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 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 cream 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
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
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…
…with swirls…
…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
We’ve had so many requests from people recently for our soaps, and many have asked if we’d consider selling our soaps online. 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
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
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
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 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!
I’m so glad to be able to purchase some of your soap..love the designs… and am thankful to the goaties who charmingly provide it.
We’re so remote that we do a lot of shopping online so the timing is wonderful! Gave me some gift giving ideas for my daughters…
Thank you, Sue, for helping to make yesterday’s launch such a huge success! I love that goat milk can be transformed into something that’s both beautiful, and practical (other than cheese of course)!
OMG – I really want to take a bath now!
I say that, a lot around here, but farming is dirty work! Thankfully, we have an endless supply of soap for just such an occasion 😉
Those soaps are beautiful! You are so very creative and talented. I wouldn’t have thought of soap – but what a wonderful way to use the goat milk. I bet the soaps feel fabulous to the skin, too. Good luck to the newly expecting mamas!
They do feel fabulous! My skin is much softer, and less prone to cracking (especially on my hands) since I switched back to real soap. Commercial liquid soaps have now been banished from the farm! 🙂
I’m hoping to catch a little video of the impending ultrasounds on the girls during Thanksgiving week. If I succeed, I’ll post an update on the goat baby front!
Your soaps look luscious! Your swirly ones remind me of upscale brownies! I wish you the best for your online business. I am off to look at your selections now!
Thank you, Deborah. Some days when I’m making soaps they almost look, and smell, edible. Especially when I’m weighing out the cocoa butter, or coconut oil 😉
Yeah! That is so exciting! I always buy soap from the farmer’s market – the chemicals in store bought soap are just awful. Maybe this will be what I’ll be handing out as Christmas gifts this year…
It’s been very exciting around here, as we sold out of most of our soaps in just a few days! I just released our unscented soap this morning though, and a few more will hit the store in time for the holidays. In the meantime I’m catching up on inventory for the new year…in addition to running the farm, and keeping the goaties happy, of course! 🙂
What a great venture and such a great way to use the goats’ milk! The soaps are so pretty, too! I’ve never seen such fancy looking goats’ milk soap before. I look forward to checking our your shop!
Thanks, Indie! I was determined that goat’s milk soap doesn’t have to be blah. I’m also happy to have an outlet for some of the milk. I’ve made so much soap this year, working on refining our recipes, my neighbors and friends that helped us test our products will probably not need soap for years now! 😛
Oh gosh, I will definitely check out your website! Those soaps are works of art! I have a thing for homemade, healthy soaps. Good luck with the online sales!
Thanks, Beth! It was challenging getting everything set up, trying to make enough soap, but not too much for the store launch. Clearly I should have made more! Hopefully in the new year we’ll be caught up on inventories, but you just never know how well something will sell, until it’s for sale! We’re thrilled with the results so far, although I expect things to slow down a little after the holiday rush…that’ll give me a chance to catch up! 😉
Clare I was so excited to see that you are selling the soap. I will be stopping by to buy some. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
Thank you, Donna 🙂 Thanksgiving was nice and quiet, for a change! It’s been so exciting to see how quickly some of the soaps have sold out. I sold out of two more soaps today, however, I have two more being released next Wednesday (Dec. 4th), including the Ginger & Amber soap (that’s the one pictured in this post with copper and gold sparkles, where I say I got more creative). I do promise, for domestic US shipments, that orders placed by December 12th will arrive in time for the holidays!
Robb and I were big soap makers, prior to his accident. I’m very impressed with your production. Your curing rack is swoon-worthy.
Do you heat the bars while they cure? I recently read about building “hot boxes” to keep curing soap really hot, and was curious about this. Has thinking changed about curing? All we used to do was wrap our boxes of uncut soap in towels and blankets. (We’re very high tech, after all….)
No, as these are milk soaps, we do everything we can to avoid heating them. Even the lye and milk are combined in an ice bath. Otherwise the milk sugars scorch, and all of our bars would come out dark brown. I don’t mind brown goat milk soap, but it does limit the possibilities for being creative with color 😉
I do love my curing rack, but it’s almost full! I may have to see if Santa has an extra one on his sleigh…I’m going to need it!