is a great way to raise lots of food in a small area. It will also make unusable ground into great soil. We have an added trick that we have learned and it really helps to make beds fast and nearly weed-free.

All in all, it was a great season. Using the craft fairs as advertising to tell people we are here and wanting to help them in their quest for health worked well. We were able to talk to a LOT of people and make a ton of new friends.

In less than 1 month we will be starting the produce in the basement. The boys will lose the ping pong table again unless Pat comes thru with a different set up like he’s planning. I hope to have all kinds of organic and heirloom seed planted and ready for the raised bed gardening classes.

School calls and the boys need my attention.

You all have a blessed and safe Christmas, New Year’s and Holiday Season and come visit!

The Goatwoman,

aka Marilyn

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