The Freckled Farm Soap Company

Tag: Goats

Got Goat Milk?

Got Goat Milk?

Goat milk has to be one of the most misunderstood beverages of all time. People don’t think twice about drinking cows milk, but will turn their noses up to goat milk. When people visit the farm drinking goat milk comes up almost every time. I always offer our visitors a taste and it always goes the same; they take the glass with hesitation, they swirl it around and sniff it like wine, slowly pull it towards their mouths with a slightly disgusted/hesitant look on their faces, take a sip, pull it away… and then they always, always say “oh tastes like milk.” No, goat milk is not disgusting. No, goat milk, when properly handled and fresh, does not taste like goat. It tastes like milk. Maybe slightly thicker and more creamy depending on the breed of goat. It’s milk and it tastes like milk.

I believe these misconceptions come from people who drink, or know someones who drank, pasteurized goat milk from the grocery store. I am the first to admit that, that stuff is gross and I honestly do not know where it goes wrong. I have had pasteurized goat milk from a local farm and it is lightyears better than what comes from the grocery store. It also lasted weeks before it started to have a goaty taste. So, is the stuff from the grocery store more than weeks old? I don’t know, maybe.

Why are we so quick to judge goat milk? How is it any different than cow milk? Why is it that people have absolutely no problem drinking cows milk, but are totally disgusted by goat milk when in actuality goat milk is much closer in make up to breast milk making it less foreign? Both of my children are obsessed with goat milk, see the picture above as evidence. A drop is never wasted. So, maybe you should consider giving goat milk a chance. It’s easier on your stomach than cow milk, can be consumed by those who are lactose intolerant, and it tastes like milk.. go figure.

October 28, 2013
Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Sonia Sotomayor

Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Sonia Sotomayor!

On The Freckled Farm our animals are named by themes. The llamas are named after mountains, the chickens are named after 80s and 90s sitcom characters, and our goats are named after strong, intelligent women that we love and admire.

Sonia is the youngest doe on The Freckled Farm. She was born a month after Ruth. She is very delicate and lady like, like a ballerina. She has long legs and extremely long ears. Sonia is gentle and sweet. She is loving and affectionate. She is my sweet little girl.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

September 27, 2013
Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Ruth Bader Ginsburg!

On The Freckled Farm our animals are named by themes. The llamas are named after mountains, the chickens are named after 80s and 90s sitcom characters, and our goats are named after strong, intelligent women that we love and admire.

Back in the fall we reserved two kid does for this spring from a farm in Louisa. We were really hoping to get a doe from a specific breeding (the dam and sire throw beautiful kids), but you never know what you are going to get so we were prepared to take kids from any of their breedings. We were overjoyed when spring rolled around and we got an email saying that the breeding resulted in one doe and one buck, and since we were first in line she would be available to us. Our second doe would come from one of the other breedings. Once all of the does kidded we visited the farm to make our pick. The doe from our chosen breeding was beautiful, as we expected. There was no doubt that we would pick her. The second pick came from a breeding of one of the past kids of our choice breeding. We ended up with two really beautiful girls.

Ruth joined The Freckled Farm in June. She is an absolutely beautiful doe. Her markings are incredible. She is sweet and playful as most kids are, but I have a feeling that as she gets older that she might challenge Tina for the alpha position. Even at her small size she has attempted to assert her authority when she was being pushed around by either pushing back or stomping her hooves in protest. She may one day take the position of our alpha goat.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products and to read more about the farm please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

September 20, 2013
Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Hillary Clinton

Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Hillary Clinton!

On The Freckled Farm our animals are named by themes. The llamas are named after mountains, the chickens are named after 80s and 90s sitcom characters, and our goats are named after strong, intelligent women that we love and admire.

Oh my sweet Hillary. She is so loving, so affectionate, so intelligent, and a true attention hog. Hillary follows me around the pasture as I do farm chores, anything to get some attention. She has such a sweet, calm personality (except at feeding time) that most of our visitors fall in love with Ms. Hillary instantly. People also love her beautiful white freckled ears. When we moved the baby goats into the pasture a few weeks ago instead of pushing them around, like Tina did, she explored them with gentle curiosity. Don’t get me wrong, if they were in her way she would let them know, but is was with a gentle push instead of an aggressive head butt. She is our sweet girl. We love her so much.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products and to read more about the farm please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

September 13, 2013
Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Tina Fey

Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Every Friday I will introduce you to another part of The Freckled Farm. This week you have a chance to get to know Tina Fey!

On The Freckled Farm our animals are named by themes. The llamas are named after mountains, the chickens are named after 80s and 90s sitcom characters, and our goats are named after strong, intelligent women that we love and admire.

I am starting with Tina Fey because she is the alpha. All herds have them and Tina is ours. She is truly a “Bossy Pants.” She bosses everyone around… Well not me, but that’s not from lack of trying.

When the barn was complete and the fencing was in progress I began to look for a farm that had a few available yearlings. We hadn’t planned on getting goats until spring, but with the farm structures coming to completion I wasn’t willing to wait any longer. I searched for a while but most of the local farms had already sold off any available goats that spring. I finally found a farm not far from us that had eight doelings from two different breedings for us to pick from. I knew there was no way that I would go and not find at least two goats that I liked, so it really started to sink in that the goats we saw that day would be the start of our farm. On the drive there Kevin and I discussed how we would know which goats to get. I had waited my whole life for this day (no exaggeration), so I wondered if I would just know which goats were ours or if it would solely be an educated decision based on the goats structure and the history of the dam and sire. We had visited several farms that year and even had reservations to get 2 kid does in the spring, but we had never had the experience of going to a farm and saying “We will take those two,” so the excitement that surrounding this farm visit was very different than in the past. We got to the farm and the owner walked us through the property. We walked passed the dog pen, the buck kid pen, the big buck pasture, and up to the adult doe pasture. She pointed towards the pasture where the doelings were. I looked over and there they were, standing up against the fence and there was one doe who just struck me. It was like she was lit up. I knew she was mine. That goat was Tina.

When we first brought Tina home she was a goof ball. She would prance and hop around the pasture, but as we continued to add animals and it was no longer just her and Hillary she began to show a dominate side. She still has her goofy moments, but she rules the roost and is quite serious most of the time. She may be a bossy one, but towards me she is loving and affectionate… sometimes aggressively so. She has dimples near her mouth that make it look like she is always smiling. We love her… bossiness and all.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products and to read more about the farm please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

September 6, 2013
Llamas as a Guard Animal
How many of you are familiar with using llamas as a guard animal? I wasn’t until two weeks before our llamas moved in… Yes, TWO weeks. I may have heard about it in passing, but it certainly wasn’t something I was exposed to enough to consider it on my own. Using llamas as guard animals was a completely unexpected and out of the blue decision for us.

Our original plan was to get a dog, a Great Pyrenees. We actually had a reservation for a puppy and were only weeks away from picking her up when I got an email from the breeder saying that five of the puppies had passed (at 5 weeks) and they believed that it was because the dam had so many puppies and couldn’t care for all of them. They didn’t have a plan to autopsy the puppies who passed, so I was tentative about getting one of the remaining puppies. I called our absolutely wonderful, patient, helpful farm veterinarian Melinda and she suggested we pass on the puppy. We could be getting a dog with medical problems that wont show up until later. She went on to say that she felt like a llama or two would be a better fit for us anyways. Their care is very similar to how we care for the goats, they wouldn’t take training, and would be just as affective as the dog. I was a little skeptical since the idea of llamas never even crossed my mind… Where do you even get a llama?

Melinda came over the next day for some routine blood work and we discussed it further. I wasn’t sold that I absolutely needed a guardian, after all our pasture was fenced in with five foot no climb horse fence (yes, we went a little overboard). Her response “coyotes can jump 6 feet and you NEVER hear of an attack on a llama farm” I was well aware of the coyotes in our area and the thought of losing one of our girls is horrible, so just like that I was sold. She gave us information of where we could get a llama. I called the farm and set up a visit for that weekend…

The llama farmers, as Breckin calls them, were John and Debra of Westerham Farm and Studio. We toured their beautiful farm and asked a ton of questions. We went with the intention of getting one llama and ended up picking two. I expressed my concern that the llama(s) would not actually protect my goats because not all llamas are guard llama. They promised to replace any llamas that didn’t appear to be doing their job, but in their experience whether they were actually specifically protecting the goats or not they would attack any predator that came into the pasture. I was feeling excited and confident, and scheduled to have our guys delivered…. just like that two weeks later we had llamas on The Freckled Farm…

It was interesting adjusting to the llamas. They are far bigger than our goats, and not as social. They didn’t want to be touched and would immediately move away if you put your hand out to them. I wasn’t sure how I was going to catch them to give them their monthly deworming shot (since we live in a state with white tail deer, who carry the M worm). Over the next month or so they slowly warmed to me (in fact they are very easy to handle now), but I was still nervous that they wouldn’t actually guard. It was a week or two later I had the opportunity to see Afton in action. A random dog came up to the fence and all of the sudden Afton was running full speed in his direction while screaming his battle cry. The terrified dog ran away with his tail between his legs. Since then anytime a dog, hunter, random car, strange noise has managed to wander onto our property Afton has made his presence known. Nothing has attempted to actually come into the pasture, that I know of, but I’m confident at this point that Afton would “take care” of anything that did. Our sweet, sensitive Blue generally stays with the goats if there is a perceived threat (maybe he is protecting the goats specifically rather than the pasture as a whole like Afton), but there have been times that I have seen him right there with Afton protecting the fence line.

The protection goes beyond the battle cry and full speed charge. The first few months that we had the goats we locked them in the barn at night, but we hated doing that and it was always a chore trying to get them to go in. When the llamas moved in we stopped closing them in and kept the barn door open. Now if you go out at night you will find Afton laying across the opening of the barn.

I am so pleased with our protectors. I feel so safe knowing they are protecting our girls.

Why I believe llamas are the best guardians
1. They eat the same things as the goats (although we do not feed our llamas grain), so there is no need to purchase and prepare a totally different diet.
2. They poop in the same piles all the time. My guys poop in three different piles. You don’t have to search the pasture for random dog poop. I scoop the llama poop daily and it makes for a lot less mess in the pasture. Their poop also does AMAZING things for your garden.
3. They are large and intimidating, even to human visitors. They will not be swayed by strangers if they have treats.
4. They protect from the same predators as a dog.
5. They are cheaper to maintain. Quite frankly I was a little scared of how expensive the dog was going to be. They need more vaccinations, dog vets are expensive, good dog food is extremely expensive… This doesn’t include the cost of the dog itself (which was more than both llamas together) and the spaying!
6. Dogs need training and our llamas at least did not.
7. They are very gentle towards the goats
8. They are just as protective of me as they are the goats. Don’t try to stand between me and Afton… It’s not pretty and be prepared to be spit on.
We LOVE our llamas and hope that you will consider using llamas as your goat guardians.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com
August 26, 2013
Beating the Heat on the Farm
One of the biggest concerns during the summer is keeping animals safe in the heat. The last two summers here in Virginia we have had days that have exceeded 100 degrees and the humidity level soars all summer long. I have compiled a list below of how we keep our animals comfortable on The Freckled Farm

All Animals
1. Water – All animals require clean fresh water year round, but during the summer the water will get warm and gross quickly. I will refresh the waterers at least twice a day. I try to keep the water as cool as possible. We also have more than one water bucket.
2. Shelter – We make sure all of our animals have adequate shelter to escape the sun
3. Shade – At any point during the day there is shade somewhere in the pasture. This allows the animals to be outside and graze without having to be in the heat of the direct sun. Our coop was build in the shade of white pines, and our dogs have a labyrinth of bushes to hide in.
Chickens
1. Frozen or Cold Treats – Last summer was much hotter than any weather we have had to contend with this summer. The poor chickens were suffering. I would freeze fruits and veggies as treats. It kept them occupied and cool.
2. Avoiding Starchy Foods – Starchy foods raise the chickens’ (or anyone else for that matter) blood sugar which in turn raises their body temperature. During hot days I avoid giving them bread items, and corn and grain products. On days like this they generally only get their chicken feed, fruits and veggies, and very small amount of black oil sunflower seeds.
3. Dust Bath – We make sure the chickens have dust bath areas.
Llamas
1. Hose Down – One of our llamas in particular (Blue) LOVES to be hosed down. He suffers from the heat far more than our other llama. This is likely because he is black while Afton is cream colored. As soon as he hears the water he is a up against the fence asking to be sprayed. He will stand in the water stream for 10 minutes if you let him. On hot days I check him several times a day and I will hose him down if he is showing signs of being too hot.
2. Dust Bath – Like the chickens the llamas like to roll around in the dirt. Right in the center of our pasture you will find a large bare spot where the llamas have rubbed away all the grass.
Goats

We don’t do much extra for the goats. They are not fans of being hosed down and I’ve never really seen them rolling around in the dirt like the llamas. We just make sure they have cool fresh water and a place to get out of the sun. Of all the animals on the farm they seem to handle the heat the best.

During the summer please make sure you take extra care to make sure your animals are safe and comfortable. Keep and eye on the weather and watch for signs like labored breathing, lethargy, and loss of appetite.
August 21, 2013
Getting to Know The Freckled Farm – Crystal

Want to know more about the farmers, animals, and buildings on The Freckled Farm? Over the next few months I will introduce you to a different part of The Freckled Farm every Friday. I am starting with myself because it seems like the most logical place to start.

Hello! I’m Crystal. I play many roles here on The Freckled Farm. Aside from my normal motherly and household duties I am the one who keeps us organized, cares for the animals, tends our garden, writes most of the blog posts, assists in the soap making, and handles as much marketing as possible. I’m the planner of the family. It’s just a part of my personality… the lists… where would I be without my lists?

I graduated with a BFA in Photography from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in 2006. I run my own photography business (Website) where I photograph portraits and weddings throughout Virginia. I spend most of my time with my children. They are my whole world and I feel incredibly lucky to have a career that allows me to do most of my work from home so I can be with them.

The Freckled Farm has been a dream of mine since I was a child. It has grown from the desire to have goats as pets to a full self-sustaining dairy goat farm. We continue to grow and dream and I can’t wait to see where this all takes us.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products and to read more about the farm please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

August 9, 2013
Our Story

The story of how the Neilson-Hall Family and The Freckled Farm came to be:

I have always been drawn to farms. I love animals, especially goats, and the idea of peace and quiet is very attractive, but I could have never envisioned we would be where we are now… 29 and 30 years old, two children, dairy goat farm with a menagerie of animals, living in the middle of no where. We always talked about living on a farm, but not until retirement. We had big things to accomplish before we finally settled down in the country but here we are…

Many, many years ago, when Kevin and I were dating, we would talk about our future… We had big plans of big city living. I was going to have a fashion/photojournalistic photography career. Kevin was going to be a sound engineer and do live sound. We would have big important careers. Isn’t this what all people enter adulthood thinking they want? After I graduated from college Kevin and I moved to Philadelphia (from Richmond, VA) and got our first dose of reality. During our 8 months in Philly we encountered a lot of bad luck… A LOT of bad luck. We were planning our wedding, renovating an old house in South Philly, Kevin was working for a production company, and I was trying to build a photography business. I wont go into all the details of the difficult things that happened to us during our stint in Philly, that would take a book, but after only 8 months we were done. We were ready for a drastic life change.

A few months before our wedding we put our house on the market and decided to move up our “retirement plans.” We had started to think about children and we were considering the best location to raise them. I had always figured I would raise my children right outside of a city, the way I grew up, but that wasn’t what I wanted anymore. It all became very clear that the best place to raise our children would be in the country. Luckily we sold our house in three months. We moved back to Virginia, rented a house in the country to make sure we could handle living so far away from everything, and began looking for our farm.

Shopping for a farm gave us our second dose of reality… There was no way we could afford the farm we envisioned. The dream of rolling hills, and a big white farm house was out of reach. We decided we just needed to find a house with a little bit of land and make it work. We searched for months, but never found anything that really screamed “home.” Finally, I came across a listing for a house in Western Goochland. It seemed too far away from Kevin’s work, but it was in our price range and the ad said it was a little farm and to “bring your horse.” So, one Saturday afternoon we drove out to check the property. It was very difficult to find, but once we did it was obvious that the listing took some liberties. The house was precious, but the property was in no way a farm. It was a house sitting on some acreage. No barn, no fencing, the only outbuildings were a shed and lean-to. I saw the potential though. We called our agent and asked to get a viewing the next weekend. When we finally got to see inside the house it was like we were coming home. We ran through the house like we were children at Disney. It had everything we wanted. It was loaded with character. This was our home. We were just going to have to make it a farm on our own.

Long story short, we got the house and spent the next 4 years slowly fixing “issues” with the house. We also spent those 4 years dreaming and making big plans for the farm. We wanted a dairy goat farm that supply would our family with all it’s dairy needs and a goat milk soap company that would help financially support the farm and our family. We talked about it for years, but were afraid to pull the trigger. The barn was going to be a large cost, the fencing was going to be a lot of work, and we were in the process of building our family. How was I going to milk goats with a baby?

Shortly after moving into our house I got a job teaching art at the high school. I wasn’t sure I would be able to run a farm, a family, and teach. It was a lot to juggle. I had already let go of my photography business when our first was born, because it was too much to handle with all my other responsibilities. I was beginning to get frustrated. I just wanted my farm and I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it happen. Our dreams of having a small diary goat farm with a goat milk soap company had grown into a dream of having a full self-sustaining farm that could support nearly all of our family’s food needs, and hopefully one day our energy needs. In 2011 I was pregnant with our second and it became obvious to us that this was the time to make our move. We had been saving up for our barn for years and we finally had the money. After a great deal of discussion we decided that when our daughter was born I would leave my teaching position, reopen my photography business (Neilson-Hall Photography), start homeschooling our son his preschool, and begin building our farm.

Everything started moving at lightening speed. Our daughter Bryce was born April 2012, the chickens moved in June 3rd, the barn went up in August, the fencing went up in September, the goats came to live with us in November, the llamas came to live with us in February 2013, two new baby goats joined us in June 2013, and here we are.

We have spent time perfecting our recipes and getting the soap to the point that we are proud to sell it and have it represent our farm and family. We hope that you love it as much as we do.

I hope you enjoy following along in our journey as we continue to build our farm, our business, and work on becoming self-sustaining.

The Freckled Farm Soap Company makes handmade goat milk soaps. Our body care products are all natural and made with love. For more information about our products and to read more about the farm please visit our website: www.thefreckledfarmsoapcompany.com

August 1, 2013