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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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The New Goat Barn
Lucky and his crew made great progress on the site work for the new barn.
The weather hasn't cooperated the past week or so (and there is more rain coming), but we're hoping to see the framework starting to take place soon.
I'm not sure who will be happier when the barn is done - Greyden or the goats!
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Werst Scent Ever
If you read my blog post about Brett and Mason's engagement, you'll know that Mason's last name is Werst, which has led to many puns. Their wedding hashtag is #werstweddingever, and Brett has already endured many sausage jokes (since she'll be Mrs. Brett Werst).
For their wedding favors, we're making a special batch of soap - the Werst Scent Ever. (Aren't we hilarious? ;) ) It's got lavender (their wedding color), cedarwood (which Mason likes), and vanilla (which Brett likes).
Since finding out about it, several customers have asked that we offer it for sale. We're planning on making some extra bars and will make them available, but if there is a huge demand, we'll make even more. So if you're interested, let us know.
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New Website
We are still working on migrating our website to the new platform. We're all working incredibly hard to get it done. Thanks to those of you who agreed to beta test the website. We'll probably have the link to you soon for you to review it.
We are actually splitting up the website some to make it easier for everyone to get the information they wish. The available websites will be the following:
- www.goatmilkstuff.com - to shop, learn, and visit all things Goat Milk Stuff
- www.wholesalegms.com - for wholesale orders
- www.gmsfundraiser.com - for fundraisers
- www.gmsgoats.com - for purchasing our goats (you'll still learn about goats on the regular goatmilkstuff.com website)
- www.pjjonas.com - PJ's parenting blog and podcast
We've always had all this stuff on one website and while we could make it work, there was often confusion because we were trying to be all things to all people on one site.
While maintaining different websites will take more effort, we want to make it easier on our customers and having different websites with very specific purposes makes the most sense.
We are hoping to make the new website live before Black Friday, but don't want to rush it if it isn't completely ready. We just want to give everyone a head's up in case you visit www.GoatMilkStuff.com and it looks a lot different. You'll still be at the right place!
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Thanksgiving Hours
We will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but will be open on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. We know that lots of you who are local are looking forward to bringing your family for a visit, tour, and/or Baby Goat Experience, so schedule those online now!
We will be open both Friday and Saturday from 9 am until 5 pm.
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Thanksgiving Shipping
Many people enjoy receiving and gifting our soaps and stuff as Thanksgiving Hostess Gifts. 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 Friday 11/17/17. We will guarantee to ship those out on Saturday the 18th and if the post office does its part, they will arrive before Thanksgiving which is on the 23rd this year. We will also get as many of Saturday's orders out as possible, but since the Post Office closes early, we don't have as much time on Saturday.
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We hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!
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November Giveaway
This month we're giving away a $25 Goat Milk Stuff gift certificate! Since the winner will receive it on December 1st, this would be perfect for helping with holiday gifts!
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 Deb Johnson who won the October contest!
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Pregnant Goats
We have one pregant Nigerian - Lady - who should be due sometime in November or December. She was with the buck for a while and we're not sure when she got bred, so we'll be keeping an eye on her as she gets closer.
We're not pregnancy testing any of Alpines, but assume the vast majority of them are bred by this point. They've all been separated from their individual breeding bucks and are all in together with Steven. Steven is unrelated to all the does, so he plays "pick up buck" and hopefully breeds everyone who didn't get bred in October.
The boys believe the majority of the goats got bred in the first half of September, so February will be action packed as the babies start arriving. We'll have Alpine babies in February and March and then more "Nigie" babies in April.
We'll be offering the Kidding Experience again this upcoming kidding season, and will probably start scheduling them in December.
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Baby Goat Deposits
As I mentioned earlier, one of the websites we are working on launching is the www.gmsgoats.com website. If you are looking to purchase baby goats, please place your deposit on that website.
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Blog
I normally blog on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays with the hope to educate, entertain, and inspire. But right now, blog posting is on hold while we migrate the blog to the new website. As soon as it is completely launched and ready to go, regular blogging will resume! :)
If you've never visited the blog, I hope you get a chance to do so.
Here are October's posts:
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Newsletter Special
This month we are offering a free lip balm with a minimum $20 order. If your order exceeds $20, just add a customer note at checkout that says, "Please include my free vanilla red label lip balm." Simply substitute which lip balm you would like to receive.
With the winter weather coming, it's time to keep those lips moisturized!
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Homestead Happenings
We had a busy month on the farm in October!
We started with Fall Break for our local schools. A local YMCA brought 180 kids over three days, and there were constantly people enjoying a Baby Goat Experience in the baby goat pen. Several garden clubs and bus tours later, we finished the month out with the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, which meant over 200 FFA kids and their leaders toured the farm. We were extremely excited to share our farm with so many people, and we hope that they enjoyed it as much as we did!
In the midst of leading so many tours, Brett and Mason continued to prep for their wedding. They closed on their house, which is less than two or three miles from the farm, sent out all of their invitations, and had engagement pictures taken. We (okay, mostly Indigo and Jade) are very excited to see how the pictures came out! We'll post a few of them on our Facebook page when we get them, and I'm sure we'll include one or two in the Newsletter next month.
The invitations and RSVPs were designed by a local small business, Eleven Eleven Pixel, and we all absolutely love how they came out! Melissa made the design process very easy, and we highly recommend her if you need any invitations!
While Brett was managing wedding things, and Colter covered the farm and soap operations, the rest of the kids were continuing to do well at Cross Country. The Boys Varsity team won the Championship, and all six Jonases came home with medals from the Christian Homeschool Cross Country Nationals! We are so proud of them and everything they have accomplished this year. We're also looking forward to the last meet of the year in two weeks, and being done with practices. ;)
Between Cross Country practices and meets, the boys have been hard at work putting the farm to bed for the winter. The garden continued to flourish for most of October, fueled by the unusually warm weather. The first frost came about a week ago, and we finally put it to rest.
I'd like to close this month's Homestead Happenings with a prayer request. Last week Mason's grandmother, Yvonne, fell and broke her leg. She's in rehab right now, and prayers for a quick and easy recovery would be much appreciated! She is hoping that she will be able to attend Brett's bridal shower in a few weeks, and we are all praying that she will be discharged in time!
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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
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