What is "Farmstead" Milk Soap?

Farmstead soap set, ready to ship

After a busy month filling holiday orders we've finally had a day or two to catch up on other things. Throughout the rush to get everyone their presents a bunch of questions came up about our soaps and what makes them special. A common question was in regard to the term "farmstead" soap.

What Does "Farmstead" Mean?

In the cheese world the term farmstead refers to the fact that the milk used for cheesemaking comes from the cheesemaker's own herd of dairy animals. Only if the cheesemaker ALSO milks the goats can he/she label their cheese as farmstead cheese. If the cheesemaker is buying milk from another dairy the cheese can't be labeled as farmstead cheese. Simple as that.

Since the milk we use to make our soaps comes from our own dairy herd we decided to transfer the term "farmstead" over to the soap world.

Why Does "Farmstead" Soap Matter?

With our farmstead soap you know exactly where the milk comes from. That can't be said for most other soaps. The majority of goat's milk soap uses powdered milk or milk from the store. Generally, the milk is coming from very large dairies where the goats are kept in confinement. At a minimum, you can be pretty certain that those goats don't have access to fresh pasture everyday. There's also no way to know the conditions in which they live. With our soap you know that the goat's milk comes from happy and healthy goats that are free to live their lives expressing their full goat-ness.

It might sound silly to some, but I like that peace of mind. 

Happy goats, happy soap!

Farmstead Goodies - almost ready to share

For the past few weeks I've been holing up with my pencil, camera, and computer. I appear at milking and mealtimes, mumbling something half coherent about "the store" before scurrying back to the living room, where drawings, photos, mock-ups, and all sorts of artsy and craftsy things are sprawled everywhere. 

Every other day, for a little over four weeks now, I excitedly gush, "Guess what?! I think I'll be able to finish tomorrow!" Maybe you've been there before? Well, I said the same thing today and I'm now realizing that it might actually happen this time. Woooooo hoo! 

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Full-time Farming


Our plan when we moved to the farm was to start construction on a licensed creamery for making cheese. We postponed those plans as we settled in. It was clear that we needed a full season to focus on growing our herd and continuing to develop our cheesemaking and animal husbandry skills. Given that I was working remotely there wasn’t as much of a rush.

A big hurdle has been getting our goats adapted to our grazing system and living in the outdoors again. Goats’ adaptation into our grazing system took longer than originally anticipated. We've found that it takes about 2-4 months before a goat adapts and their milk “gets better”. We judge the goat’s health based on body condition and the quality of their milk (SCC counts, Fecals, FAMACHA, and other stats). It takes 2-4 months for a newly introduced animal to achieve our existing herd’s levels (an attribution to pasturing animals instead of keeping them in a barn). It’s also strangely consistent with their smell. Goats smell different when they live in a barn. It literally takes months before that smell goes away, and it happens to coincide with when the milk gets better too.

Anyway, I had been working with this company for the past 4 years. When we first made an offer on the farm last October it seemed that the firm I worked for was going to be in operation for a long time to come. As we moved to the farm the following March the future of my employer came into question. So we delayed investing our life-savings in a licensed creamery. It was a 50/50 proposition that I’d still have a job by the end of 2012. Hanging on to some savings in the event that we were both unemployed turned out to be a smart move.

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