Take care…and I hope you are having a beautiful Sunday too!
Posted in Inspirations | Tagged Balance In Life, Inspirations, Reflections | 6 Comments »
Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm) | Tagged Goats | 5 Comments »

Posted in In The Soap Shop | Tagged Goat Milk Soap | 3 Comments »
A goat can be comical, stubborn, affectionate (yes, they can), smart, sneaky and the list goes on.
I can think of no other animal that can provide friendship, milk, and even meat, as well as a goat can.
This particular doe, Cammille, a reverse spotted nubian, is one that acts like she has a mind of her own (she does), but she sneaks in the affectionate act when you are not looking. The bottle fed doeling pen is right in front of Cammille’s pen. Each day, as I bottle feed the girls, I feel the tips of a goat’s ears lightly brushing across the top of my head. And I often get the chin laid on the top of my head as well. When I look up, I get the nose against nose…but wait…this is Cammille showing affection. She is slipping! π Cammille, you cannot tell in this photo, is a big strong girl. One that will be with me on the farm as long as I can take care of goats, and as long as the good Lord allows her to remain here. Her daughter, pictured in my blog post on 3/21/09, is a beauty as well, even though she is the product of a nubian/boer breeding, I am strongly considering raising her as a dairy goat. A gift to me!
If you can stand some more goat talk. I have to tell you the youngster story behind Cammille. She is fondly nic-named “Snake Eyes.” When she was young she would get this “look” in her eyes, and she would stand very still and quiet as the look crossed her face. The next thing you knew she would head butt every animal around here, hence the nic-name, the sneaky little doeling, Cammille!
Anyhow, that is my goat talk for the day.
Have a good evening!
Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm) | Tagged Goats | 6 Comments »

Today’s soap is (to the left) orange vanilla cream (the yellow topping will eventually turn a light tan) and the second type I have not named yet. It was supposed to have been a lighter shade of green, not the color of creamed spinach. π We shall see what happens as it cures!

Posted in In The Soap Shop | Tagged Goat Milk Soap | 6 Comments »
Do you see the three batches of plain white goat milk soap?
I do not see them either. Today has been a “goofy” day, as I like to call it at times. That means it is a good day, very beautiful outside, and I feel extremely content, but something just happens at each turn of the corner. I do not believe it is because it is April Fool’s Day…but then…perhaps it is just the thought of it being that particular day, a day full of surprises.
I had decided that Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps was going to step off of the colored soap path, but today as I closed the shop door behind me, and as I sorted through the bottles of essential oils and fragrance, the color wheel started turning in my head again. It looks as if color, occasionally, is to stay. If you want a non-colored soap, I will have them in stock, if you want color, I will have those in stock as well!
Today’s soaps, left to right, are lilac, plumeria, and lavender. The color will be mainly on one end of the bar, and I am hoping for a lovely light swirl of color surprise when I cut the bars tomorrow.
Posted in In The Soap Shop | Tagged Goat Milk Soap | 7 Comments »

Posted in Family & Friends | Tagged Tractor Project | 4 Comments »
Posted in AGH Business News | Tagged Brown Bag Special, Goat Milk Soap | 2 Comments »
We had kids throughout the weekend, 8 total. The milk is coming in good and strong now. I believe I have 5 dairy girls yet to kid.
Tomorrow I will post a few more pics of the tractor. I like the front end the best, the old grill area. This will be a long project, one that will probably take a couple of years to complete.
Posted in Family & Friends | Tagged Tractor Project | 3 Comments »
There are two things that seem to happen when we enter the goat kidding season. One is the Doe Code of Honor (Jennifer of Goats In The Garden) mentioned recently. This means we wait and wait, similar to the old statement about a “watched pot that never boils.”
If we are not waiting, we are being surprised, as we are today. Of course, I enjoy all of this, especially when I feel refreshed and not terribly tired. But even when I am that tired, I feel honored to be involved in such a wonderful event despite the fatique.
This year I bred the dairy girls to a boer buck. I keep my farm within certain numbers, approximately 30-35 boers, and the same number of dairy does. I love the hardiness of the nubian/boer cross, and I did not want to produce more dairy kids this year.
Many dairy farmers bottle feed their kids (calve, kid and lamb). That is my choosing. It was difficult at first, but now I appreciate knowing I am the one milking the udder, knowing the condition of each udder, knowing how much milk we are producing, and knowing that the milk is being pastuerized and is not passing along anything harmful to the dairy kids. It is a lot of work, and some day I may change my mind. For now, I still hold the dream of a large milking barn, a commercial operation, with udders that produce some mighty fine milk. And I will still make goat milk soap because that is my passion!
Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm) | Tagged Goats | 6 Comments »











