I can't believe it's the last newsletter of 2017 - It seems like we were just writing the first newsletter of the year. I hope that 2017 (despite any ups and downs) has been an overall good year for everyone.
This is another long newsletter and some email programs cut off the end of the newsletter. So if you don't see the family photo at the end, you can click this link to view the whole newsletter.
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Custom Lotions and Lip Balms
We're giving everyone one last opportunity to have custom lip balm flavors and custom lotion scents made for Christmas presents (for yourself or others).
They are available for six days only (December 1 - 6, 2017). We will make the custom items on December 7th, and ship them out on December 8th, with plenty of time for them to be received before the Holidays.
All of our lotions and lip balms are available in two different formulas.
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Custom lotion scents are available in small, large, deodorant style tubes, and tubs. There are many custom scents to choose from such as Baby Powder, Lavender Peppermint, Lilac, Mimosa Mandarin, Vanilla, and many others.
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Custom Lip Balms are now available in flavors such as Blueberry, Chocolate, Tea Tree, as well as blends such as Lavender Orange, Chocolate Almond, and many others. And if you would like a blend we don't have listed, just ask.
Please remember that when you order custom lip balms and lotions, there will be a delay until your items are made. Your entire order ships out on 12/8/17.
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Limited Edition Soaps
This month we have Lavender Peppermint and Lavender Shampoo available as limited edition goat milk soaps. We also have bars of Hazelnut and Hazelnut scrubby available.
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Lavender Peppermint
Goat Milk Soap
$6.50
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Hazelnut
Goat Milk Soap
$6.50
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Lavender Shampoo
Goat Milk Soap
$8.00
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Remember - if there is a limited edition soap that we don't currently have available, you can have it made as a custom batch.
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Frankincense & Myrrh
This year the demand for our Frankincense & Myrrh goat milk soap was much higher than last year, and so we have unfortunately run out of cured Frankincense and Myrrh bars. The good news is that there are bars on our curing racks and they will be ready to ship mid-December. We're sorry about the inconvenience. We have left the Frankincense & Myrrh soaps live on the website so you can sign up to be notified when they are available again.
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New Deodorant Scents and Baking Soda Free Formula
 We have three new deodorant scents that are now available. In addition to the original citrus tea, rosemary mint, and unscented, you can now get deodorants in cedarwood, lavender, and oatmeal milk & honey.
All six deodorants scents are now also available in a baking soda free formula so that people who have baking soda sensitivities have an option. If you don't have a baking soda allergy, just stick with the regular deodorants.
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Kidding Experience
During kidding season in February and March (when the Alpine goats are having their babies), we make sure that somebody is in the barn 24/7. While most of the goats will have their babies without difficulty, there will always be births with complications, and we like to be there. Now you can be there too!
A Kidding Experience is 5 hours in the barn with a member of the Jonas family and the goats. Depending on which shift you schedule, it includes dinner or lunch. We start in February, and the Kidding Experiences are only open for 4 to 6 weeks depending on how many goats are left to deliver.
If you've ever wanted to be on hand for a birth, click here for more information. (Please be aware that this link will take you to our new website.)
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Beginning Goat Class
We will be holding a Beginning Goat Class on each Saturday in February. The class is for those who are considering raising dairy goats and would like to learn about basic care. Class is from 10am til 4pm and includes lunch. The cost is $100 per person. This is a very hands-on class and will cover many topics including:
- milking
- feeding
- cleaning
- hoof trimming
- basic vet care
- breeding
- kidding
- housing
If a goat is in labor, you will be able to assist with the birth and taking care of the kids and mother.
Space is limited, so purchase your ticket today! (Please be aware this link will take you to our new website).
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Cheese Camp
Jim, Mason, and I are currently in Vermont for something that we've been looking forward to - Cheese Camp! At least, that's what we're calling it. It's a two week long artisan cheesemaking course, and we're very excited to learn all about making new kinds of cheeses. We currently offer Chevre (which is kinda like cream cheese) and Feta, but we would love to expand our cheese line in the future.
We hope to be able to implement the things we're learning in our current cheese kitchen, and to use the experience to design a new dairy plant. (Don't ask me when we'll be able to afford to build it, but if I've learned anything over the years it's that I need to have a plan in place and God will let me know when it is time).
The children are holding down the fort at the farm, and we're very proud of them. While some of them are missing us more than others, they're getting everything done and taking care of the goats, the business, and each other.
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New Website
Our new website is almost ready to go live. We were planning to launch it before Black Friday, but decided at the last minute to hold off til after the holiday weekend. While we think the new website is easier, it is different and we didn't want to confuse people on the biggest shopping weekend of the year.
We'll probably switch to the new website sometime in December right before Christmas.
The new website is live, and available for Beta Testing. You can find it and use it to place orders at http://goatmilksoapers.com for now. When it is fully live, you will see it when you type in http://goatmilkstuff.com
The first time you place your order on the new website, you must pretend you are a new customer. The new website does not recognize you. Please choose "Create Account" at the top of the website. Do not choose "Sign In" your first time (it will not work and you'll just get frustrated). When you click "Create Account" the website will ask for the following:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email
- Password
If the new website matches your email to an account on the old website, it will ask you again for a password. This is because for security reasons, no password information transferred from the old site to the new site. Once you complete this step, your account information is matched and you should be able to see all your previous orders.
If the new website does not recognize an email match, it will simply treat you as a completely new customer.
It is also important to know that the new website does not require or use a username for your account. It identifies you by your email address. That is simpler in the long-run and we hope causes less confusion.
As always, if you ever have difficulty placing an order, please call us at 812-752-0622 and we can help you order over the phone.
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Winter Milk
The goats are starting to slow down on their milk production and so we have limited quantities of milk in the Farm Store. We're hoping to be able to make it through the entire winter, but as demand for our healthy milk increases, and the goats' production decreases, it's going to be close. Give us a call to see what we have before coming to the farm!
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Why less milk? We "dry our goats off" (stop milking them) for the last two months of their pregnancies so they can grow their kids. We do stagger the breeding a little bit, but it depends on when the goats get bred (which we don't always have much control over). The first goats are due to freshen in February, and then we'll once again have lots of milk available.
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But until then, winter milk and yogurt prices are $18 per gallon, $10 per half gallon, and $4 per pint.
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Farm Store and Sweet Shop Hours
The Farm Store and Sweet Shop are open Monday - Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Both are closed on Sundays.
We will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
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We will also be closing on January 6th for a very special occasion - Brett's wedding! It is the first time we've ever closed on a (non-Holiday) Saturday, but we think it's a pretty good reason to be closed.
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Christmas Shipping
We know that many of you like to use our soaps and stuff for Christmas Gifts or Stocking Stuffers. As always, we will be shipping out your orders as fast as you can place them.
We recommend that you get your orders in by midnight on Tuesday 12/19/17. We will guarantee to ship those orders out on Wednesday and if the post office does its part, they will arrive before Christmas Eve.
Please remember that we will ship your order on time, but we can't control the package once it leaves our hands.
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We hope that everyone has a Wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
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Lady
Lady is still pregnant but looks like she's getting much closer to having her kids. She's acting just like herself and chewing on everything.
We'll let everyone on Facebook know when she's in labor (assuming we catch it!)
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December Giveaway
This month we're giving away a $25 Goat Milk Stuff gift certificate! You can find the entry widget here.
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 Sue Anderson who won the November giveaway!
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Newsletter Special
We'd like to make your Holiday gift giving a little bit easier this year, so this month's newsletter special is Twin Packs at a 50% discount. The twin packs include a bar of goat milk soap and a small lotion stick in the matching scent. They are available in Almond, Black Raspberry, Lavender, Oatmeal Milk & Honey, Pink Sugary, and Unscented.
To get them at the newsletter special price of half-off, you must order them from this link only. There is a limit of 10 per person at this special price.
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Engagement Photos
As you all know by now, our oldest daughter, Brett, is getting married in January. She and Mason had their engagement photos done a few weeks ago, and we love the way they turned out!
First they took a few traditional photos...
...and then they took a few with Mason's cows...
...so Brett insisted on getting a few with a goat.
Platinum (the baby goat) wasn't thrilled about being so close to the big scary calf, but we think the pictures came out beautifully! We're glad they were able to get pictures on both Mason's farm and ours, and the picture with Platinum and the bottle calf is our favorite! Their photographer, Ambrose from Luminosity Studios, did an amazing job, even when the animals weren't cooperating, and we're all very excited to see what their wedding photos look like.
As a reminder, we will be closed on Saturday, January 6th, for the wedding. Don't worry, we will share wedding pictures on our Facebook page and in the newsletter as soon as we have them!
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Homestead Happenings
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family. We hosted my parents and three of my brothers and their families, and it was so much fun!
We all helped prepare the food,
including the 17 pies that Emery made for 26 people,
and then we got to enjoy it!
Our table was full,
and so were our hearts.
We hope everyone else had a lovely Thanksgiving!
I also wanted to update everyone who was praying for my CT scan. I (PJ) had minor surgery at the beginning of November. Part of the routine pre-op testing was a chest x-ray. It showed a spot on my lungs that required a follow-up CT scan.
The CT scan indicated that the spot is probably an inflammatory response (a lung granuloma). I will have to go back for another CT scan in 6 months to make sure it hasn't grown in size and does not look like anything requiring further testing. I really do appreciate all the prayers!
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As for the goats, they are enjoying the last of the warm weather, and they love being out in the pasture where they can keep an eye on their new barn! We have the beginnings of a roof, and they were pouring concrete yesterday. (This photo is from a few days ago. It's raining today, so Brett couldn't take the camera out to get a photo with the roof on.)
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The progress is fun to watch, as always, and we can't wait for the building to be done. We weren't planning on building a new barn quite this soon, but because the goats would have been too crowded for the 2018 kidding season, we had a choice - build a new barn or sell 44 goats (which would have left us with the number of goats I feel our existing barn can comfortably hold).
Had we chosen to sell goats, we would not have had enough milk to meet our current demand for soap, cheese, milk, gelato, and everything else! And so we decided (as we have done many times during the life of Goat Milk Stuff) to build the new barn and trust God to continue to bless Goat Milk Stuff and our efforts.
As always, we want to thank you so much for all of your support. It's because of you that we are able to keep making the best goat milk goodies we possibly can!
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We wish everyone a wonderful Christmas season full of joy and blessings from God as we celebrate the birth of His Son.
And if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays to you!
The Jonas Family
Jim, PJ, Brett, Colter, Emery, Fletcher, Greyden, Hewitt, Indigo, and Jade
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