Goat keeping through the years

Ashley, our first Purebred Nubian doe 2010

Aiyana 2011

 --------I will likely add to this post off and on, as long as we have goats...-----------

John Henry /Double Dipper 2014

We've raised more than a few goats through the years.
We mainly raise our mixed Nubian goats for fresh dairy:  milk, yogurt, buttermilk, chevre, feta, mozzarella, ricotta.
We have eaten goat meat, but it's been a while (I can recommend goat processing by Fort  Valley State University SMALL RUMINANT CENTER).  If you like deer meat (I do), then you'd probably like goat meat.

2012

For a while now, we've sold our surplus live goats right off the homestead (Craigslist farm and garden ((Columbus, GA)) listings have worked well for us), so no extras left for eating.


Starting 2018, we had repeat goat customers.  Two had purchased bucks from us for breeding in years past, and wanted to repeat their success.  Several had purchased does for milk and/or breeding, and wanted more of the same.

I do enjoy meeting new goat folks.  But I am very much encouraged by seeing previously new goat friends coming back as happy repeat goat customer friends.

I prefer keeping our goat herd small:  ten or so, tops.  Although I have milked seven goats at morning milking, I prefer three or four at a time.  (I feel myself slowing down in recent years.)  This way some can be in milk, and some can be hanging around with the buck, for the next round of freshening.  In a perfect year (no issues with predators, parasites, weather catastrophes, budget constraints, stress, infertility, etc.), just as one half of the herd is drying off, the other half is freshening.  That has probably occurred once or twice in about 16 years.

We try to limit keeping the new kids.  I prefer us just keeping one or two doe kids (doelings) per year.  For the sake of diversity, I tend to not keep too many generations of one line.  If I really want to keep the new girl kid then I will probably sell her dam.  Not always every time.  Just a general guideline.

Emma & Grayson Spring 2019

If there is a very promising buck kid (buckling), then he's a keeper for a year or two.


We make sure to get a new buck (new genetics) every two years or so to prevent inbreeding.

Ideally we'll have two freshening seasons in a year:  a cool season and a warm season.  This keeps us in milk year round.  I'm a bit conflicted here.  On the plus side we don't have a dry period, and we'll suffer less through allergy or flu season.  On the minus side, we don't get a season of rest because we (usually me) milk goats every morning.  At peak flow (right after kidding) Bryant or Grace or Katie also milks at night.

I used to - scratch that - still do - tell folks that you can usually tell what book we're reading, or what show we're watching by what names the goat kids end up with.  In the interest of reducing attachment/limiting keepers, we keep a list of male & female names handy.  The keeper list stays short and the get rid of list (book / TV show characters we do not like) is long.

Donovan & Koa Autumn 2019

Autumn 2019

Merry Christmas 2013

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Katie's 2013 Highlights

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Grace's 2013 Highlights

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2012 Photo Highlights for Katie

Year Of Happy New Year's Card

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Passing the soap torch along

June 2025 Update

My goodness time flies. My young'uns are all grown-ups, left the nest, set up their own coops hither & yon. I couldn't be more pleased, thankful and I praise the Lord for them. My young'uns are my favorite people on the planet for sure and for certain! I'm pretty sure they're all too busy to make soap these days. So. Go to the market near you. Try a new soap. Then try another one. Have fun with that. Maybe learn how to make soap. (My soapmaking days are behind me, and that's okay.)

July 2019 Update
Grace works full time in Columbus GA, and keeps up with her full time online Point University Business Bachelor's (scheduled to finish college end of 2019, Lord willing, Praise God!).  So she's been scarce at the farm market.  But Katie & Bryant have been picking that up.  I taught Katie soapmaking late Spring of this year, and she's bringing her goat milk soap bars to the market.  Hooray!

May 31, 2016 Update
My middle daughter, Grace is now making soap too.  Great vegan soap!  Her online link is:  http://www.bonanza.com/booths/YesteryearsGirl  If you're local, you can find her soap at Vaughn Family Farm tent at the Midland Community Farmers Market on most Saturday mornings (May - October) 9AM - 12PM. 


June 26, 2013
I really love to make soap.  It’s such a joy!  And such an amazing chemical miracle:  oils & butter + sodium hydroxide (lye) = soap

Always remember:  better ingredients, better pizza.  Err…. Better raw materials for soap > better end product soap.

I’ve had trouble making time to make soap this year.  I feel like it’s time to pass the retail soap torch along.  But I didn’t want to leave my beloved out of town soap customers high & dry ;)  So I decided to BE a soap customer, and try a few different folks’ soap – with the end goal hopefully recommending my soap customers try these new folks.  I wanted to make sure I sampled a variety – but not so many as to go broke in the process.  I wanted to stick with cold process soap makers, and preferably vegan.  I chose three different soap bar makers:  1) belleandbaby; 2) Aquarian Bath; 3) Dr. Bronner’s.  I asked my husband & two youngest daughters to help with the sampling, so we’d have as much reviewing/feedback as possible.  I can recommend all three soap makers.  I will freely disclose that belleandbaby happens to be our oldest daughter, so you might say I’m biased.  You can say that, but I believe I am fair – letting the soap & our skin be the criteria.

I shared my intentions with these folks, and they seemed okay with the whole thing.  Here are two replies:

Aquarian Bath/Cory:  Hi Tonia, Thank you for offering to review our soaps and share our website with your customers.  I always appreciate the twitter retweets also.  You are welcome to use photos from my site for the review.  Here is a coupon code that you can offer to your customers also (and you can use too):  "bvaughnfamily" Valid for 1 time use at http://www.AquarianBath.com  10% off products.  Expires 12/31/13 – Cory

Dr. Bronner’s/Lauren:  Dear Tonia, We have no objection to you posting a review of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps' products on your blog. No need to share it with us beforehand-- we respect your authorship.  Please consider mentioning as part of your review that Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps' products are Organic and Fair Trade, as these principles are central to the Dr. Bronner's soapmaking ethos.

More information about Dr. Bronner's commitment to Organic and Fair Trade soapmaking can be found at our website: 

Organic: http://www.drbronner.com/usda_organic_body_care.php  
Fair Trade: http://www.drbronner.com/fair_trade.php

1.  belleandbaby  http://www.etsy.com/shop/belleandbaby

 

Handmade Organic Vegan & Goat Milk Cold-Processed Soap

Fragrances we tried: 

o    Organic Vegan Cold-Processed Cedar Balsam Shaving Soap:  All four of us loved the fresh outdoorsy scent!  Super fluffy lather!  Worked well as shampoo bar too.

o    Organic Sunflower Citrus Spice Goat Milk Soap:  Just like it says – citrus spice.  Smells wonderfully clean, and the freshly ground cinnamon has nice texture.

·         All belleandbaby soaps rinsed great & had excellent cleansing properties.

·         Skin feels clean & nourished.  Excellent!

·         Ingredients:  (Vegan Bar) Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Water, Organic Sunflower Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Organic Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Cocoa Butter, Pure Essential Oil Blend, and Grapefruit Seed Extract;  (Goat Milk Bar) Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Water, Goat Milk, Sodium Hydroxide, Organic Olive Oil, Pure Essential Oil Blend, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Freshly Ground Cinnamon.

·         Price:  $7.95 + 4.95 shipping (shipping discounts for multiple items purchased)

·         Packaging:  minimal – environmentally friendly!  I very much appreciated the label that came with the product, in legible print, listing all ingredients.

·         Convenience of ordering:  Etsy – easy peasy

·         USPS Shipping:  Prompt, packaged well, fair price.  Ordered 5/27; Received 5/31.

·         Communication:  Excellent.  Responds to etsy convos, direct message, and blogs.

2.       AquarianBath http://store.aquarianbath.com/

Handmade Vegan Cold-Processed Soap 

Fragrances we tried:

o    Rose Oil Shampoo Bar:  Definitely rose scented!  Heavenly! 

o    Lemongrass Lavender Hair Soap:  Subtle, pleasant.

o    Lemon Vanilla Shampoo Bar:  Clean, natural, pleasant.

o    Sesame Aloe Vera Shampoo Bar:  Unusual.

·         Lather:  Very good

·         Aquarian Bath Shampoo Bars rinsed great & had excellent cleansing properties.

·         Effect on skin:  Excellent!  Cleans without drying.  Also excellent for hair shampoo – leaves hair clean & silky soft.

·         Ingredients (I listed as many as I could from the different bars we purchased – ingredients vary according to which soap purchased):  Greek Extra Virgin Olive oil, Raw Organic Cocoa Butter, Hemp oil, Coconut oil, Castor oil, essential oils, Bulgarian Rose Wax, Lavender, Blood Cedarwood, Rose Clay, fresh Aloe gel, benzoin resin, bentonite clay, Raw Unrefined Shea butter, Jojoba Oil, Sesame Oil.

·         Price $5.50 to $6.50 per bar, plus shipping & handling (I bought 4 bars plus 2 lip balms & my shipping & handling was $7.15)

·         Packaging:  minimal – environmentally friendly!  By default, soaps ship naked.  But if you want a label and a box you have to check that box and pay .50 for it.  I think this is a great idea!

·         Convenience of ordering:  Excellent – seller has her own site, but is also on etsy.

·         USPS Shipping:  Environmentally friendly packing peanuts & naked soap bars.  Prompt.  (Ordered 5/28; Received 6/3)

·         Communication:  Excellent.  Great Twitter presence, and has blog as well.  Responds to direct message promptly.

3.       Dr.Bronner’s http://www.drbronner.com/

Dr. Bronners’ Liquid Soap properties:

I first tried Dr. Bronners’ liquid peppermint soap about 35 years ago.  I loved it.  I still do.  Great tingly clean feeling.  You get to control the concentration amount by how much you dilute it with water.  Awesome clean!  We’ve used Dr. Bronners’ liquid peppermint for cleaning so many things:  ourselves, dishes, dogs, cats, goats (udder wash & goat bath), floors, critter dishes, counters, ceiling fans, floors, most things in the bathroom.  The list goes on & on.  I love the stuff and can without hesitation recommend it!  I know some folks will share their super deluxe handcrafted soaps with their critters.  Not me.  The critters can have Dr. Bronners’ liquid, because it’s extremely cost-effective.

Dr. Bronners’ Solid Soap bar properties:

  

      Fragrances we tried:

o    Rose:  Very delicate & subtle scent.

o    Peppermint:  Tingly fresh & clean.

o    Tea Tree:  My husband loves Tea Tree, so this was for him.

o    Lavender:  Good & strong (according to my 16YO, who tried this bar).

o    Almond:  Strong – if you like almond you’ll love it.

o    Baby Mild:  Naturally fragrance free, pleasant, clean smell.

·         Lather:  very good

·         Rinsing:  good

·         Cleansing:  we got extremely clean.

·         Effect on skin:  I started with the rose bar and found it a bit hard on my skin – I needed lotion for my hands, arms & legs after my shower.  The baby mild bar worked better for my skin.    I prefer Dr. Bronners’ bar soap for hand washing at the sink.  The rest of my family had no problem with dry skin afterwards with Dr. Bronners’ bar soaps.  Apparently, for the first time in our family’s history, I have the least oily skin:  confirmation that I’m old!

·         Ingredients:  Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Water, Natural Fragrance, Organic Olive Oil, Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Salt, Citric Acid, Tocopherol.

·         Price:  4.49 each – need to order $20 minimum, but you get free shipping.

·         Packaging:  nice environmentally-friendly paper label printed with soy ink, with all ingredients listed.

·         Convenience of ordering:  Excellent.  In addition to being able to order online, many health food stores carry Dr. Bronners, so if you don’t want to order online you can probably find this soap locally.

·         UPS Shipping:  Free.  Ordered 6/4; received 6/12.

·         Communication:  Great Twitter presence.  I’m not on FB so I can’t rate the communication there.  Website is jam-packed with information about history, activism, etc.  Also excellent one-on-one customer service!  I had a question about my order, and emailed my question.  I received a phone call with a very nice young lady taking time to answer my question.  Awesome!

I still love making soap.  Since I began this review process, I’ve been contacted by one of my favorite local soap customers to make more soap for her.  Of course I said yes.  But for my out of town folks, I’m going to encourage them to try these three fabulous soapers.  Without hesitation.

Isaiah 35:1  The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Psalms 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalms 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

James 4:13-15  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Time - Taking, Spending, Giving, Squandering, Regretting, Discerning

Having just recently turned 47, with our youngest now 7, our middle child almost 15, and our oldest 23, I notice my milestones and my goals seem to be shifting.  There was a time when my goals involved finite & tangibly measurable things:  financial security, a good performance evaluation, a raise, a vacation in a new place.  Recently my milestones and goals have shifted to family, food, shelter & clothing.  I don't know if it's because my focus has simplified, or the last several years' economy has simplified my focus for me.  I reckon down the road aways I'll be able to see more clearly where I am now ;) 

I am so very thankful for the long days of summer.  This year more than ever I seem to need the extra time to get things done before I wear out.  We are blessed here in South Central Georgia with fresh local produce:  first strawberries, then peaches, blueberries, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, etc.  Since our 9.967 acres are still in the process of being rehabilitated from sand to usable land, most of the local produce comes from neighbors, friends and local orchards or pick-your-owns.  So on top of the usual chores & regular daily routine I need to squeeze in food processing & canning.  I am glad to do this, but I don't do all-nighters as well as I did when I was in my 20's.

One of my solutions for dealing with my energy limits is declaring the summer off from homeschooling.  It's funny, we've been homeschooling for what feels like forever but it's only been about 14 years.  Up to now our homeschool calendar has been year-round.  One reason we educate, train & prepare our young'uns is so that when they grow up and begin their own life as adults they can prosper and thrive.  I always used to think it was sending the wrong message to incorporate summer vacation each year, because you don't get a summer vacation from "real life" - why instill that expectation in our young'uns? 

But this year is just different for me.  >>> I <<< needed a summer vacation from homeschooling.  My youngest has been cooperative about being off from school for the summer, but my middle daughter has continued her schooling steadily along.  Bless her heart.  I don't want to discourage her excellent hard work ethic.  I just need a little space.

Each year we order curriculum, we look at what we're using, see if it's working, see if it's user friendly and cost effective, and make changes as necessary.  We began using traditional Christian Bible based textbooks for the oldest, and that seemed to work pretty well.  When the middle daughter was ready to begin, we started with conservative Mennonite curriculum preschool and then kindergarten.  It worked well, but was very time consuming for me.  Once she was reading on her own I knew I needed something less cumbersome.  We tried Alpha Omega LIFEPACS and I knew that was exactly what we needed!  Very user friendly, reasonable cost, and engaging for the student.  We have used the conservative Mennonite preschool stuff for the youngest, as well as my favorite "Hearts & Hands" from Christian Liberty Press, then AOP LIFEPACS until she's reading & writing well on her own (probably thru 3rd grade more or less).

For the middle child, I'm glad we decided to transition from AOP LIFEPACS to Switched on Schoolhouse.  Seeing as how she can't get the whole "summer off" thing.  I reckon we saw this coming.  My husband has taken over the supervision and grading for her; he's so very much smarter than me and actually likes complicated Math and Science.

So that's one thing that has helped me to deal with my time & energy limits that the summer challenges bring.  Another has been to look at where my time goes.  There are some things we must do every day - those get first priority.  Then there are those areas where we choose to spend our time.  It's amazing how many seconds, minutes and hours we are willing to squander on things that really don't add value to our lives. 

I remember last year when we tried Facebook for a bit how much time I squandered waiting on the computer to upload my pictures I was sharing with my family and friends.  I take a lot of pictures, and I love to share them.  For some strange reason, our computer got slower & slower as I uploaded pics to FB.  Probably using an older machine didn't help.  Probably not deleting unncessary files on a regular basis didn't help.  Probably just using the free Malware wasn't enough.  Anyway, when an opportunity presented itself to repent of Facebook we did.  At first I missed the daily FB contact with friends & family.  But my goodness, we still have a phone and email, so it's not like we no longer were able to communicate ;)  We learned to be in touch better with the relationships that were healthy.  And I learned that it's okay to let relationships go that are not healthy.

So how much time do we squander on computer slow time?  Well, do something about it.  Invest a little bit in good Malware and virus protection.  Or upgrade.  Your time is worth it!  Your family's time is worth it!

Make time for real life people.  I heard somewhere that husbands and wives spend more time on their computers than they do with one another.  I believe that is true.  Is your solution to buy everyone their own computer and just email one another more?  Or is your solution to be vigilant with your time and your relationships - value those in front of you that you can touch that call you Mom or Dad or Husband or Wife or Sister or Brother more highly than those that "friend" you or "like" you or "follow" you.

And periodically look at where you are.  Where you've been.  Where you're going.  What are your values?  Mine have changed over the years.  Does the amount of time you spend match your value system?  How about your money?  Is it going where your values are, or are you wasting it on things that don't last beyond the next moment?

I am admonishing myself here.  I am not preaching at you.  I am working through this and figuring this out for myself because I tend to be a slow learner - I often learn the hard way.  I hope you are smarter than that ;)

A scripture quote that is helpful to me:
Isaiah 35
King James Version (KJV)

Isaiah 35
1The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

2It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.

3Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

4Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

7And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

8And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

9No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:

10And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+35&version=KJV