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
Tags: baby goats, bee balm, cheese making, chevre, crocus, daffodils, feta, flowers, fromage blanc, goat milk soaps, herbs, lemon balm, oregano, panir
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
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)
Tags: fresh produce, gardening class, grow your own food, raised beds, soil, victory garden
Posted in goats | Comments Off
February 26th, 2009
Springtime means milking the Goats
Tags: farm, fresh, goat milk, milking, Spring
Posted in goats | Comments Off
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
Tags: farm animals, goats, milk, planting, Spring
Posted in goats | Comments Off
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
Posted in goats | Comments Off
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
Posted in goats | Comments Off
November 3rd, 2008
I am considering putting honey back in our goat milk lotions. As a humectant it will draw moisture from the air to moisturize skin. With the Evening Primrose Oil, Vitamin E, Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, Almond Oil, etc., etc., it can only help. We used to use it – and people have been asking for it again. Just may happen on the next batch. I will be making fresh lotions for all the winter shows – I like to make them just right before I sell them.
The girls are starting to slow down ever so slightly in milk production getting ready for breeding time – but they still allow me to get more than enough for making cheeses, lotions, soaps, and drinking.
I’m enjoying the small shows we are doing. Gives me a lot of time to educate people and talk with them about the herbs we use and why, the essential oils as opposed to using fragrances philosophy, and the fact that we use freshly milked goats, our own no-chemical beeswax and honey, etc. in all of our products. We don’t use bases and add fragrance – we hand make everything we sell – except the soap socks. I tried natural, organic soap socks and they molded right away. Health is more important than natural material to me.
I think once people know why we do what we do, they like the difference. Health is the bottom line. Selling a lot of product can never be the reason for what we do. We do classes at the library and for homeschoolers. We don’t make money doing this. We may make someone think about what they’re putting on their bodies. Most people think about what is going IN their bodies now, but very few are thinking about what goes ON them – and eventually IN them with skin being the biggest organ. (If you don’t think what you put on you, goes in you, try this experiment: put some crushed garlic on the bottom of your foot and see if you taste garlic and how quickly. . . ).
The Goat Woman
aka Marilyn
Tags: goat milk, honey, jojoba oil, lotion, natural products, shea butter
Posted in goats | Comments Off
October 31st, 2008
Happy Anniversary to us – we’ve been in KY 8 years today, October 31st – and married 22 years this month.
Well, it’s a blustery, cold day here on the farm . . .a great day to stay in, snuggled by the fire reading. Alas, the animals need warm water, hay and grain to produce that health-giving, moisturizing goat milk. So we will bundle, feed/water/milk and install the winter water heaters . . . goats like warm, clean water.
We have a lot less pastured eggs these days . . . I don’t think the ladies are liking this less-than-warm weather. Where we were getting 4 dozen eggs a day – we’re now down to about 9 eggs. We have put a light in the sleeping area for the temporary housing. The hurricane in KY/OH destroyed the tunnel greenhouse where the hens were to over-winter on 2-3 foot of bedding material. We have a lot of work to do in a short time to put up a wooden wall/doorway and seal it from predators – all for those wonderful brown eggs to come.
We got our new chicks from Mount Healthy Hatchery last week and they are in their black rubber 110 gallon fish tanks – converted to brooding areas. We have two set up in the “barn”. Our garage makes a very temperate barn for us until the new one is done in the front area. (We can’t wait to sit in our living room or front porch and watch the goats frolic on the front hill).
We also started the breeding cycle. We had one milking doe sold pending breeding. Well, she decided to change our busy Sunday morning schedule to her own advantage. We will now be getting Daisy to her new home in Grant County soon. . .
We are waiting to breed the rest of the ladies until November. We usually breed closer to October – but our grandkids are coming in April and want to be a part of the miracle of new life. So we’ll breed a little later than usual. We have one lady named Hope that is already bred and will be giving lots of milk by the time the rest of the ladies have their new kids.
We have a new hay storage area and are working on putting another 100 bales in it – thanks Pat! Without his hard, never-ending honey-do list, we couldn’t have the many animals we have.
We also have been attending local craft fairs for the season. We will be introducing whole new areas to the wonder of goat milk products and honey/beeswax products. We try to educate and not just sell products when we go – it’s working. We have a lot of repeat business! Fresh, homemade, local, healthy – we stress all of this when we go.
Have to get to school and making some homemade goat cheeses – we have some requests for some special “presents”. My mom cannot have any cow’s milk products so we ship lots of cheeses to Arizona when it’s cool enough to do so.
Have a blessed day, the Goat Woman
aka Marilyn
Tags: chickens, chicks, craft shows, dairy goats, eggs, fairs, farm, greenhouse, hens, planting
Posted in goats | Comments Off
October 24th, 2008
Why goat woman?
Ask my favorite Irish cheerleader – Reggie. Once, when given our handmade goat milk soap to take home with him after a visit to the states – he critiqued the soap and called it very queer. Of course, I was stunned – until his son translated. Queer is the absolute best testimonial word that could be used. He loved that the bar was hard & had all the qualities that he loved in soap . . . Reggie does NOT like liquid soaps. Now, when he talks to his son, he almost always asks how the Goat Woman is . . . and Reggie, I’m loving my new name and all that it encompasses – THANK YOU!!!
Why goats?
I wanted a cow . . . a Jersey cow to be precise. Only I knew nothing about them. I also wanted to be able to transport whatever I bought in a Suburban . . . enter 4H & my teenage daughter. We started in Reno with several Toggenburgs that were already bred. My daughter got a crash course in showing goats and her 1st year milker took first place at the NV State Fair. Our goats got a 3 sided shelter in a very large fenced-in field and a separate, small fenced in area for a birthing pen. They ate all the sagebrush they could find . . . 11 acres of it. We bought pure alfalfa hay – never have seen any hay since like the hay from Northern California. We tried to drink the milk – but sage-flavored milk was not our favorite . . . but we did find a recipe for goat milk soap. . .
Our natural, homemade goat milk soap came from this very simple first recipe. I still have bars left from those days – still wonderful, moisturizing, gentle cleansing, soap -
Then, the transfer came . . . I had to sell my goats. A goat-herder woman came and got all my goats . . . sad day – but they went to a good home at a fraction of what I’d paid for them. When you want milk and healthy animals, and don’t show them – you don’t need all the fancy paperwork . . .
Enter Kentucky and 5 years later – we buy a small piece of property and set out to find milking does. Ooops – no Toggs here . . . Alpines? Nubians? Well, after much searching we found a farm in Indiana with some beautiful Alpines and a herd was started.
We’ve added and now have Alpines – because we LOVE them and Nubians because of the goat milk cheeses we make, yogurt and amount of higher-fat milk they put out. We cannot sell raw milk because of Kentucky law, but we’re working on teaching about goat care, cheese making classes, making goat milk lotion and goat milk soaps – for the health conscious. We also sell great quality stock to get you started.
We use organic principles in raising all of our animals as far as we can. We believe that by giving them the best care, food and shelter available that they will be the most healthy. If an animal needs treatment by medical intervention to save it’s life – it will get it. With good care and hygiene an animal usually will not need intervention.
Watch for more day to day activities around the farm – it’s time to make sure the ladies get bred so we have plenty of milk and products for next Spring . . .
Off to do the best job anyone could have, feed, water & milk the outside family
Have a blessed day,
the Goat Woman
Tags: alpines, goat milk soap, goat woman, goatwoman, health, KY, natural, northern kentucky, The Goat Woman
Posted in goats | Comments Off