We try to keep everything we do as natural as possible here on the farm. That includes the food we (and all of our animals) eat as well as all of the items we make. One of our most popular specialty items is our jewelweed soap and jewelweed salve. These are used to both help […]
Have you ever had a difficult decision to make? You agonize over it. You pray about it. You don’t sleep well thinking about it. And finally you make a decision. If you’re at all like me, the relief you feel is tremendous, simply because the decision has been made. What you decided isn’t as important […]
I have some difficult “big picture” decisions that I have to make regarding Goat Milk Stuff. Nothing earth shattering (things like retail room hours and whether or not to do Farmer’s markets next year with our cheese), but they are decisions that will affect the family. They’re difficult decisions because I’m feeling very conflicted about […]
Here at Goat Milk Stuff we try very hard to feed our goats the best food available. This is the main reason we grow our own hay. Although many people erroneously believe that goats can (and will) eat almost anything, one thing they shouldn’t eat is Johnson Grass. If consumed in large quantities, it can […]
We participated in the American Dairy Goat Association’s Linear Appraisal program this month. An independent appraiser came out and appraised all of our goats. She looked and measured individual attributes such as their height and rump width. They received values for individual parts of their bodies such as their shoulders or rear legs. Then they were […]
I can’t believe that my baby brother just turned ELEVEN. While we usually have breakfast birthday cake, occasionally we are too busy to make it. Sometimes the birthday person insists that they want breakfast birthday cake, and we’ll do it, but most of the time the birthday kid will let us substitute birthday donuts instead. […]
Since we live on a farm where the children run through fields, woods, work with goats and chickens, (and of course play hard) they tend to be hard on clothes and shoes. Especially the boys. After getting them new shoes, it seems like no time at all, and they come to me like this: I […]
We get asked lots of questions when we’re doing farm tours, selling soap at craft fairs, or simply running errands. Since most of those answers are heard only by the person who asked, we decided to share some of the common questions here on the blog. And of course you can ask a question of your own! Jacquei asks: Hewitt, […]
A few days ago, I helped Indigo and Jade to declutter their bedroom. Usually we do this pretty regularly, but with the new building going up at the farm, I haven’t gotten to it in a while. So it was a pretty painful experience for the girls. I gave them my “usual speech” about the […]
Failure is a part of life. I personally think it’s an important part because every failure can teach us something if we’re willing to learn from that failure. I’m planning on Fridays to share with you something I’ve failed at and the lessons I have learned from those failures. Because I have such a large […]
I’m forever driving my family and my employees crazy because I’m constantly changing how we do things both at Goat Milk Stuff and just for the family. Sometimes these changes are really big – “I know, let’s build a new building and start selling goat milk food products like caramel candy and cheese.” And sometimes […]
I’ve always said that I hate getting up early, but I love being up early. There are so many benefits to being up early – I’m more productive, I’m happier, and I get a better start to the day. But I have never been what you would call a “morning person”. Getting up early has always […]
I recently finished reading Sam Walton’s autobiography, Made in America.* I admit, I’m not a huge Walmart fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. It was very interesting learning about how hard Sam Walton worked to grow Walmart and how (like us) he involved his family in the business. […]
We’ve made a switch here on the farm as far as offices are concerned. Jim took over my office at the soaproom and my office is now located in the new kitchen building. When we designed the new building, we dedicated a part of the furnace/utility closet to a mini office. Right now, since nobody is […]
I’m starting a new series on my blog – I’m calling it “Fail Forward Friday”. I have always been a believer that there is no such thing as failure if you learn from it. I’ve always encouraged the children (and myself) to “go for it” and to “at least try”. After all – what’s the […]