Goat Milk Stuff August Newsletter

Thanks for taking the time to keep up with Goat Milk Stuff! Here's what is new this August…

Gardenia

Good news! The gardenia soap is fully cured and available again. We have several batches made and curing, so we don't anticipate running out again. As long as the gardenia continues to be popular, we will keep it as a regular scent. If it drops off in the winter season, we may return it to a seasonal soap.

Holiday Scents

All of our holiday scents are now available. The Cranberry Spice and Evergreen soaps are available year-round. From now until the holiday season, you can also get Cider Press, Frankincense & Myrrh, and Pumpkin. We will do our best to keep these available through Christmas, but if the demand exceeds our supply, we may run out before Christmas. Remember that our soap takes 6 weeks to cure (we don't do anything to artificially rush the curing process!) so if we have a surprise spike in demand, it takes us a while to have the soaps available again.

Soap Logs

We are continuing to make our soap logs and have almost (not quite) all of the scents made and available. We will continue to add the missing scents as they are made. So far, the trial on these soap logs is going well and we plan to offer them through the Holiday season. After that we will decide whether or not to keep them into 2017.

Each log is $30 and is equivalent to 5.25 bars of soap. Remember that these logs are uncured and not ready to use once they arrive. You will have to cut and cure the logs before using.

Perfume

Our perfumes have proven so popular that we increased the number of available scents. You can now get perfume in Almond, Baby Powder, Black Raspberry, Cranberry Spice, Cucumber Melon, Honeysuckle, Lavender, Lilac, Luv Spell, Oatmeal Milk & Honey, Ocean, Patchouli, Pink Sugary, Rosemary Mint, and Sandalwood.

If your favorite scent isn't listed, we will still occasionally offer custom perfume scents.

New Gate

We got a new gate at the farm - isn't it awesome? Now that the construction is over, we wanted to prevent people from driving down to the barn. Since this is a working farm, our insurance only allows guests to be escorted around the farm (they can't just wander on their own).

I wanted something that was friendly but would still work. I think this does a great job!

Podcast

I recorded a weekly podcast for several years, but had to stop when my workload became too heavy. The name of the podcast was/is "The Busy Mom's Survival Guide". I've always recognized that many moms are overwhelmed by their lives, and it was my way to offer advice on how I deal with many of those issues in my own crazy life. I am considering beginning the podcast again. But because it is a big commitment on my part, I only want to do so if it is providing value in people's lives.

Please take a moment to fill out this short survey. There are just a few questions and it will help me to determine whether or not to resume podcasting. Even if you're not interested in a podcast, letting me know that will help my decision-making.

International Shipping

Over the past 3 months, we've had more difficulty with shipping international orders than we've had in the previous 3 years. As a result, we are no longer shipping directly to international addresses. We still ship to any military address such as APO's.

If you need your order shipped to an international address, we recommend you sign up with an international shipping service. One example is http://myus.com. The shipping service will give you a United States address that we can use to ship your order. The service will then forward the package to you.

August Giveaway

Giveaways are back for 2016! This month we're giving away four of our holiday scented soaps - Evergreen, Cider Press, Frankincense and Myrrh, and Pumpkin soaps. You can find the entry widget on the Goat Milk Stuff blog.

Since you're already signed up for the newsletter, all you have to do to get your first entry is put the email address that you used to subscribe to this newsletter in the widget. It's that easy! For extra entries, you can follow us on various social media sites or answer a question. Just make sure you go through the widget, so your entries are counted. Good luck!

Congratulations to Rachel G, who won the July contest!

Newsletter Special

The newsletter special for August is discounted soap pieces. They will probably not last all month, so if you want them, don't delay! Once they are sold out, it will be several months before we have more available.

Homestead Happenings

July brought a heat wave that kept the goats hiding in the woods where it was coolest. They have access to lots of clean water at all times, so the heat doesn't bother them too much.

Of course they're still goats, so sometimes they have to surprise us. This month some of the baby girls decided to work open a gate and find a spot with a better view!

Yep. They got on the roof. Which of course reminds us of this video!!

When we weren't with the goats, we were busy in the garden.

There were early crops to harvest and late crops to plant. I've been experimenting with fermenting lots of our produce. Fermentation is a safe way to "put up" vegetables while enhancing their nutrient profile instead of diminishing it (the way traditional canning works).

I use our goat milk whey (from our cheesemaking efforts) to make fermented sauerkraut, cucumbers, beets, and salsa. The beets are the least favorite, with the salsa being the preferred fermented condiment to have with dinner. This week we spent several hours processing enough tomatoes, peppers, and onions to make fill 33 quart jars with fermented salsa.

Oh, and July is a big month for family celebrations with 3 birthdays and a wedding anniversary. There are a LOT of photos here, so feel free to scroll through quickly.

First there was Jade's 9th...