Fall is breeding season for the goats, and our does have all been on their respective dates in the last month. We’ll be doing ultrasounds to confirm pregnancies very soon, and if everyone has settled, next spring we expect to not only have more baby goats on the farm, but we’ll also be swimming in rivers of goat milk, too!

Zedoary (left) and Royalia

Zedoary (left) and Royalia on a date

The question is, what on earth do we plan to do with all the milk?

Well, there’s only so much cheese and ice creamย we dare eat, and selling cheese is out of the question. As much as we’d rather own a small artisanal farmstead cheese operation, at least in this part of California, we can’t build a certified dairy on anything less than about 40 acres, even for dwarf goats, so that’s unlikely to happen any time soon.

We love having fresh goat milk on the farm

We love having fresh goat milk on the farm

However, the milk is entirely too good to waste, and it wouldn’t hurt if the goats helped to earn some of their keep! Fortunately, there are no such restrictions in regards to making, and selling, goat milk soaps!

Friends and neighbors have been kind enough to test some of our soaps over the summer, and the feedback so far has been excellent.

We formulated, and tested different recipes, until we found ones we liked

We formulated, and tested different recipes, until we found ones we liked

In the meantime I’ve discovered that making soap satisfies both the artistic side of my brain, and the more geeky science-oriented half too. In fact, making milk soaps is turning into a little bit of an obsession here at the moment.

...once I was happy with the recipes, I got a little more creative...

…once I was happy with the recipes, I got a little more creative…

...with swirls...

…with swirls…

...and leaves...

…and leaves…

The problem is, I’ve been making soap so regularly recently, that I’m now starting to run out of room.

I recently added this new curing rack to make the work space more efficient

I recently added this new curing rack to make the work space more efficient

We’ve had so many requests from people recently for our soaps, and many have asked if we’d consider selling our soaps online. ย At first I hesitated. Livestock and produce sales do not require the collection of sales taxes. There’s no shipping involved with direct sales either. No store-front to worry about. No trips to the post office, no marketing, or photographing product, and minimal packaging too. Electing to sell soap, especially online, does require some advanced planning and organization, and certainly wasn’t something I wanted to jump into blindly.

A few of our recent soaping projects

A few of our recent soaping projects

However, part of my silence over the recent weeks has been due to the fact that in between soaping, breeding goats, planting winter gardens, tending to animals, and feeding bees, I started to look more seriously in to how we could set up a system for offering our soaps for sale online, for those who would like to purchase them, without taking too much time away from the day-to-day running of the farm.

Soaps have been wrapped, and labeled

Soaps have been wrapped, and labeled

I’m happy to say, that today, after lots of planning, paperwork, and running around, we’re finally launching our new online Farm Store! We’d love to have you stop by, even just to window shop. You can find us at shop.curbstone.wpengine.com, or through the “Farm Store” link on our website’s main menu.

You can always find a link to the store on our main menu

You can always find a link to the store on our main menu

Feel free to browse, and we’d love to know what you think!

Please understand though, that until spring, our soaps will be somewhat limited as only Lotus is currently in milk, and I’ll be drying her off over the next few weeks, because I’m fairly certain she’s now pregnant, and she needs a break from milking before next spring’s kids arrive.

Lotus

Lotus has been working very hard all season to produce lots of milk

I do have some new soaps that are still curing, and will be added to the store shortly. Be sure to check the store’s “Curing Rack” page to see which soaps are already in production, and their expected release dates, and there are many more on the way too.

Who knew that adding goats to the farm would lead to this? I have to admit, I’m having entirely too much fun, and I already can’t wait for spring! More goats, more milk, and more SOAP!

In the meantime though, in between soap batches, I’m hoping to get back to blogging more regularly, about things other than goats and soap, and spending a little more time in the garden too, because I know that spring will be here before we know it!