Thanks for keeping up with Goat Milk Stuff.
Here's what's new in October 2017...
View this email in your browser

Happy October!


This is a long newsletter with lots of photos this month.  Sometimes your email will truncate the newsletter, so if you don't see our family photo at the end, be sure to click on your email link that usually says something like "view entire message".

Limited Edition Soaps


This month we have two new limited edition goat milk soaps available - Lime and Mimosa Mandarin.  There are also Nag Champa bars left from last month.
 
Nag Champa
Goat Milk Soap

$6.50
Buy Now
Mimosa Mandarin
Goat Milk Soap
$6.50
Buy Now
Lime
Goat Milk Soap
$6.50
Buy Now
Remember - If there is a limited edition soap that we don't currently have available, you can have it made as a custom batch.

Soap Pieces


It's time again for discounted soap pieces!  These are end pieces, underweight pieces, or "ugly" pieces of our goat milk soap. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and may not look like the image in the photo (although some will). They are cured and are ready to use.

Liquid Soap Small Size

We've been testing a new foamer bottle that so far seems to be working well. For the month of October, we're going to make this foamer bottle available for shipping with liquid soap already in it.  The foamer holds 4 oz of liquid soap and is available for $10.  Be sure to choose what scent (or unscented) soap you want from the drop down menu.
While the liquid soap refill is a better value, you can now try the liquid soap in a smaller size before committing to the large refill.

Fudge


With the arrival of fall and cooler weather, our yummy fudge is back to its regular price since it can be shipped without insulation and ice packs. If you are ordering fudge and soap, please be aware of the food shipping policy.

Bread of the Week Club


Emery and I attended Artisan Bread Camp this month (more details below in Homestead Happenings) and learned so much about improving our breadmaking skills. Emery is launching a Bread of the Week Club to share his incredible breads (focaccia, ciabatta, and more) with others.  



This session is for six weeks and it is designed for local pickup only.  (If you are interested in having bread shipped, please email me for details). 

As you know, I always encourage my children in their entrepreneurship, so if you know of anybody who may be interested, we appreciate you sharing Emery's Bread of the Week Club link.

New Website


When I started Goat Milk Stuff in 2008, I taught myself how to code and put up a website.  We outgrew that website rather quickly and in May 2010 we launched a new website and introduced our new colors and logo.  We've done continual improvement and customizations to the website over the years, but over the past year, there has been some functionality we've wanted to add to the website that hasn't been available.

We've made the decision to move to a new shopping platform and have been working very hard behind the scenes to start migrating from the old system to the new system.  This is an 8 - 12 week process with a (very tentative) launch date of November 1st. 

Sometime mid-October, we are hoping to have some customers test the new website for ease of use and functionality.  If you would like to be added to the list to test the new system, please email soap@goatmilkstuff.com with the subject line "Beta Tester for new GMS website."  We will then notify you when it is ready for testing and will ask for your feedback on the new website.

Holiday Scents


We have a total of five holiday scents that we make available in soap.  Two of them (Cranberry Spice and Evergreen) are available year round.  

The other three (Cider Press, Frankincense & Myrrh and Pumpkin) are available now.  We try to keep them in stock through December, but sometimes we do sell out of them early if the demand is heavier than we anticipate.

Milk Baths


For years, we've offered our soap shreds in two oz bags we call CLEFFS. Some people use these as air fresheners in their drawers, cars, and shoes. But many others add the shreds to their baths in order to take a milk bath. We've been asked for these soap shreds in larger sizes and so we are testing an 8 oz milk bath size.


For now, milk baths will be available for $10 in our 10 Fundraiser scents. These scents are Almond, Black Raspberry, Clean Cotton, Honeysuckle, Lemongrass, Luv Spell, Ocean, Oatmeal Milk & Honey, Pink Sugary, and Purity,

The popularity of these milk baths will determine if they become a permanent item and if we expand the number of available scents.

Baby Goats!


We had 8 baby goats born in September.  Meet Soprano, Bass, and Treble (Crescendo's triplets), Obsidian, Platinum, and Copper (Goldie's triplets), Portia (Sara's doeling), and Ivory (Pearl's doeling). If you'd like to come and play with them, you can schedule a Baby Goat Experience. If you're not within driving distance, you can keep up with them on the Goat Milk Stuff Facebook page.



Getting that photo taken was actually quite an ordeal.  Watch this video to see the baby goats outwit Greyden and Emery.  (The little girl in the photo is my niece).
We are keeping all of the doelings and Copper.  Bass and Treble will be going to their new home together once they're weaned. We currently don't milk the Nigerians for Goat Milk Stuff, but we are planning to increase the Nigerian herd so we can move in that direction.

Blog


I currently blog on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays with the hope to educate, entertain, and inspire. If you've never visited the blog, I hope you get a chance to do so.  

Here are September's posts:
October Giveaway
This month we're giving away a Beauty Pack - perfect for giving as a Thanksgiving hostess gift when you receive it in November! You can find the entry widget on the Goat Milk Stuff website.

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 Lynda West who won the September giveaway!  

Newsletter Special


The October newsletter special is discounted Dessert Tray  and Emery's Flower Garden soaps.

They are available for $5 each while supplies last.

Homestead Happenings


September has been quite the busy month here at Goat Milk Stuff!

We started the month by welcoming eight new baby goats to the farm, which sparked several discussions with the family about our goats. As more and more people come to the farm every day, we've started running out of goat milk. To help with that, we retained quite a few of the doelings that were born this year. However, as we continue to have babies born and as we keep retaining more and more of them, we've started running out of room in our barns.

So, long story short, we're building a new barn! 



We're really excited for the opportunities that this new barn will bring us. Our current barns, which we love, were designed for a herd of 75-100 goats. (We didn't realize when we were designing them just how much poop 100 goats can generate. LOL)

Our new barn will be designed to be cleaned out by a tractor or skidsteer, which is good for Greyden and Hewitt. It will be designed so that we can rotate the pens for the goats, which is good for the pastures. It will be designed to be easily accessible by feed trucks, with easy food storage, which is good for all of the boys who are tired of moving pallets of alfalfa pellets by hand.

We can't wait to start building. Our wonderful contractor, Lucky Rose, will be building this barn, and the children are so excited to have him and his crew around again. Prayers for quick, safe, and easy construction would be much appreciated as we move forward with this.

Having this new barn will also allow us to retain more Nigerian Dwarf goats so we can start milking them for the business as well.

The new barn isn't the only construction that's on our minds these days. Scottsburg is getting a bike path, and it's running directly through our front yard!



Our bike path is a new section of US Bike Route 35 - a bike path that runs from Michigan to Louisiana. The children think that's pretty cool, but they're mostly excited about the fact that they can now ride their bikes, roller blade, or run directly to our YMCA without Mom worrying about them being on the road.

Speaking of running, it's cross country season, and our children are doing very well.  Emery, Fletcher, and Greyden are crossing the finish line right after each other, and have been beating their personal records all season long.



Hewitt, Indigo, and Jade have also been doing well. They are breaking personal records and running hard, and we're so proud of them!



Colter has been enjoying the cooler evenings as he's been playing ultimate frisbee with a local group. The other day, he was called in to substitute on a league team, and his team won 14-12. We're very proud of him, and glad that he's found something he enjoys so much since he is now too old to run with the homeschool cross-country team.



And while her siblings are running and playing ultimate frisbee, Brett has been busy planning a wedding! Last weekend, we hosted an engagement party at our house. All of Brett and Mason's grandparents, parents, siblings, and lots of aunts and uncles gathered, along with friends, and it was wonderful to meet everyone and celebrate together.



Emery and I also attended Artisan Bread Camp this month. We had a blast together improving our breadmaking skills and learning even more than we already knew about how to work with sourdough. It did mean that the two of us were gone every day for a week, but since we came home with dozens of loaves of test batches, no one was too upset about having to take care of our normal jobs. 







Our house became a temporary shelter for several Irma refugees - my brother, his wife, their three kids, and my parents all drove North to Indiana to escape the hurricane. It was great to welcome them (and put them to work). We're happy to report that neither of their houses had significant damage, and they have all made it home safely. We pray that everyone who was impacted by both Harvey, Irma, and Maria are safe and recovering.



All in all, September was a crazy month that was full of great events.  We have one more pregnant Nigerian (Lady) who is due later this Fall, but then it is just a matter of watching the goats get "fatter" until babies start being born in February.  The weather is cooling off and the goats are getting frisky and enjoying it.  



We hope you have a wonderful Fall!
As always, we thank you so much for all of your support of our family and our business!  

 

The Jonas Family

Jim, PJ, Brett, Colter, Emery, Fletcher, Greyden, Hewitt, Indigo, and Jade


Copyright © 2017 Goat Milk Stuff, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list