2023 + Contentment + 2024
2023 + Contentment + 2024
Learning from the past + being present right now + looking ahead with hope.
Hiya, farm friends 👋🏼
Happy final week of 2023!
Can you believe it’s already January next week 🤯
Me neither!
Well, we hope your year has been amazing, and we are looking forward to a new year with new beginnings and (hopefully!) a whole lotta joy for each and every one of you.
But I know you’re here for the monthly update, so here goes…
Our new website has launched!! 💻
Last month we let you know that we were in the middle of a website redesign and even gave you a sneak peek 👀, but now we want to officially let you know that the redesign is all done and we’d LOVE for you to check it out and let us know your thoughts!
Did you learn something new about American Blackbelly Sheep, our Dairy Goats or why Goat Milk Soap is good for your skin?
Did you find any typos? 😅
(honestly, I’m not the best proofreader, so I won’t take offense if you find any - just reply to let me know so that I can fix it!)
As we’re winding down the year, we’ve been reflecting on not only what these past 12 months have brought but also our hopes and dreams of the farm and what the next 12 months might bring.
Part of our journey as a fledgling little family farm is getting our name out there and letting people know what we have to offer in case it can also meet their needs, locally.
So finally taking some time these last couple of months to make sure our farm website appropriately highlights our animals and products was something that we made a priority, and now we hope that you get to enjoy as well.
Come Spring 2024, we’ll be adding our first Pineywoods Cattle that we will be raising for beef, utilizing a “Grass Fed, Grass Finished” diet for supreme beef quality and efficiency.
If you’d be interested in hearing more about the animals that we raise for meat sign up here and we can send you more info!
Overnight Goat Shenanigans 🤦🏻♀️
Sometimes, farm life just makes you shake your head.
One dark and cold morning at 6am about 2 weeks ago when we rose before the sun to attend to the goats, sheep and chickens (ok, ok, I’m not so great at the story time scenes yet, but hang with me!) … we opened up our Red goat barn to say “Good Morning” and feed the ladies some breakfast… when lo’ and behold - the MINI MANCHAS WERE. OUT. OF. THEIR. PEN.
Too bad Jeff and I literally never have our phones with us while doing chores (for good reason!) because if we did, the scene we could have snapped would have looked something like this:
Little Honey and Maple were both frozen in their tracks as we opened up the barn door and turned on all the lights. Both of them were calmly stopped in the middle of walking back into the open door of their pen while looking straight at us, with our two full size LaManchas (who were older and wiser enough to recognize the sound of our garage door opening meaning that we were on our way into their very barn for morning chores) who had already conveniently made their way back into the pen and were also standing still and staring at us.
How we know that all 4 Manchas were out of their pen, eating grass hay and alfalfa hay ALL NIGHT is simply due to the fact that all 4 of those girls were laying down happily (albeit slightly uncomfortably) through the whole duration of said shenanigan cleanup + chores and yet not a single one of them took a bite from their hay feeder until morning chores the next day.
It took Jeff and I nearly an hour to clean up all of their messes: hay everywhere, trash everywhere, tools everywhere, extension cords everywhere; POOP EVERYWHERE 🙄.
These girls are naughty.
Well, we are glad to report that no harm came to any of the Manchas from their overnight shenanigans.
We will be keeping an extra eye out for any pen opening antics in the future.
Our Thanksgiving Chicks 🐣 are ready for their new homes!
We hatched our “Thanksgiving chicks” on Thanksgiving day and although many of them have been sold - we still have 9 chicks that are ready to find their new forever homes!
These chicks are now 1 month old and are the first brood we have up for sale so if you or someone you know wants some recently hatched baby chicks, let us know!
Edit: as of 1/6/24 all baby chicks have been accounted for!!! Thank you!!
Quick update on our Goat Milk Soap
So as you all know by now, we started making Goat Milk Soaps sourced from our own dairy goats (Nigerian Dwarf Goats - Cookie, Penelope, Sweet Pea & our LaMancha Goat - Daisy).
⏬ Here’s some quick pics of our milk girls below! ⏬
Those are the faces of all of our goat milk products currently, but come Spring 2024 when we have a new batch of babies & mommas, we may be adding some new faces to our lovely little milk production!
We literally cannot express to you how much we adore our goats. Every single one of these girls (even though they may be a little punk on occasion!) really do have our hearts and we strive to do everything we can to be the best stewards we can for them.
On another note, here are some quick notes on everything Goat Milk Soap.
Craft Fair Thoughts
The Cooper YMCA Craft Fair was our first experience visiting a Craft Fair for our handmade Goat Milk soaps
Overall, it was a successful event!
We left with some takeaways on how to better prepare next time, what to bring, what not to bring, and setting goals on what we’d like to achieve
We got to meet a lot of new people in the crafting world, and that in and of itself was a win!
We do plan on attending 2-4 Craft Fairs annually, strategically based on our products offered, the audience for each craft fair, and of course our seasonal availability
Where to see us next? We plan to be a vendor at the Seward Craft fair in March 2024! More info to come :)
Rise & Grind Coffee
We are proud to announce our brand new flavor - Rise & Grind Coffee!
This flavor features raw goat milk blended with fresh brewed and cooled coffee, along with medium roast coffee grounds and a variety of natural oils, shea butter and a fresh hint of espresso fragrance oil
Although we made these soaps before Christmas, it takes 4-6 weeks for our soaps to cure so these should be ready for pickups by late January!
Already know you want to try some? Preorder today!
Buck Lease Service 🐐
Did you know that we rent out or registered Nigerian Dwarf male goats to small farmers who don’t have (or want) a buck, but would like to use one for breeding purposes?
We know that bucks are not everyone’s style, and it takes a certain setup in order to successfully own a buck or multiple bucks (like we do).
But in general, not every small farm needs a buck - especially if you only have a few does but want to have kids every year so that you can get your seasonal supply of fresh goats milk.
Well, that’s where we come in!
Check out our Buck Lease Service if you want to know more for yourself, or if you have any friends or family who might be interested in this service.
Starting 2024 off on the right foot
December is a big year for Jeff and I at the farm. Birthdays, Anniversaries, Holidays - December contains a little bit of it all for us.
So we intentionally decided to slow down a little and spend some time these last couple of weeks to reflect about what we wanted 2024 to look like for us as a family as well as the farm.
We’re not resolution people but we’re dreamers in a way and wanted to find a one word theme that we wanted to encompass this year ahead.
And the theme that we landed on was: CONTENTMENT
What does that mean, or what does that look like to us?
We are seeking to live out the Psalm 23 life - a life of complete satisfaction and contentment under the constant care of Jesus as our Shepherd.
We seek to live our lives daily dying to self and surrendering our kingdoms and lives under the Kingdom of God.
We desire to be the kind of people who are fully dependent on God, trusting him completely in everything.
God is our provider, our protector, or refuge, and our source of life and strength and we choose to depend on him for everything we need having confidence in God's all-sufficient presence in our lives.
We desire to be the kind of people where the condition of our hearts and lives is one of complete contentment in God and his care for us and this means that we are also the kinds of people where "the mere fact that I do not get what I want does not surprise me or offend me and has no control over me." (Dallas Willard)
That’s our vision for 2024.
Do you have a one word theme for your new year?
What is it that you want to do/be/grow in for this next 12 months?
We never really know how many more we will see, so let’s make this one count.
Lo