Welcome to part 2 of meet the girls. You know, this whole dairy goat thing was my husband, Jon Paul's idea. What started off as 2 does and a couple of kids quickly escalated. We have continually grown over the past 4 years. The funny thing is I'm the one who keeps adding to the herd! I love my goats. They bring me so much joy. They are tons of fun, but they can be a little aggravating at times, like when they don't respect the perimeter fencing or get into things they shouldn't. I still love them though! Piper Piper has bcome a very sweet goat. She was one of the first does born here on the farm. She was very skittish around us for the longest time, then after having her first babies, she suddenly became much friendlier. She is definitely one of the leaders in the herd along with Holly and she makes sure the others know their pecking order. In fact this evening, one of the younger goats was laying where she wanted to be so she went over and started pushing her around. She made the younger goat, Minnie, get up, then began a head butting war with her. They were standing up on their back legs and head butting each other. It's quite a sight to see. Dottie Dottie is the daughter of Piper. This year was her first freshening (first birth) and she had a very showy little buckling. The boys had been hoping for a white colored doeling when the Piper was pregnant. Piper was the last one to give birth out of the herd. It was around 8:30 at night when I went to the stables to check on Piper and there were two kids born, I ran back to the house and got some towels and my hair dryer because it was pretty cool that night and I wanted to get the kids dried and warm. We gave Dottie her name because of her distinct dots on her fur. She is still a bit skittish around us, but she is an excellent mom. I think she will end up being a good milker next season. Minnie Minnie is the daughter of one of our goats we lost earlier this year. Her mother was Pocahantas, who is featured on our goat milk soap labels. As you can see, Minnie has wattles on her neck. They were passed down from her mother and she has passed it down to her baby she had earlier this year. Minnie is a shy girl and stays towards the rear of the herd. She's not an alpha like her mother was. She is a sweet girl, but prefers to hang back while everyone else comes up to get some petting. She can only be enticed to come up close with feed.
Lucy
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Now that you've met the boys, let's start meeting the girls. We have quite a few girls right now, so we will spread it out over a few posts. All of my girls have distinct personalities. Some want to be around you all the time while others have days when they want to be left alone. With goats, sometimes you don't know what you are going to get! Let's start with the girls that have been with us the longest. Holly Holly is the daughter of one of our first goats, Madeline. The picture to the right is when she first came to the farm. She is a very smart goat and tends to be one of the leaders of the herd. She knows exactly where we keep the feed and if a gate is left open, you better believe that she will find it and head straight for the dairy room and the feed. Her personality is hot and cold. She has days when she wants to be loved on and other days when she wont let you near her. She's a good milker and easy to get up on the stand. Sally Sally is a very special goat. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her, but it was quite obvious that she wasn't quite a normal goat. We believe that she may have gotten stuck in the birth canal when she was born and suffered some neurological damage. She always has a far off gaze in her eyes and she doesn't necessarily hang out with the rest of the herd. She is perfectly content to be by herself. Sally is such a sweet soul and will let us all love on her. When she runs, her head tilts to the side. She is my "Forrest Gump" of goats. Another little known fact about Sally is that she was born with extra teats. They are smaller than her regular teats and don't function, but she has 4 teats instead of two. She is a tough girl. She has a real problem when it comes to intestinal worms and we've almost lost her a couple of times because she gets very sick if she picks up any parasites. I am beginning to think she may be part cat because I think she has 9 lives. Emma Emma was another bottle baby that has become a great milker. She's a vocal girl who has no problems showing her discontent if we are late milking. She's a little on the shorter side. I love watching her get on the milk stand. She backs up and gets a bit of a running start and jumps up. She's a good milker for her size and has a great disposition.
In case you were wondering, I'm participating in a blogging challenge that kicked off yesterday. I'll admit, I'm not the greatest blogger and sometimes find myself at a loss for words when it comes to this. I know it's something that can be beneficial to my business, but struggle to decide what will be of the most interest to my amazing customers. Since I told a little about ourselves and farm life yesterday, I thought today, I will start introducing you to the goats that make all of this happen. Tonight, we will start with the boys! Jake Jake is our herd sire. He came to us at 2 days old and I bottle fed him. He spent a lot of time in our house during his first few weeks on the farm as seen in the picture of him as a baby. He was a bit stubborn to take the bottle at first, but after a week, he had it down. He enjoys being with his girls. When he was 6 months old, he had his first season with the girls. The first birthing season, we had a set of quadruplets, 2 sets of triplets, and quite a few sets of twins. This is his 3rd year of being sire and he hasn't disappointed us so far. He's a very strong fella and can be a bit of a hard head, but he has never been a mean buck. Luckily, because we bottle raised him, he doesn't get testy and try to challenge us. Now, the cows and bull are a different story. I've seen him butt heads with an 1800 lb bull and not back down. He will let me pet on him, but he doesn't like his head touched. He's a great buck. Beau That black and white goat with Jake is Beau. They are best buddies. We got Beau as a bottle baby wether. A wether is a male goat that was "fixed" or banded not long after birth. Beau is the one who hangs out with Jake when we separate the boys from the girls. With goats, you have to have at least 2 because they are herd animals. A lone goat will get themselves in a lot of trouble! Beau is one of my more vocal goat and he calls to me when he hears me outside talking. He has a great personality and loves to be petted on and given treats. He and Jake are very close in age and they spend a lot of time eating in the pasture and making sure the rest of the herd is protected. Poe Poe was born in May and has already proven to be a bit of a mischievous little guy. We are raising him to help as the next sire to split duties with Jake for a little while. He has a twin sister, Rey. My boys names him after a character in the new Star Wars movie because they are big Star Wars fans. Poe was reared by his mom, Ivory, for about 4 weeks and we pulled him and Rey to bottle feed so they would be more sociable with people. I've already saved him from near death when he decided to jump into a very big mud pit and got stuck at just 2 weeks old. His whole body was covered in mud, including parts of his face, and I could barely hear him crying out when I went looking for him. Thank goodness I found him when I did because he would have most certainly died. Today, he came and met me in the dairy as I was milking his mom. I still don't know how he got in there as the gate was closed, but he figured it out. He has a tendency to know when the hot wire around the property is not working right and takes that opportunity to check out the greener grass on the other side. I know that he will probably keep a bit of that mischievous streak in him, but I am sure he will make a great buck for our herd.
I hope you've enjoyed meeting the boys! Tomorrow, we will start meeting the girls. We have a bunch to meet so I will break them up into a few posts. Thanks for reading! If we've never had the chance to meet at one of the craft festivals or making deliveries, I'd like to introduce myself and family to you. My name is Theresa and I am the main soap artisan. I have a background in massage therapy, having graduated massage therapy school in 2004, and grew up in my father's pharmacy working as a pharmacy technician. I started this business because I loved making bath salts and other bath goodies for friends and family as Christmas presents. About 4 years ago, I was introduced to goat milk soap and we were immediately hooked. It didn't take long for me to have a wonderful soap maker teach me how to make goat milk soap. Since then, I've expanded into other products as I've learned and studied how to create different items. It's like my own science lab in my soap shop where I can experiment with different formulas to see what works best. I love being able to create and run my business while also taking care of our farm and homeschooling my boys. My husband, Jon Paul, and my 4 boys (Jean-Luc, Tristan, Dylan, and Ethan) are at the heart of what we do. They are in the soap shop, helping make bath bombs, labeling products, and washing dishes. Without him them, I wouldn't have the business I have right now. Jon Paul and I married in 2006. I moved from south Mississippi to Arnaudville to the house his grandfather built in the 1950's. I love the rural area we live in and always dreamed of having farm animals. Neither one of us had grown up having farm animals, but we knew it was something we both wanted to do. We started out with two cows and a few chickens. Wrong Way and Blunt were our very first farm animals. I'll never forget the day Jon Paul came home and told me he bought two pregnant cows. We didn't even have any fence up on our property! It was a mad rush to get everything ready to bring them home. Did I mention, we didn't have a cattle trailer either? Sometimes we have the tendency to put the cart before the horse. We got our fencing completed and brought these two big girls home. It wasn't long before we went from 2 cows to 4 with the birth of two heifers. Eventually we ended up selling one because she was a little wild. About a year and a half ago, we realized that Blunt was no longer able to become pregnant so we had her slaughtered to provide meat for our family. Wrong Way is still with us and gave birth to a heifer calf a few weeks ago. About 4 years ago, we decided to add dairy goats. Jon Paul prefers to drink goat milk over store bought milk, so we started with a few goats in milk. The first two to come to the farm were Moonlight and Madeline, and Madeleine's twins Holly and Finn. We were still working on building proper facilities for the goats when we bought them from a wonderful couple who have become some of our best friends. Moonlight passed away about a year ago and we ended up selling Madeline to another couple who wanted some dairy goats. Right now, our herd is 20 goats including some Nubians, LaManchas, and Saneens. All of our animals have their own personalities. From the very lovey dovey goats that will follow you like puppy dogs, to the ones that prefer to be left alone. We embrace the diversity among the animals. From cows to chickens, to goats, turkeys, and even some pigs, we've experienced raising all of them. We've witnessed life and death. We've cried over animals we couldn't save and had joyful celebrations when animals were born. We've bought new animals and sold others. We've sent some to the butcher to provide our family with food. We've made many mistakes and learned so much. I love that my 4 boys get to experience having farm animals and see what it takes to have a farm. Farm life is not easy. There are so many ups and downs, but it's something we wouldn't trade for anything. This adventure has allowed us to develop our business and meet so many new people. We've made wonderful friends because of our little farm. Friends that have been there to offer a helping hand when we've needed it and we've been allowed to return the favor!
So now, you know a little about us and what we do. Our life here is pretty busy on a daily basis, but we love it. There is never a dull moment! Thanks for taking a peek into our crazy little life! Generally, there is a certain look of intrigue I get when this question is asked. Yes, I use beer in my shave soap (and in some of my bar soaps also). Beer has a lot of great ingredients that help enhance soap properties. The natural sugars in beer help to boost lather in soap, and most people enjoy a wonderful lather when it comes to soap! There are also other ingredients in beer that are great for the skin.
Hops- hops are the main component of beer. They are rich in antioxidants and have been used in skin products to help with skin inflammation. Barley-barley contains selenium which can help in fighting free radical damage. Yeast- Brewer's yeast is high in B vitamins and chromium making it great for the skin. I personally like to use beer that is local to Louisiana including Abita Beer, Bayou Teche Brewery, and Parish Brewing Company. I found after much experimentation that beer was the perfect vehicle for our shave soaps. The soaps do not smell like a bottle of beer, although some of the maltiness (is that really a word?) subtly comes through. Our shave soaps are a dual lye cream type soap that also contain tallow, stearic acid, and Shea butter to make the skin soft and smooth after using it. So, if you are one of those who are getting into wet shaving, we'd love to hear your feedback! Comment below for a chance to win a tin of our shave soap! Cocoa butter is one of my favorite butters to use in my products. I use it in my soaps, lotions, body butters, bath bombs, and lip balms. It's a great moisturizer and most people are not allergic to it. Here are some of the top reasons why we love cocoa butter so much!
5. It is rich in antioxidants! Cocoa butter is high in stearic acid, palmitic acid, and oleic acid, which provide a layer of protection from free radicals. It is used in many anti-aging products because of the high fatty acids that are naturally in cocoa butter. 4. It provides natural aromatherapy! Because of its natural chocolate/vanilla scent, the smell is distinct and allows for a relaxing aromatherapy experience. 3. It's a natural skin healer. Having a high lipid profile, the fatty acids in cocoa butter have been shown to help a number of skin issues. Just look at some of the best selling stretch mark creams...all of them are high in cocoa butter. 2. Low allergen risk! These days, there are more and more people with allergies. Did you know that if you have a sensitivity to latex, you could also have an allergic reaction to shea butter? Allergic reactions to cocoa butter are very rare. 1. It's an excellent moisturizer! Cocoa butter melts just slightly above room temperature making it a very easy butter to work with. It doesn't have the tendency to get the "grainy" texture that shea butter and some other butters can get when working with them. It leaves a silky smooth feel on your skin that stays with you long after you have applied it. If you want to feel just how great it works, try one of our products containing cocoa butter. One of my favorite ways to experience the silky feel of cocoa butter is in one of our luxurious bath bombs. We put shaved cocoa butter in each bomb to make your bath time extra moisturizing. What are your favorite things about cocoa butter? Did I mention that I love cocoa butter in a chocolate dessert?
At the soap conference this weekend, we had a wonderful session on how to make some really beautiful swirls in our soaps. The woman who was conducting the session is a certified aromatherapist. As she was explaining some of the oils in her soap recipe she was demonstrating, she spoke briefly about fragrances. She said that as an aromatherapist, she normally does not use essential oils to fragrance her soap and instead uses fragrance oils. She briefly went on to say the reason she does this is because essential oils are medicinal and using them frequently as fragrance can lead to overexposure. This really struck a chord with me as someone who took aromatherapy during my massage therapy training. Having a background in pharmacy, as a pharmacy technician, I know what overexposure to medications can cause. They can cause various conditions/diseases and allergic reactions. Essential oils should be treated the same as any other medication that you would ingest or put on your body. You can overdose yourself and cause problems within your body and develop allergies if you continually expose yourself to the chemical compounds in essential oils. While essential oils are natural, they are still made of of chemical compounds from the plants they are derived from. That is why any essential oil applied to the skin should always be placed in a carrier oil, such as olive, coconut, grapeseed, or other skin safe oils, before being applied. They should be used in very small amounts (just a drop or two) and should not be ingested unless you are under the supervision of a certified aroma therapist or naturopathic doctor. Essential oils are extremely concentrated forms of the plants they come from. It takes many pounds of plant material to produce a small amount of essential oil.
Fragrance oils are lab created using natural and man-made compounds. They are deemed to be skin safe or non-skin safe. Non-skin safe fragrances can be used in items such as air fresheners and candles along with other non-skin applications. Skin safe is for use in cosmetics and other items that will make contact with skin (such as laundry detergent, soaps, fabric softener, etc). They are extensively tested to ensure their safety. Not all fragrance oils are created equally. Some fragrance oils contain phthalates to create certain scents. Phthalates have been indicated to be endocrine (hormone) disruptors. You can read a little more about that here (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/). I always make sure that when I am purchasing fragrance oils, they come from very reputable companies (not ebay or amazon) and they are phthalate free. I only use fragrances that I am comfortable using on every member of my family, from myself and husband all the way down to my 2 year old. While I always buy the most reputable fragrances possible, people can still have sensitivities to fragrances as well as essential oils and not be able to tolerate any type of fragrance (whether natural or lab created) in their skin care products. We always suggest testing the product on a small section of your skin before using to check for sensitivities. The most important thing, as a consumer, is to do research and ask questions. I am always available to answer questions about my products and even some questions about different oils and their usage. The big thing to remember is essential oils are extremely beneficial to the body and smell wonderful, but they are still medicinal and should be treated as such. You can find out more about the benefits and contraindications of essential oils by researching “essential oil properties” of a specific oil on the internet. The link below gives some info on a few oils. http://articles.mercola.com/herbal-oils/hyssop-oil.aspx I was fortunate to be able to attend a very informative soapmakers seminar in Round Rock, Texas this weekend. I normally cannot get away the weekend it is held due to scheduling conflicts, but I’m so happy that it worked out for me to attend. We have learned a lot about marketing handcrafted soaps and toiletries today. Website content and design was presented and I know that it is something I have been needing to work on. As you will see over the next few weeks, I will be updating pictures and descriptions on the website. This is to better serve you as my customers. I appreciate you taking the time to check out my products and would love to hear any feedback you may have! I will also try to do a bit more blogging on the webpage and give more information about certain products and general life around the farm.
We will also be sending out more emails and coupon codes, so make sure you join our mailing list to keep up to date with the latest specials and coupon codes. We will also announce new products and soaps as they come off the curing rack. Thanks again for being wonderful customers! We will be on vacation from October 16th-October 23. If you send and order, or email, I will respond asap once I make it back home.
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