Welcome!
We're a homeschooling family living about 60 miles SE of Dallas, Texas. We certainly didn't expect to end up with goats...but it's been a fun ride!
It all started in 2002, when my son, who had asthma, was diagnosed with a sensitivity to most soaps. At the time, I didn't want to deal with lye, so I got into melt-and-pour soaps (which are milder than most commercial detergents.) We went on our merry way, until 2006.
We had moved here (horses and all!) in 2004 and had settled in to life in the country, when he was diagnosed with a milk allergy. This is bad - children need milk! We tried all the non-dairy milks - he hated them. It got to the point that he (6 at the time) told me that he didn't *need* cereal, he'd find something else to eat for breakfast, just please - no more fake milk. I saw the Goat's Milk in the refrigerator case, and decided to try it.
He LOVED it.
Only....goat's milk is $4.00/quart at our local Wal-Mart. I bought it for a while, but he kept growing. (Kids do that!) At $16.00/gallon, it was blowing my grocery budget to keep him (and the rest of us - we all switched to make it easier on him) in milk. Something had to be done.
Enter my friend - she had some Nubians that she was willing to sell (oh, and Cashmere goats, too!) We made a deal - 2 Cashmere does, 1 Cashmere/Nubian doe, and 2 Nubian does in milk, and we were set. And life hasn't been the same since!
Our herd has grown.....we now have 4 adult Nubian does, 2 Nubian bucks, 2 Nubian bucklings, 5 Nubian doelings, 8 Cashmere does, 2 Nubian/Cashmere does, 1 Cashmere buck, 3 Alpine does (Alpines have "sticky-uppy ears") 2 Alpine bucks, and a couple of Cashmere cross bucks. Plus the 7 Arabian horses we already had, 20 chickens, and the 5 dogs that give us our name. It's a zoo here, but we wouldn't have it any other way.
The Cashmere's provide fiber for my spinning wheel, the Nubians and Alpines provide us with most of our dairy needs (I'm working on butter - haven't made that yet) and then some, the horses are yard ornaments, and the chickens provide us with fresh eggs. The dogs try to keep everything in proper order, and we're loving every minute of it. Things are never boring here, that's for sure!
I turned to cold process soapmaking to use up the "excess" milk and whey. Our 4 milkers provide us with 1 gallon a day (more at their peak!), and we can't drink that much up. I can only store so much cheese....so I had to turn to soap. It's fun, it's a chemistry lesson for the kids, and we end up with nice-smelling soaps.
Thanks for stopping by!
It all started in 2002, when my son, who had asthma, was diagnosed with a sensitivity to most soaps. At the time, I didn't want to deal with lye, so I got into melt-and-pour soaps (which are milder than most commercial detergents.) We went on our merry way, until 2006.
We had moved here (horses and all!) in 2004 and had settled in to life in the country, when he was diagnosed with a milk allergy. This is bad - children need milk! We tried all the non-dairy milks - he hated them. It got to the point that he (6 at the time) told me that he didn't *need* cereal, he'd find something else to eat for breakfast, just please - no more fake milk. I saw the Goat's Milk in the refrigerator case, and decided to try it.
He LOVED it.
Only....goat's milk is $4.00/quart at our local Wal-Mart. I bought it for a while, but he kept growing. (Kids do that!) At $16.00/gallon, it was blowing my grocery budget to keep him (and the rest of us - we all switched to make it easier on him) in milk. Something had to be done.
Enter my friend - she had some Nubians that she was willing to sell (oh, and Cashmere goats, too!) We made a deal - 2 Cashmere does, 1 Cashmere/Nubian doe, and 2 Nubian does in milk, and we were set. And life hasn't been the same since!
Our herd has grown.....we now have 4 adult Nubian does, 2 Nubian bucks, 2 Nubian bucklings, 5 Nubian doelings, 8 Cashmere does, 2 Nubian/Cashmere does, 1 Cashmere buck, 3 Alpine does (Alpines have "sticky-uppy ears") 2 Alpine bucks, and a couple of Cashmere cross bucks. Plus the 7 Arabian horses we already had, 20 chickens, and the 5 dogs that give us our name. It's a zoo here, but we wouldn't have it any other way.
The Cashmere's provide fiber for my spinning wheel, the Nubians and Alpines provide us with most of our dairy needs (I'm working on butter - haven't made that yet) and then some, the horses are yard ornaments, and the chickens provide us with fresh eggs. The dogs try to keep everything in proper order, and we're loving every minute of it. Things are never boring here, that's for sure!
I turned to cold process soapmaking to use up the "excess" milk and whey. Our 4 milkers provide us with 1 gallon a day (more at their peak!), and we can't drink that much up. I can only store so much cheese....so I had to turn to soap. It's fun, it's a chemistry lesson for the kids, and we end up with nice-smelling soaps.
Thanks for stopping by!
