Kid Guess Contest #2

It is time for the second kidding this year!  

  Have you ever enjoyed a baby goat? If not, you don’t know how cute they are!  Only two weeks away now, Clover will have her kid(s). It is so much fun anticipating the birth of the kids and watching for all the different little signs that help me to know when they will be born. I enjoy watching her and wondering how many kids she will have and if they are bucks or does?  Though I have witnessed many goat deliveries, the whole miracle of birth never ceases to amaze me! The display of God’s incredible creation is truly shown forth at every birth!
   

  Even if you're not a farmer and don't have goats, you can still participate in this exciting time of year! Would you like to join in on the fun of the spring kidding season--and have the opportunity to win a FREE bar of goat milk soap? Why not?  Here's how:

  Garland Goat Soap KID GUESS CONTEST
  "Clover" is our goat that is due to kid this month.  (For those of you who are unfamiliar with goats, it is quite common for them to have a single kid, twins, or triplets.  Sometimes they even have quadruplets!)

 We want you to take a guess:

1.)  How many kid(s) will Clover have?
 2.)  How many buck(s) (male goat) and/or doe(s) will Clover have?

So put on your thinking cap, join the fun, and let us know what your guess is by:

1.) leaving a comment here on the blog (please include your email address), or
2.) email it to  garlandgoatsoap@gmail.com  with "Kid Guess" in the subject line.

If you guess correctly or come the closest, you will win one free bar of our goat milk soap! If we have more than one correct guess we will send out more than one free bar.
This year I thought I would make it a little more exciting by using a new design exclusively for the kid guess.

When Clover kids (has her babies), we will let you know the winner(s) of our Kid Guess Contest.  Who knows, maybe you will be the one to enjoy a free bar of our goat milk soap! I will also add a picture of the soap that we are giving away!

I will also be posting pictures of the kid(s) sometime after they are born.

~Emily

Lavender Essential Oil In Soap and Salves!

   I have been doing some study on lavender essential oil and would like to share some of what I have learned with you.

 

    Lavender has been found to help with a significant amount of ailments of which I will name a few.  Of course everyone knows that it has an absolutely lovely scent and is very soothing and calming.  What you may not know however,  is that Lavender essential oil can help relax tense nerves, anxiety, depression, and nervous exhaustion!  For anyone who has had a stressful day or has trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep, a few drops of lavender essential oil on a pillow or cotton ball will bring rest and induce sleep.  After a day of hard work, Lavender essential oil rubbed into the muscle will relieve the pain of tired sore muscles.

 

   Lavender essential oil is known to help with bacterial and viral infection.  Upper respiratory infections are eased when the oil is put into a vaporizer or applied directly to the skin.  It is one of the two essential oils that can be applied in this way. To be sure there is not an allergic reaction to lavender, put a drop of diluted oil on the wrist.  If the area turns red and itches, apply olive oil or coconut oil to the affected area. (Most importantly, do not wash it off with water, as water could trap the oil and make it much worse.)  Lavender can help with immunity if dabbed on your pulse points regularly.

   

   After getting a serious burn, one man put lavender oil on his hand and the pain went almost immediately away and his skin healed back to normal at a rapid pace.

  Lavender essential oil in our soap has made it one of our most popular soaps because of how it has helped numerous people. Benefits of lavender essential oil for skin care can be attributed to its antiseptic and anti fungal properties.  Washing with lavender soap can help with acne, psoriasis and other inflammations.  It also aids the healing process.  Cuts, burns, or sun burn can heal quickly when lavender soap is used on them.   

  The salves that we sell, contain lavender essential oil along with so many other good ingredients that help to heal the skin and relieve sore muscles. 

 Treat yourself today with some of our lavender goat milk soap along with some newer products which also have lavender essential oil in them! 

And the Winner is...

  We are delighted to announce that Daniel N. is the winner of our 2014 Kid Guess Contest!!  He correctly guessed that Ellie would have triplets: two does and a buck.  Congratulations Daniel.  And a big thank you to everyone who participated in the Contest.  It was a lot of fun!!!!

The little buck

 Ellie had her kids yesterday in the very early morning hours.  By the time I got to the barn to do the chores, the triplets were up and walking around.  I moved the kids over to the Kid pen, and went to milk Ellie.  She hadn't let them nurse, so they were really hungry and a bit weak.  After Ellie was milked and the colostrum put into bottles, I fed the kids.  They were very fast learners!  Sometimes it will take several feedings before they learn how to drink from the bottle, but not this time.
  The buck and white doe are the biggest, with the black and white doe being smaller.  They are so cute and getting more and more playfull!  

Ellie making sure they are clean

Still hungry!!

Some pictures of today. They went outside for the first time and met some more of the farm animals.

 The white doe really liked our dog, Sam!  He is really good with the baby goats, and will let them do anything around him.

  Also we will be having another kid guess for Clover very soon.  So start thinking of some guesses, or if you already have guessed for Ellie, I could put those guesses towards Clover's contest.  Send me an email or leave a comment on the blog to let me know what you would like to guess! 

~Emily

Kid Guess Contest 2014!

 It's Kidding season again at our farm.  I absolutely love this time of year when the baby goats are born!

  Have you ever enjoyed a baby goat? If not, you don’t know how cute they are!  Only three weeks away now, Ellie will have her kid(s). It is so much fun anticipating the birth of the kids and watching for all the different little signs that help me to know when they will be born. I enjoy watching her and wondering how many kids she will have and if they are bucks or does?  Though I have witnessed many goat deliveries, the whole miracle of birth never ceases to amaze me! The display of God’s incredible creation is truly shown forth at every birth! 
   
  Even if you're not a farmer and don't have goats, you can still participate in this exciting time of year! Would you like to join in on the fun of the spring kidding season--and have the opportunity to win a FREE bar of goat milk soap? Why not?  Here's how:

  Garland Goat Soap KID GUESS CONTEST
  "Ellie" is our goat that is due to kid this year.  (For those of you who are unfamiliar with goats, it is quite common for them to have a single kid, twins, or triplets.  Sometimes they even have quadruplets!)

 We want you to take a guess:

1.)  How many kid(s) will Ellie have?
 2.)  How many buck(s) (male goat) and/or doe(s) will Ellie have?

So put on your thinking cap, join the fun, and let us know what your guess is by:

1.) leaving a comment here on the blog (please include your email address), or
2.) email it to  garlandgoatsoap@gmail.com  with "Kid Guess" in the subject line.

If you guess correctly or come the closest, you will win one free bar of our goat milk soap! If we have more than one correct guess we will send out more than one free bar.
This year I thought I would make it a little more exciting by using a new design exclusively for the kid guess.
 

When Ellie kids (has her babies), we will let you know the winner(s) of our Kid Guess Contest.  Who knows, maybe you will be the one to enjoy a free bar of our goat milk soap! I will also add a picture of the soap that we are giving away!

I will also be posting pictures of the kid(s) sometime after they are born.

~Emily

Spring is Just Around the Corner!

Last week we had a few nice warm days and it felt wonderful to accomplish some outdoor work without having to bundle up to do it.  During this warm stretch, we decided to start maple sugaring. A nor'easter was predicted for the next day and we didn't want to have to trudge through the snow to put in the taps as in previous years.  Being that it has been a cold year, sugaring season is starting later than normal.

First the hole is drilled...

the tap is hammered in...

then the bucket is hung on the hook and the cover slid on.

Drilling more trees

  The storm started in the night and lasted almost two days!  The snow pilled up very quickly and the wind blew it every which way. It found its way into any crack it could fit through in the barn and outdoor buildings.  When I went to milk the goat the first night, I found a quarter inch of snow inside the milking area!

   We had to keep re-shoveling the paths to the barn because the wind blew the snow back into them.  The total accumulation was about two feet and the drifts were even deeper!
   Now we are waiting for it to melt...but I think it will take a while with the warm weather at -6 degrees! :)  It is always easy to tell when it is below zero as I go to grab the milk pail while milking, and my fingers stick to it!

A drift at the back door 

Shoveling

The storm has ended

 

Is Spring here yet???

 So...will it ever warm up?  With Spring only two days away and the temperatures in the negatives at night, sometimes it doesn't feel like it ever will.  But with the days getting longer and the sun warmer, spring has to be just around the corner. :-)

~Emily

The Benifits of Goat Milk in Soap

The raw goat milk included in our soaps is rejuvenating, anti-inflammatory, and moisturizing.  It contains over fifty nutrients including: vitamin A, B1, B2, (riboflavin) B6, B12, C, D, E, and K, niacin, zinc, and calcium, as well as some minerals, amino acids, citric acid, unsaturated fatty acid, proteins, various enzymes, and many other nutrients.  It sounds really good doesn't it?  What you may not know is what each of these vitamins and minerals can do for you. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

 Vitamin A: forces your skin cells to turn over faster bringing new fresh skin cells to the surface. It is essential when it comes to healing scrapes, wounds, and other ailments of the skin, because it helps to rebuild the skins tissue. Vitamin A is also a great anti-aging nutrient.  So it will help to keep skin aging symptoms at bay.

 Vitamins B1, B2 (riboflavin), B6, B12, C, and K: all have similar characteristics to help keep your skin healthy and your blood flowing correctly.

  

Zinc: contributes to the reconstruction of collagen fibers, resulting in firmer, smoother skin. Zinc also encourages moisture retention and assists in maintaining your skin’s elasticity.

Calcium: tones and also smooths the skin.

 
  Since goat milk is naturally homogenized (the milk and cream do not separate), the natural fat provides your skin with a rich moisturizing effect. The oils in goat milk are easily absorbed by the skin, resulting in a healthy balance of oils for dry or oily skin.

  Goat milk also contains alpha-hydroxy acids.  These acids, which occur naturally in the milk, are known to plump the skin and smooth fine lines.  Alpha-hydroxy acids also exfoliate by breaking down the glue holding those dead skins cells together. Additionally, these acids neutralize free radicals, slowing the aging process and refreshing the skin.

 Capriylic acid is a fatty acid contained in goat milk that reduces alkalinity, giving goat milk soap a pH level very close to that of the skin.  This prevents the soap from stripping away the natural oils of the skin which form a protective barrier that keep microbials out.  Our goat milk soap cleanses while leaving that protective barrier intact and soothes the surface tension of the skin, allowing it to be moisturized and absorb the healthy nutrients.  The other fatty acids present in goat milk are also natural antimicrobials and anti-fungal.
 Why not try some of our goat milk soap and experience the difference!

Ellie, Touche (in the background), and Clover. They can't wait for spring!

  Ellie and Clover will be having their kids in April and May!  We will be having the Kid Guess Contest again this year sometime near the middle of April.

February Happenings in Pictures

  Snow has finally arrived!  It makes everything so beautiful, quiet, and glorious. 

 

The woods are extra beautiful!

I love walking through them just after a new snowfall.

 I actually haven't been in the woods a whole lot this winter, so it was fun to re-visit the little places we used to play in and remember the fun we had in them. 

   We have been wrapping soap and shipping orders lately, so here are a few pictures of the products we have been working on.

 Our rectangular goat milk soap bars are new to Garland Goat Soap as of November 2013.  They are made from a different recipe than our design bars and have more of an old fashioned look and feel to them. We are working on getting them up on our website.

                                             The next shelf to wrap.

A pile of soaps just put into the shrink-wrap bags.

Nathaniel shrink-wrapping. 

Once the soaps are wrapped and labeled, they are put into a basket and carried to the designated drawers and put away.

 

 One rack almost completely empty!

It is so nice to get all the soap wrapped and put away. Now, we need to make more soap and fill it back up:)

I hope you have enjoyed the little view into our week.

Looking forward to sharing more about Garland Goat Soap with you soon.

~Emily