Goat Notes

We're home!

2011-10-24T19:37:00.000-04:00

It took five months, but finally, no more twice-daily drives to milk the goats! At first, I would find myself picking up my keys at chore time, only to have to remind myself that I'm already there, that I can simply walk outside, as it's supposed to be.

And I got my dog back! Since the night of the fire, he'd been living in the nice, big yard at my sister's house. I would visit him each evening after chores, but that's not the same as having him follow me around the house, sleep beside my bed, or insist I rub his belly with my feet while I sit at my desk.

An independent expert (i.e. my mom) confirmed that five months is the longest I have ever lived without a dog - ever! Thank goodness I was albe to take my indoor cats to the apartment with me or I would've gone stark raving berzerk.

But enough about all that. What does the move home mean for the business? It means I can resume production of all of my products, as soon as I get all the boxes unpacked, of course. One silver lining of the fire was that it gave me the chance to completely overhaul the organization of my soap factory. Only a few weeks before the fire, I had annexed a second room in the house for soapmaking, just in time to have to move the whole shebang into the living room of a one bedroom apartment. The new layout should help to make me more efficient, allowing me to make more soap and products with the same limited number of hours each day.

Now there may still be some shortages as far as the soap goes. Production interruptions, such as moving your business into a building the contractor hasn't finished repairing, don't manifest for about a month (the soaps need four weeks to cure; that's why they last so long). I am fully confident, however, that I'll be able to keep the tables full of product for the last two months of this year and beyond.

Can you believe it?

2011-09-26T14:34:00.002-04:00

Ten years.

As of this month, the 15^th to be specific, Wild Heaven Farm has been selling soap for ten years. Ever since that first sunny autumn morning at Rockwood Park, where I laid out six fragrances of soap and corresponding bath bombs and waited with baited breath. The soaps were in plain rectangles and were priced individually as they varied wildly in weight. The bath bombs would disintegrate if you looked at them too hard, let alone did anything complicated like put them in the customer's bag. Our display was an old rust-dusted metal shoe rack we found in a shed, covered with a scrap yard of crushed velvet. We probably only had one or two stuffed goats to bring out the theme. I don't even remember if we had a sign. If memory serves, and it only barely did even before the lightning, we made $135 that day and I was over the moon.

Nowadays, we have over two dozen fragrances in the soap, as well as lotion, body butter, lip balm, brown sugar scrub, shaving products and baby products. It wasn't a straight shot between there and here, of course. In the last decade, we've been through two house fires, an additional major renovation, four spinal surgeries (my husband), chronic pain in both hands (me), mysterious animal plagues, and other tales of woe. (This year alone saw snow in April, a tornado, and a hurricane.) Of course, we've also hired our first sales associate, put together a really respectable and goat-y display, gotten into bigger and better shows, been interviewed for radio, tv, and print, and seen our product find a special place in the lives of our loyal customers (or as I like to call you all, “my constituency,” though I like to pronounce it like this).

By lucky hap, through the fires and moves, a few old pictures of our erstwhile displays have surfaced and by an absolute miracle, I managed not to lose them a second time. Check it out.

This was 2002 or 2003, at Clover Hill High. My sister Johanna made the signs for me.

Here you can see the beginnings of our current display. This was probably 2006 at the Pungo Strawberry Festival. It's almost embarrassing to look back on now, but I was pretty proud of what I'd put together at that point.

Now, of course, the display goes a little somethin' like this.

Speaking of bigger and better, keep your eyes on our website for a fresh new look courtesy of the best techie I could ever hope to work with. Alan Francis really is the small business person's web developer. I urge all my business-owner readers to engage his services for establishing your internet presence or finally getting a website that properly represents you to your customers.

Our New Logo!

2011-07-19T13:14:00.002-04:00

Be on the look-out for our stylish new logo, designed by Alan Francis, tech genius.

It's a simplified version of the logo we've used for half the life of the business. It will work better in both large applications, like banners, and very small applications, like labels, than the old logo. The new design will infiltrate slowly, mostly as we use up stuff with the old logo on it.

If this image looks familiar, that's because it's also the basis of our custom-made soap molds and their resultant new soap shapes.

In case you missed it...

It was kind of a big deal. I got struck by lightning and my house burnt up. If you haven't heard me run at the mouth with all the details, jump over here for the whole story.

Things are pretty good in my little flat down the road. The executive decision had to be made, though, to only produce soaps until I'm back at the farm where I belong. If you need any skin care or baby products, I have a few on hand, but I won't be making any batches of anything until probably mid-September. Many of those products don't ship in the summer anyway because of their meltiness.

Now for some good news: The website is back in action (apart from products I never ship in the summer), so you can order individual bars again, and the Mixed Bags will still be there.

File this under "R"...

2011-06-05T20:09:00.012-04:00

for "Are you kidding me with this nonsense?"

Saturday May 14th started out swimmingly; had a bonzer day at Williamsburg Farmers Market, then went straight to my nephew Rieley's (of Life of Rieley fame) eighth birthday party, where there were spiders and lizards and snakes, oh my. With a friend over visiting, I was fifteen minutes late getting outside to do evening chores. What a difference a few minutes can make. You'll see why as our story of woe and bloody great annoyance unfolds.

After milking goat two of six, it began to rain, and hard. Whether I try to get outside before the storm and wait as late as I can to let it pass, I will invariably be doing evening chores in the heaviest part of the rain, so I've long since given up trying to time it just right.

As I was closing the metal gate latch behind the fourth goat, there was a tremendous, colossal CRACK. In nearly the same instance, a strong feeling of uninvited electricity went through my body. As I fell back into the mud (perhaps from voltage-type shock, perhaps simply from surprise-type shock), three thoughts occurred to me in rapid succession: 1) "Stupid electric fence!" 2) "The electric fence isn't on." 3) "I've been struck by lightning."

You heard it here first -- your friendly neighborhood goat lady was on the receiving end of wee dram of Nature's fury. (Wanna hear me say it outloud? Check out the news clip.) It took a minute for my hand to obey me again, at which point, with immeasurable trepidation, I latched the gate and milked Cyan, one of our Alpines. I didn't even want to touch the gate to put her back, but there were still two more to do. Trouble was, those last two goats wouldn't come out of their barn. After a minute or two of unsuccessful calling in a rain heavy enough to soak through my Carhardt coat, I decided to pop into the house and check out the weather radar - if there would be a break in the clouds shortly, I could just wait.

It was as I was approaching the laundry room door, the windows of which are covered with paper to exclude sunlight in an effort to keep the house cool, that I saw light within. My first response was "He [my husband, Kevin] can never turn off that light behind himself." Then I saw that the light was all orange and wavy-like. Throwing open the door, I found the wall and floor of our laundry room aflame, fueled in part by the piles of stuff perpetually waiting to be sorted and put away properly. It's the wall abutting the kitchen, my favorite room in the house.

I hollered for Kevin, who had been outside closing the car windows when the lightning struck, to call 911 but he had seen the fire and was hustling the dogs out to his woodshop for safety. Unfortunately, the rain, which came all at once instead of off-and-on throughout the day as predicted, had soaked through his jeans double-time and rendered his phone inoperable.

Grabbing the garden hose, I tried to suppress the fire, as did Kevin was an industrial-sized fire extinguisher, the origin of which was never clear to me, but it would reignite almost as soon as we got it out. The fire was in the wall, where the blown-in cellulose insulation smolders like a cigar, deviously allowing you to think you've gotten it under control.

Kevin braved the thick, stinging smoke to get my phone off my desk while I threw open doors and windows to provide escape routes for our two housecats, who I could only assume were upstairs, beyond my reach no matter how much I squinted or held the collar of my t-shirt over my mouth and nose. Little Brother, our ginger tabby, was later seen to have fled, but our white cat Ichi was nowhere in site.

Part 2

The fire crews arrived quickly, since we're within five miles of three fire houses. In fact, some of the firemen who attended this fire had also responded to our fire the week before Christmas six years ago. They probably aren't used to repeat business like that.

We retreated to the milkhouse, after I told every fireman I could get near to look for Ichi, and helplessly watched. Smoke poured from soffits all over the house. It looked like most of the building was involved. We could see the firemens' lights as they moved around the house. Windows were being broken out, charred cabinets were hastily thrown on the patio, they even chainsawed a four foot by two foot hole in the upstairs hallway wall, clear through to the outside.

There was a great deal of activity in the bedroom above the fire, the guest room that I hope will someday be the permanent abode of Alan Francis, my Englishman. "He's never gonna move here if his bedroom catches fire," was just one of the things I said that made the police officer who had arrived on scene first look at me funny. "This ain't even our first fire," I said, to explain the lack of tears and general sense of irritation rather than panic.

Watching all this, all I could think was "Not again. It was so difficult last time," and "I'm finished. I'll be wiped out this time for sure." You see, after the heat and smoke of the last fire ruined my equipment, supplies and inventory, it took me eighteen months to find the financing I needed to restart my business. A glimmer of hope came in the form of a handsome blond fireman who said he could smell the patchouli soap as they were going through the house. Well, that had to be good, right?

The other thing I was contending with was a female fireman (and yes, I'm leaving that gender contradiction in there) who was very keen on the idea of me being cleared medically. I couldn't stand the thought of being carted off to hospital and not being able to keep an eye on what was going on. I would've been able to resist her if my mother and one of my sisters hadn't shown up just then. Maybe I could get past the female fireman, but I'd never be able to get past my mom, so off to the ambulance I went. "What's your primary complaint?" the EMT asked me. "This fireman chick wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to get checked out," I said, being slightly cheeky. My vitals were fine and I even got to change into some (very temporarily) dry clothes that they'd fetched out of the house for me, though I felt guilty because Kevin was still soaked to the bone.

So the firemen finally get the blaze doused, tearing open holes in the walls and ceiling to look for hot spots. I've always found it ironic that the people putting out the fire can do more damage than the fire itself. After a quick chat with a WTVR photog who turned up, we were escorted inside to get valuables and such. The whole time we were sitting on the miking stand watching the goings-on, Kevin and I were picturing the damage from the last fire, the images worsening in our minds as the minutes ticked by. It wasn't nearly as bad this time. In fact, as we walked around pointing at damaged things and being thrilled that the weren't more damaged, the fireman escorting us actually said, "You might be the happiest fire victim I've ever seen."

The insurance company, Liberty Mutual, is taking very good care of us. Our belonging went to specialized cleaning companies, who can't throw anything out without me signing off on it, as opposed to last time when the clean-up company binned half of our stuff right off the bat (and a lot of undamaged or easily cleanable things were never seen again). They're also paying for me to stay in this nice little apartment from which I'm writing this newsletter. I still have to drive to the farm twice a day for milking and, for the first 20 days after the fire and the standard shutting off of power and water to the house, had to haul buckets of water for the goats. Thankfully, as of Friday, a plumber fixed it so one spigot is functional.

What does all this mean for the business? As you may have seen if you've seen us recently, some of our labels were a little schmutzy, but apart from that, the business got off scot-free. ...Well, maybe not that well. While we didn't lose much product to the fire, a lot of soaps slid from their drying racks and got jumbled together during the move. If you'll look in the website, you'll see that we're now selling perfectly-good, randomly-mixed, unlabeled soap by the pound. No sense letting it go to waste.

The contractor thinks the repairs will take three months, so operations will be shoe-horned in here for the duration. The insurance company thinks it will take five months, but I seriously hope they're wrong. This situation cannot go into the fourth quarter or I'll be in a right pickle.

So that's where we are, milking goats at one place and making soap in another. It's not gonna be easy, but like they say, nothing worthwhile ever is.

P.S. Ichi turned up the next day, so everyone's present and accounted for.

What a Year

2011-01-22T12:49:00.002-05:00

Hope yours was as good as ours, soap fans.

We really rocked it out in 2010, expanding to new venues, adding to our product line, and enhancing our display. And we've got no plans to slow down in 2011. Here are a few teasers:

CSA
After a good first year, we're looking forward to bringing back our CSA, a program guaranteed to save regular local customers money. We're negotiating booth spaces with popular farmers markets even now. You can read more about it online.

Kidding season
The most wonderful time of the year around here, though I'm not exactly sure when it will be. We'll probably have 10 kids born this season and you'll be able to watch them live in their box in the living room.

Rebranding
We've had our current logo for more than four years (an eternity for someone as hyper as me), so it's time for a new look! Keep your eyes open for our new logo (actually a different take on the current logo) to begin appearing online, on product labels and even as a soap mold.

Interns/Hiring
With great clarity, I have recently come to realize that I can't possibly grow my business without some more hands. To this end, we will be offering part-time employment in production and sales later this year.

A Goat by Any Other Name
Over the past nine years, we have named lots of baby goats, passles and scads of them. To help us come up with enough names (often a dozen or so), we like to have a theme. We've done everything from cars, to Lord of the Rings characters, to herbs and spices. It's January already and we haven't chosen this year's theme. What do you think would make a good naming theme for our baby goats? Things like constellations (i.e. Orion), nuts (i.e. Filbert), and Warner Brothers cartoon characters have already been suggested. Chime in here or on our Facebook page.

Want to know more? Fan our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, or subscribe to our monthly "Goat Notes"" newsletter.

I'm not good at blogging

2010-07-30T07:25:00.001-04:00

It's not that I'm not good at writing blogs; I flatter myself that I have a gift for gab. When I sit down to write a blog post, a decent blog post gets written. The problem is actually sitting down and writing the blog. This is clearly evident by the random frequency of posts. I'll swear on a stack that I'm going to post every week, maybe twice a week, and I'll be lucky if I manage to do it once a month.

In an effort to ensure that our customers, fans, and friends don't miss any of the goings-on on the farm, we are proud to announce our monthly "Goat Notes" newsletter, powered by MailChimp. Each month, the newsletter will include the latest news from the farm, things to look for in the upcoming month, such as seasonal fragrances, our farmers market/craft show schedule, exclusive deals for readers, and maybe a funny picture or two.

You can sign up for the newsletter using the form below or the E-mail Signup tab on our Facebook page. You have my sworn statement that your e-mail address will never pass into other hands. (Death to spammers!)

A Day in the Life:

2010-06-08T08:40:00.000-04:00

"Well, a simple kind of life never did me no harm/
Raisin' me a family and working on the farm/
Days are all filled with an easy, pleasant charm/
Thank God I'm a country boy."

Have you ever wondered what life is like on a working farm? Well, now is your chance to find out. Wild Heaven Farm is please to announce our latest program, allowing our customers to see what it's like behind the curtain. Our "Day in the Life" program is your opportunity to see what really goes on at Chesterfield's premier dairy goat farm and soap making operation.

The farm has been open for field trips for a number of years now, but this program will be different. Instead of a large group, it will be one-on-one (or a small group of up to four people). It will be more like an apprenticeship than a regular visit to the farm.

These little farm apprenticeships will be scheduled in 3 to 4 hour blocks, either morning or early evening, to coincide with milking time. For morning apprentices, you will start by learning how to hand milk our lovely dairy goats. Then it's inside for soap making. We'll take you through the process from start to finish, soup to nuts, measuring, mixing, pouring, trimming and wrapping. evening apprentices will do the same thing, but in reverse.

And the best part? This program is completely free of charge. While a number of working farms have created programs where locals and folks on vacation actually pay the farmer to work on the farm, we think that's a racket. We love to share our farm and all of its workings, and of course we're very grateful for the help.

We expect space to fill up quickly, so don't hesitate to call us at 804-275-4361 or e-mail us at wildheavenfarm@yahoo.com to schedule your visit. This program is open to adults and children ages seven and up.

(above lyrics by John Denver)

This Weekend: Church Hill Irish Festival

2010-03-18T21:59:00.001-04:00

From the website of one of my favorite events:

Join us for the 25th Annual Church Hill Irish Festival on March 20th and 21std in historic Church Hill. The festival will begin Saturday at 10:00 a.m with a walking parade to include traditional Irish music and dancing. The celebration will continue with a street festival in front of St. Patrick's Church on North 25th Street between Broad and Franklin Streets and will run from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm on Saturday and 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Sunday.

Traditional Irish musicians, bagpipers and dancers will perform throughout the weekend. This year's lineup includes Uisce Beatha; the Janet Martin Band; Andy, Cindy and Then Some; Page Wilson; Gary Gerloff; Tinkers Damn; Bart Chucker Band; Susan Greenbaum and many other local favorites. We will also have a Bluegrass Stage (see our Saturday and Sunday schedules for more info.)

In addition to great entertainment, there will be plenty of family fun, including children's games, face painting and Irish-themed crafts. Over thirty Irish vendors will be in attendance! Food and refreshments will also be available. Enjoy wonderful "Irish Lasagna" prepared by the Ladies of St. Patrick's, "Fish and Chips" and other favorites provided by Rare Olde Times Irish Pub, and many more.

A huge children's play area will be sponsored by the great folks from "Connor's Heroes", an organization that assists families and children who are fighting childhood cancer.

Proceeds benefit the St. Baldrick's Society and their fight against childhood cancer, the Church Hill Association, the Church Hill Crime Watch, Richmond Hill, Child Saver's Clinic of Richmond, St. John'n Church, the St. Peter's Meals Program, Stone's Circle of Friends and many other neighborhood causes. Proceeds also benefit the historic preservation of St. Patrick's Church, a "little church with a big heart" built in the 1850's by Irish Immigrants to Richmond, and its outreach programs.

A $2.00 donation will be collected at the gate. Sponsored in part by Guinness & Harp Beer and our friends at Loveland Distributing.

We kindly ask that you leave all pets at home. For more information, please call 804-356-1093.

Vendors don't get their booth assignments until we show up Friday evening to set up, but I should be near the firehouse end, where I've been in previous year.

See you there!

A goat by any other name OR The unbearable cuteness of being

2010-03-16T08:14:00.006-04:00

Animals lover will bear me out on this. It comes to pass at times that you have a name all picked out for a new animal and you really dig it, but it doesn't fit or it quickly looses its luster. That's happened here with our newest buckling, the cutest baby goat in the history of ever. His original moniker, Penn, kept up with our numeric naming theme, but just didn't suit him.

His new name is Boy. Right now, we're calling him Baby Boy, because he is the sweetest little cuddle-wumpkin we've ever had. Look at his little pink nose, a first around here. He's also the only goat we've ever seen with an interrupted black dorsal stripe. He looks like he walked under a spilt can of paint.

As he grows, I imagine we'll cut it back to just Boy. But if he grows up anything like his dad (below), he'll go back to being Baby Boy for a good old ironic nickname, like Slim or Tiny.
Stagelight Painted Dreamscape, Boy's sire, looks like a cross between our first buck Belle-Rive Rainbow Warrior (we called him "Chief") and a Brahma bull.

Deja vu, goat-style; or How I spent my birthday

2010-03-12T06:51:00.000-05:00

Another year has come around, as they will do every 365 days or so. Yesterday happened to be my 31st birthday. Great thanks to all the people who wished me well on Facebook. It's marvelous, this social networking. I feel ever so popular. :D

We experienced a strange coincidence. For a second year, our new Nubian buck was delivered on my birthday, and this one is quite possibly the cutest goat in the history of ever. His name is Penn, as he's our fifth buck.

For those who remember Ford from last year, he's still with us, but in a stroke of bad luck of such astronomical odds that could only befall our family, Ford has no apparent...how to say this when sensitive types might be reading...there are no eggs in his basket, no coins in his change purse. I mean to say, he doesn't have any apparent testicles, which is a real problem for a stud. It's sort of his only job requirement. He's on his last chance with Prieka, a vial of whose blood I'll be sending off for a pregnancy test next week. (No, I don't think I can use the ones from the drugstore, not that I haven't thunk of it.)

After much very important video game playing, Carcassonne with hubby Kevin and Tetris Party with best friend Alan in England, it was off to lunch with my Mom, her household and my older sister, Hope. If you haven't been to Dragon King Buffet in the Chesterfield Meadows shopping center, run, don't walk. The restaurant is gorgeously appointed, with a hand-painted mural along an entire wall and a giant fountain above an indoor koi pond. Sorry I don't have any pictures; I didn't want to be 'that guy.' In addition to two steam tables of typical Chinese buffet fare, you also get sushi, Mongolian bar-b-que, and desserts including real ice cream. All that for less than a sawbuck.

Milk the goats real quick and it's off to Penny Lane Pub. If you like a nice nosh, a dark beer and trivial trivia, head upstairs on Wednesdays, but get there early. We...did not. It was packed in there, whatever state of crowdedness comes between 'standing room only' and 'tragic second flood collapse.' The fellow tending bar, who had the air of a manager, told me his name and the names of everyone working upstairs, which I of course promptly forgot. But it was nice, it made me feel like a person of very importance. He even poured me a free shot called a Limerick Kiss

Never pass up the chance to eat at Penny Lane. Two friend scarfed down cottage pies with gusto. I had the Beckham and Owen, a sausage roll and meat pie with mashed potatoes and veggies and a healthy ladle brown gravy. The trivia turned out to be Irish-themed, as they're not doing trivia next week to make more time for hard-core drinking.

We had the best time, especially when the quiz emcee put on Denis Leary's "A$$hole Song" when the game was over and our whole table was singing along like happy fools. I feel sorry for everyone that wasn't.

Before we went to Penny Lane, everyone we invited went to their website and made good use of the Parking Tips page. Why does every business in Richmond proper not have one of these?!

Calling All Artists, or More than You Ever Wanted to Know On the Subject of Soap Molds

2010-02-26T08:11:00.000-05:00

Can you carve? Do you sculpt? Are you a fair hand with clay? Wild Heaven Farm is looking for a sculptor to carve the plug/positive for our new soap molds and it pays in goat milk soap and skin care products.

Soap molds look like large chocolate molds, making between two and five bars per sheet. If you're making a few batches a year for your own use or for gifts, they work perfectly well. If you need to make more than your own body weight in soap each week to stay in business, ladeling molten soap into each individual mold is time consuming. The molds we have now are nice enough. In fact, our shaped bars are part of our claim to fame. But we need new molds. Why? Because I'm hard on them. Like most of my equipment and my beleaguered van, I demand a lot from them. Since I can't wait for soap to decide to come out of the mold on its own, I pop them in the freezer for a bit. Add the pressure I put on each cavity to un-mold the soaps and times the number of days I make soap in a year and you've got a lot of structural fatigue.

Rather than give up and do flat slab bars like a lot of savoniers (and far be it for me to impugn the nature of your trade or profession), we prefer shapes. So if we're going to be making our own molds, why not use our own shape.

Isn't it cute? :)

The plan was conceived for large, tray-style custom molds. Not only would these molds lend themselves to better "branding", they will last longer than the plastic ones and allow me to make more soap per batch, meaning more soap per hour of my surprisingly limited day.

Having a custom mold made by a company that trades in such things really runs into money. To make it cost effective, you have to be willing and able to purchase several dozen. That means an outlay of about a thousand dollars, for starters. Ouch. No es bueno. So we're going to make our own silicone molds. I've worked with silicone before; it's fun and pretty easy. Mix blue bottle of goop A with magenta bottle of goop B, stir until your arm is burning, and pour around the "plug", the item you want your mold to duplicate.

But there's the rub - no plug. While I can milk a goat like it's nobody's business, I was not blessed with anything remotely resembling artistic skills. That's where you come in. The plan is to make silicone or rubber molds with a simplified version of our logo (above). We need a local artist or artistic-type person to make us a clay (or whatever medium) representation of this image. The job pays in soaps and skin care products. Nothing like a good ol' fashioned barter.

If you're interested, drop us a line at wildheavenfarm@yahoo.com with the dollar value of product you'd like in exchange if your "plug" is chosen and the amount of product you think is fair if you make one but its not used.

If you're, like me, not an artist, but you know one, please, please, please pass this on or direct them to our Facebook page.

Bye-bye and buy bars.

The Month that Was: February; plus contest winner!

2010-02-25T22:27:00.005-05:00

February simply flew by, one day here and the next gone. Here we are on March 1st, the first day of meteorological spring, looking back on the month that was.

All of my attention was taken up by that baby goats, who at their peak required as many as 34 individual bottles a day. We had a total of ten baby goats born here on the farm, half girls and half boys.

Their names were Nell, Vic, Dolly, Benny, Lori, Hyde, Cotton, Cody, Poppy, and Dex. In honor of this crop of cute kids, we held a contest to guess the theme we used to name the baby goats this year.

And the winner is...(imagine a spirited drumroll right about here)... Blair Neher of Chester. He guessed "prescription drugs" which is certainly close enough to "schedule II narcotics," the actual theme. (While this may seem an odd way to name animals, bear in mind that my husband's had four spinal surgeries over the last ten years, so it's an everyday things for us.) Blair will receive a gift basket, shipped free, containing products of his choice from our complete line.

We also have an honorable mention, who receives a coupon code good for $5 off their next order, Susan Watson for "[a]ccording to the Midwest Historical and [Genealogical] Society, they are the names of people who died in 1995," based solely on the face that I love research and she really worked on it.

Other entries included movie titles, names of soaps, rabbits, references to the movie Avatar (which I didn't see, cuz it stole the name from my favorite cartoon-cum-movie), Robert Louis Stevenson characters, boats, mobsters, Tiger Woods' mistresses, most popular names of a certain decade, and "possibly the names of characters in a book I "read" back in school."

Thanks to everyone who entered. Hopefully, we can do another contest very soon. In the meantime, keep your eyes on our Twitter and/or Facebook page for news of our upcoming referral program, which will reward all of our customers who are kind enough to recommend our products to others.

Goat Names and Gift Baskets

2010-02-21T15:33:00.005-05:00

Another whirlwind kidding season has come and gone. What a month it was. There were days I had to give as many as 34 bottles.* Having three different groups of babies on three different feeding schedules really ties up your day, I'll tell you that for nothing. Now that all of the babies have gone on to their new homes to be pets or future milkers or studs, I can take a breath and dive headlong into soap-making, which I've been dying to start.

All told, we have ten kids, split evenly between bucks and does (that's plural "doe"), which is not bad considering our third year, we only got one girl out of eleven kids. From left to right, their names are Nell, Vic, Dolly, Benny, Lori, Hyde, Poppy, Cody, Cotton and Dex.

Every year, we have a theme when naming the babies. In the past, we've used everything from herbs & spice, to cars, to deadly poisons. This year's theme was ... well, I'm not gonna tell you. :D Wild Heaven Farm is pleased to announce our latest contest "Goat Names and Gift Baskets." If you are the first person to guess the naming theme for 2010, you will receive a gift basket of soaps and skin care products worth at least $20, shipped to you at no charge. Three honorable mentions (close guesses or most creative) will receive a free bar of soap with their next purchase.

To enter, email your guess(es) to wildheavenfarm@yahoo.com or leave them on our Facebook page. It's just that easy! The winner will be announced March 1. Enter as many times as you like, but try to put multiple guess on each email/post just to keep things from getting cluttered. Family members, close friends, and anybody I've already told is not eligible to enter.

*Why do we bottle-feed at all?, you might ask. Taking the kids off their mothers and bottle-feeding allows us to make sure that each and every kids gets all the milk they need, as well as prevents them from getting sick if a doe has mastitis, which is almost a given. Handling the goats so often also makes them very personable and friendly We benefit from the arrangement by being able to re-home the kids sooner, since we need the milk for soap but you can't have milk without babies.

The month that was: January

2010-02-01T09:00:00.003-05:00

What a great start to 2010! Normally, winter is a dreary, dragging-on down-time, but we've been busier here at Wild Heaven Farm than any winter since we started our goat milk soap business. It's been a month of planning and preparation, as well as the launches of some new programs.

Here's the month in review:

"I gave blood; give me soap!" On 1/ , we posted our first-ever downloadable coupon. It's good all year, can be used up to six times and entitles you to a free bar of soap with purchase. The catch? It's only valid when you complete it with a heart-shaped "Be nice to me/I gave blood today" sticker from Virginia Blood Services. Give a pint of blood, lose 450 calories, save three lives, get cookies and Donald Duck orange juice, and get yourself a coupon for a free bar of soap. That's a win times four!

Virginia's only soap CSA That's no exaggeration. We offer the only soap CSA for 500 miles and the only soap CSA in the country that also offers lotion, lip balm, shaving products, baby products and more. If that's not something to shout about, I don't know what is. "But, goat lady, what *is* a CSA?" The answers to all of your questions lie within. If you purchase from us in-person regularly, a CSA share will save you money.

Live Nude Goats! (I can't help it, that's still makes me smile.) Ever wonder what a newborn baby goat looks and acts like? Have you ever seen a full-grown mixed-breed dog clean and nurture newborn triplets? Tune into our live webcam to watch baby goat kids as young as five minutes old in their pen. Even sound asleep, they're disarmingly cute.

Taped before a live studio audience Baby goat cam not broadcasting? No problem. Head over to our new YouTube channel for more adorable footage of the kids.

Looking ahead, February brings more cool news.

Speaking of webcam... How would you like free product or free shipping just for reposting/retweeting a message that the baby goat cam is on?

"You've got to try this soap." We have always been very grateful to customers who pass our products on to their friends and family. Starting February '10, your kindness will be rewarded when we launch our (yet to be named) referral bonus program.

"...and this is my job." So I didn't get on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, I 'm not bitter (much). Follow our Youtube channel to see the raw footage we'd taped to send in to Discovery Channel. (The goat lady who did get on just sent him a bar of soap. Why didn't I think of that!?)

To hear about these and other exciting new programs and events as they happen, follow us on Twitter or become our fan on Facebook.

Live Nude Goats!

2010-01-29T09:01:00.001-05:00

Okay, it was a cheap gag, I admit, but who am I to resist a cheap gag? :)

Coming to you live from the living room at Wild Heaven Farm, live baby goats! Tune in here to watch the knobby-legged little sweeties as they romp together in their pen. While odds are good that the kids will be sleeping when you tune in (they're babies; they do a lot of that), the cuteness of them learning to stand and walk - like Bambi on the frozen pond - more than makes up for it.

We'll be broadcasting every day that we have enough baby goats, so you can probably surmise that it's not a set schedule. For the most up-to-the-minute announcements, be sure to follow us on Twitter or become a fan of our Facebook page.

Feel free to leave comments on any of the pages. We love to hear from you.

You got here how?

2010-01-21T08:45:00.002-05:00

Periodically, it's good to check out the stats for your website - see how many hits you're getting, where they're coming from, even what browsers was used (to the 12.7% of people still using Internet Explorer 6, that came out in 2001, it's time to upgrade).

The most interesting field is easily the search terms that lead people to our site. Here are some noteworthy examples from a recent check:

wholesale baby butt care products
hand raising baby goats
lavender solid lotion 2.50
wild heaven farm basavanagudi (ok, that's in southern India)
where to buy beautiful bars of soap for wholesale (yay, me!)
lips vago purchasing shops
where to buy groundhogs (...k)
дойки (it means "milking" in Russian, apparently)
ирисы бородатые ("irises are bearded," we have a winner!)

Well, we don't mind how you got here, we're just glad you came.

Yes, Virginia, there is a soap CSA

2010-01-16T20:05:00.019-05:00

The best part of my job, far and away, is interacting with my customers. From inviting a passer-by to "Come on up and have to sniff" to greeting regular customers, helping people find the products they're looking for, even if they're not completely sure what they want, is what sustains me in my business. I have been extremely fortunate, you might even say privileged, to have developed such a loyal following here in the Richmond area as well as in Tidewater.

Today marks the official launch of the 2010 purchase period for Wild Heaven Farm's Soap CSA. What is a CSA, anyway? So glad you asked. That answer and more await you in our Frequently Asked Questions. Community-Supported is also known as "subscription farming." You buy a subscription from a local farmer just like you buy a subscription to Time or Newsweek, but instead of receiving a magazine each week, you receive a "share" of fresh, locally grown or raised fruit, vegetables, eggs, honey, and in our case, soap.

What's in it for you? How about free soap and skin care products? Every shareholder receives shopping credit beyond the price of their share, as much as a 15% bonus. The larger the share, the more free product you can pick up. Shareholders also get first dibs on our fantastic seasonal fragrances, all season like Cherry Blossom, Pina Colada, Harvest Moon and Santa's Pipe.

During last year's soft launch, CSA pick-ups were restricted to 17th St Farmers Market and Williamsburg Farmers Market. Even now, we're in talks with other local markets to provide more pick-up locations. The tentative plan is to be at 17th St every Thursday (or every other Thursday), Lakeside Farmers Market and Byrd House Market (alternating) every other week, and South of the James Market once or twice a month.

Signing up is easy. For those with an online shopping inclination, simply visit our website and purchase a share the same way you're buy a bar of soap. You'll receive an email with your CSA agreement to sign and mail back (or drop off if you'll be seeing us in person). If you'd prefer to pay by check, simply print out the agreement and mail it in. Fill out both section - the bottom is your receipt, which you'll get at your first pick-up. It's just that easy!

If you know someone who buys our products, but isn't into social networking, please pass this along.

2010 looks like its going to be a great year and we can't wait for spring to come so we can get back out to the farmers markets and craft shows and do what we do best. Don't forget, you can get the most up-to-date news by following us on Twitter or fan-ing our Facebook page.

Good karma and free soap

2010-01-08T14:39:00.008-05:00

For the first time in our eight years of business, Wild Heaven Farm is offering a downloadable, printable coupon for a free bar of soap! The catch? Well, there's two. First, you have to buy something (not too hard, I hope). Second, the coupon is only valid when completed with a heart-shaped Virginia Blood Services, "Be nice to me, I gave blood today" sticker. These coupons are good all year and you can use as many as six, since you can donate six times in a year.

To get your coupon, simply visit our website or fan our Facebook page, you'll find it in the Photos tab.

Now, these coupons are only good in person at a craft show or farmers market. While it's still a little while til those start back up, why not start accumulating the coupons now. Monday January 11th, Virginia Blood Services is holding a huge donation drive at the Sheraton West on Midlothian Tpk. There's lots of free food, swag and you can actually get a t-shirt in your own size (a big deal for petites like me!

Did you know donating a pint of blood burns 450 calories? Helps to off-set all that free food. :)

And the winner is...

2010-01-04T14:18:00.002-05:00

During the three days of Busch Gardens' Christmas Town that fell after Christmas, we held a contest at our booth to help name our latest fragrance. It's one of the best scent blends I've encountered in a long while, containing "Juicy Berry, Soft Mimosa, Apricot Nectar, Vanilla Musk, Sensual Amber, and Precious Woods." I fell in love with it instantly, but the correct nomenclature escaped me, so I turned to our customers for help. From the dozens of entries we received were such varied suggestions as "Tranquility," "Heavenly Goat," "River Wash," and "Kiss Me in the Morning." But as with all contests, there can be only one winner.

The winner of the $20 Wild Heaven Farm gift certificate/online shopping credit is (drum roll, please) "Opalescent," submitted by Kenny Tyler, an employee of Busch Gardens who declined or forgot to leave me his email address. If anyone out there knows Kenny, please tell him he's won and to email me to claim his prize.

Look for more contests as we go through this year. For the next prize, we're considering 'a baby goat's weight in product.' What do you think?

New year, new you (well, new us, anyway)

2010-01-01T12:06:00.005-05:00

Like a hiccup on your favorite LP (which is like a giant, black cd for you kids), January 1st has come around again. It's the day when diets start and cigarettes are forsaken, when people resolve to improve themselves in the coming year. Well, it's no different for businesses. Over the course of the last few weeks, we here at Wild Heaven Farm have been thinking of ways to improve our business in the coming year.

All of the products you know and love will remain the same, have no fear, but things like booth display will be improve to better showcase them. New fragrances will be added to our catalog of soaps, focusing on distinctive blends of natural essential oils. Liquid soap is also a possibility, though the exact, right consistency continues to allude me in my test batches.

I resolve to use social networking to its fullest, starting with these gorgeous, simple urls for our Twitter (wildheavenfarm.com/twitter) and Facebook (wildheavenfarm.com/facebook) pages. (If you're currently a Friend of my personal profile, be sure to zip on over to the business page and become a fan to get in on special deals and exclusive announcements, as I will be separating the two as we go along.)

Furthermore, I resolve to save you money on your soaps. Returning customers currently receive 10% off on all purchases, but the pot will be further sweetened in 2010 by the introduction of our soap CSA for local customers and a Referral Bonus program for local and distant soap-lovers alike. Be looking for updates on both of these are we hammer out the details.

I can't wait for spring when the farmers market reopen. Kun hei fat choy! (that's Happy New Year in Chinese)

It was a merry Christmas Town

2009-12-29T15:08:00.006-05:00

Back on a balmy morning in August as I hawked my wares at the Williamsburg Farmers Market, a lovely lady named Laura Barrow approached me about a new event at Busch Gardens called Christmas Town. Despite the swelter of summer, crafters, like larger retailers, are already planning for the holiday shopping season, what products to offer, what venues to attend, etc. With the prospect of setting up at a major theme park, one I had personally been trying to get back to visit for twelve years, I leapt at the chance.

A thought occurred to me as I set up my booth - Busch Gardens is really helping to fight the recession, and not just for their own benefit. Dozens of crafters and independent concessionaires were able to extend their season and the employees were provided with at least six more weekends on employment in a difficult job market.

The management at Busch Gardens did a lot right. The park was decked out in the quaintest holiday style, the pinnacle being a 45 foot tree with a choreographed light and music show (somewhat less whimsical after listening to it every half hour for fifteen nights). Propane heaters were set up in regular intervals, at least in Germany, so visitors and vendors alike could sidle up and thaw out. Equally common were vendors with hot cocoa. If you went and didn't get a cup of the peppermint fudge cocoa, you missed the best part. The live shows were extremely popular - people would wait an hour or more for seating. The glimpse I had of 'Deck the Halls' looked captivating, but I would really have loved to take my nieces and nephews to the Sesame Street show. (You're never too old for Muppets.) There was even snow and live penguins.

They are also to be commended on good use of social networking. Their Facebook page allowed them to get far more feedback than the old system of hoping a customer feels motivated to send an email or look for an 800 to call. They looked at the comments and implemented changed the following weekend. Not next year, next week.

The cold did make for difficult working conditions at times. You really had to pack a lot of layer-able clothes and I never left the house without those little hand and toe warmers, the one that feels like a teabag of sand. I was there fourteen our of eighteen nights, but it turns out I only had about thirteen nights worth of resilience in my body and spent the last night shivering. But it's late December, whatchagonnado? If there was one thing I would have done away with, though, it was the music. While walking from country to country, the thematic music gives great ambiance. However, when standing in the same spot for 105 hours, listening to the same eight German carols play in an endless loop, it's somewhat less enjoyable. (In fact, I am fully convinced that when I arrive in Hell, that's the music that will be playing in the waiting room.)

All in all, I would call Christmas Town at Busch Gardens a success. I look forward to working it next year and hopefully even have time to visit.

Social Networking = Free Stuff for You!

2009-11-19T22:23:00.002-05:00

(Let's just pretend it hasn't been months since I've posted here and jump right into it.)

Don't let the fact that I milk goats by hand fool you, I'm all about technology, especially the interwebs. In addition to our website and blog, we also have a Facebook page and Twitter (and here's my semi-personal page if you're keen).

Why should you Follow, Friend or Fan us? To win free stuff, of course!

For the next five weeks, we'll be offering free product for our Facebook fans. Twitterers who re-tweet (e.g. repost) the message we post on Friday mornings will be entered to win two passes to Busch Gardens' inaugural Christmas Town event.

Pretty sweet deal, huh? :D

A swiftly tilting schedule

2009-08-17T15:27:00.003-04:00

'You cannot plan enough'. That's been a motto of mine for years now. But maybe I need to update the mantra to, 'You cannot plan enough for contingencies.' Left and right, I'm finding out that I won't be doing shows that I was counting on and am left scrambling for substitute events.

On that note, keep a close and constant eye on our calendar for changes, such as adding (hopefully) Chesterfest and Blackstone Arts and Crafts Festival and loosing Indian River Craft Show and Newport News Fall Festival of Folklife (which I'm going to try like hell to weasel my way in to).

To stay as up to date as possible, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Front Page News!

2009-08-13T21:36:00.004-04:00

Huge thanks to Elyse Reel for her incredibly informative article on the front page of this week's Chester Village News.

Grab your free copy at locations like The Weekend Brewer or Old Dominion Animal Clinic. (There are tons more, but those are the only two I can think of right now.)

Countdown to Shockoe Chef Showdown!

2009-07-27T08:15:00.004-04:00

If you missed last year's Shockoe Chef Showdown at 17th St Farmers Market, you owe it to yourself to go this year. A dozen local restaurants will be on hand doing marvelous tasting plates and some of the chef will participate in a live Iron Chef-style competition at 2. There will be free kids activities and live music all day and of course crafters, artisans and growers with fine wares on offer.
Last year's Showdown was a great event to do. Not only did I have good sales figures, but every time there was a lull in customers, I ran to a different restaurant's booth for a tasting plate. There was everything from bar-b-que to cold soba noodles to abusively hot but very tasty Ethiopian chicken, and I must have tried it all!

(grapic by Linette Bond)

Regarding our absences from the South of the James Market (Forest Hill Park)

2009-07-14T13:27:00.003-04:00

"Are you still doing the South of the James/Forest Hill Park market?" folks ask me.

In theory, yes. In actuality, no, apparently. I've been scheduled to be there once or twice a month all season. However, as things began to get tough for the business, I had to sit out some Saturdays for lack of product. Then of course, we were closed for a month of so. Now we're back up and running, but no sooner did I re-start the website, but so many orders flooded in that I'm about out of product again - popularity is a double-edged sword.

So if you don't see me at South of the James market on a date you'd expected to, it's because I don't have a whole Saturday's worth of product. Rest assured, you can always find me Thursday morning at 17th St Farmers Market in Shockoe Bottom. Be sure to check our calender of upcoming events often for changes. I try to keep it as accurate as possible.

Speaking of triumpant returns, it's time for Shockoe Tomato

2009-07-06T10:42:00.003-04:00

The typical, oppressive summer heat-and-humidity combo may be holding off for the time being, but one July tradition is upon us - Shockoe Tomato Festival at 17th St Farmers Market.

This Saturday (7/11) from 11-5, head down to the Bottom for all things red, ripe and wonderful. Admission and parking are free and there are kids' activities and face-painting all day. The New Oldz will be playing and there's a Tastiest Tomato competition at 2 and the nearly-world-famous Hot Tomato Talent Contest at 4. If you've never seen the Hot Tomato Contest, you've never really lived. Email the staff at the market to sign up to compete.

Me, I love Shockoe Tomato and wouldn't miss it for the world.

Our triumphant return!

2009-06-30T09:48:00.003-04:00

After nearly a month with no farmers market or craft show appearances and no online ordering, Wild Heaven Farm is pickled tink to announce we will be at Williamsburg Farmers Market this Saturday, July 4th from 8-12 and back at 17th St Farmers Market every Thursday morning. Thank you for your patience during the down time, especially our CSA customers.

As always, check our calender for a complete list of upcoming events.

Why do I always say 'we'? It's just me. Maybe it's the royal We, I dunno.

Do you RSS?

2009-06-05T10:55:00.000-04:00

So I says to my sister the other day, I says, "Yeah, ever since Alan taught me what an RSS reader is, I follow, like, 160 blogs."

"I don't know what that is," my sister said.

In basic terms, an RSS reader brings you updates from your favorite websites and blogs, as long as they post in an RSS feed, which everyone worth their salt does.

"How does one get an RSS reader?" you may be asking yourself. It's pretty much a lock that you already have one on your web browser. Here are some tutorial videos on following RSS feeds.

Firefox:

IE:

Google Reader:
(Of course, if you're using Google Reader, you probably didn't need this video.)

I can't think of a better way to test your newfound RSS prowess than by subscribing to our feed. Go ahead, give it a shot!

Last events before the shut-down

2009-06-03T07:16:00.002-04:00

For those wishing to purchase product or a CSA share (membership) in person before we temporarily close up shop, your last opportunities will be Thursday and Saturday of this week, both at 17th St Farmers Market. Thursday is a regular market day, 9-2, give or take, and I'll have my doeling Prieka with me.

Saturday is a fun event called Animalia, 11-4.
Grab the dog and the kids (or just the dog) and come on out. There's a Greyest Muzzle beauty pagent, petting zoo, Niftiest Pet contest, and of course it's free! For Animalia, I'll also be dragging our beautiful, if shy, Nubian buckling Ford along too.

Remember, Saturday 6/6 during Animalia is your last chance to purchase CSA shares. Drop me an email if you have any questions at all.

A funny exchange

2009-06-01T06:52:00.000-04:00

Tilling an 85' by 45' garden with a flower bed-sized tiller had been an arduous task at best. Ever so badly, I wanted to rent a great big, self-propelled tiller, but they have to be moved on a trailer and I don't have one. Thankfully, the counter man at the United Rental mentioned off-hand that trailers are only $15 a day to rent. If only someone had told me that when I called to check prices three weeks earlier!

That rented tiller absolutely devoured the garden plot, turning over the dirt for me in about an hour and half. As the counter man was processing the equipment return, he started to make small talk.

Counterman: So, you're putting in a vegetable garden?

Me: Yeah, for us and to take the surplus with to 17th St Farmers Market when I'm selling my soaps.

A Loader, leaning against the counter: No, she's putting in a meat garden. What else would it be?

Counter: Well...c'mon now, you know what I mean.

Me: Actually, we're fattening some pigs for the family this year and they'll be eating from the garden, so it kind of is a meat garden.

Loader: Are they eating everything from the garden?

Me (seeing where he's going with this): I'm made of meat.

Loader: Yeah, but you're more water than the pigs are.

Me (wow, this guy's dedicated to his point): I'll have to look that up. I know anatomically-speaking, we're very similar.

Thankfully, just then, a receipt came across the counter for me to sign. Goodness knows where the debate would have gone from there. :)

It's official - we're closing.

2009-05-29T10:55:00.007-04:00

They don't call these things inevitable for nothing.

Wild Heaven Farm will be halting all sales, in person and online, effective June 6 after Animalia. That will be the last day for buying CSA shares (memberships), which are also conveniently available on our website. We sincerely hope to be out of commission for no more than a month, but we don't really know at this point.

If you have any questions about the CSA, please don't hesitate to email me.

Soap CSA: back-story and update

2009-05-22T18:20:00.006-04:00

The muddy season is nearly over as the dusty season hovers in our peripheral vision. This is normally the time of year when the big spring craft shows are over and we coast through the summer with bi-weekly appearances at the better area farmers markets. Pre-season production begins with whatever modicum of supplies still remains after the last craft show in mid-December. I make a small quantity of soaps and other products and sell them to get money for slightly more supplies. I make slightly more soap, which I sell to get money to buy even more supplies, and it grows from there. This year, however, due to a number of causes (the slower economy, the costs involved with the dying goat, good ol' fashioned bum luck, etc) the soap-supplies-soap cycle got smaller instead of bigger. Instead of building momentum, things began to grind to a halt. In short order, I had to skip the higher earning Saturday markets for lack of product, which would certainly not help the situation.

To put a fine point on it, we are officially in danger of closing, at least for the summer if not for the rest of the year. That is why, in an effort known to business types as bootstrapping, we have begun a CSA (see last week's post for full details).

This week's updates:

We've already sold $400 worth of shares - go team! There are still $600 worth of shares available, so don't sit and fret that they may be gone, buy yours today.

Which brings me to the second update, CSA shares are now available for purchase on our website.

Please don't hesitate to email us with any questions you have regarding the CSA or our products.

Bacon and Eggs

2009-05-19T08:40:00.004-04:00

Presenting, our gorgeous new Tamworth feeder pigs, Hamish and Spamantha:
Their red color makes then more suited to sunny weather than Yorkshires, the large white pigs that are the majority of our modern pork stock. Their paddock is nice and shady, so the red hair is just a bonus.

And this morning, one of our little hens laid her first egg:
Inasmuch as the egg is white, it was probably the work of one of our Buttercups, or a really dedicated prankster.

Save on soap all year!

2009-05-18T10:06:00.003-04:00

Wild Heaven Farm is pleased to announce the launch of our latest money-saving effort, a Soap CSA.

For those unfamiliar with Community Supported Agriculture, it is a program that allows buyers to get the freshest local produce each week at a savings over non-member prices by virtue of pre-paying their “share” before the season begins.

Our Soap CSA will operate in a similar fashion. For a lump-sum payment, customers will receive a bonus of shopping credit with us (see below), to be spent incrementally over the remainder of the season, on any soaps and skin care products. Soap CSA customers will also receive one bar of each of our limited-edition seasonal fragrances.

An up-front payment of: will buy you this much credit for product:

$25 .................. $26 (4% bonus)

$50 .................. $54 (8% bonus)

$100 ............... $112 (12% bonus)

$150 ............... $174 (16% bonus)

$200 ............... $240 (20% bonus)

To Sign Up: Email us at wildheavenfarm@yahoo.com, with "Soap CSA" in the subject line to arrange your payment. Payments may be made with cash, check, or major credit/debit card.

The Fine Print: Payment must clear before weekly purchases may begin. Weekly purchase limit will be the lesser of one quarter of the up-front payment or $20. Weekly purchases may be made at 17th St Farmers Market on Thursdays between 9am and 2pm, through October. Other dates may be possible, please email for availability.

Special thanks to Mr. Rob Brandham for spurring me into action implementing this idea.

A Bean Grows in Richmond

2009-05-16T07:49:00.001-04:00

(vid wouldn't embed, sorry)
Community Garden at 17th St Farmers Market

You put your weed in there.

2009-05-04T22:40:00.008-04:00

WeedS plural. Sorry. For some reason the state of my garden reminded me of that early 90's SNL catch phrase.

Those interweb users who follow me on Twitter or are my friends on Facebook will already know that I was very excited about my garden and put a lot of work into preparing. I mean a lot. A lot a lot. It was marvelous to get out there and start planting. We initially put in spinach, lettuce, peas, beans, carrots and beets and I started seeds for brocolli, cauliflower and cabbage. Nothing came up in the garden. The seedlings in the trays came up, them promptly died. Somewhere in these last few months, I seem to have forgotten that I have a black thumb. You are reading the narrative of a person who planted kudzu and couldn't coax it to grow. The growers down at the 17th St Farmers Market got a big kick out of that, I tell you what.

So nothing's growing for weeks and its very discouraging and I sort of stopped paying attention to the garden. Well, not sort of, that's exactly what I did. In the meantime, while the vegetables were busy not growing, the weeds got on like a house on fire.

I've got a job of work ahead of me, sure'n'all, and no money to spare to rent a tiller. So I'm hitting it old school, shoveling and hand-weeding, plus considerable mulching, until the garden is back under my control. I'll post pics of my victory (knock wood) soon. In the meantime, a gardening tip - before you head out to work, claw your fingernails into a bar of soap, preferably one that's soft from recent use. That way you'll have soap under your fingernails and not dirt. The former is much easier to wash off than the latter.

Bonus pic, my lovely birthday beehive,
but, quel dommage, there are no bees in it.

Of Supplies and Demand

2009-04-28T10:22:00.004-04:00

What the average person doesn't know about soap, amongst other obscure facts, is that it requires four weeks of curing time. That means that after it comes out of the mold, it needs to sit and air-dry and harden so it won't melt like buttah when you use it. Additionally, this means that each winter I have to begin laying out money for supplies a month before I can hope to start bringing any money in. This typically creates an early-spring lurch wherein I don't have a lot of product for the first few shows. Sell a little soap, buy a little bit of supplies, sell a bit more soap buy a bit more supplies, etc.

This year, however, things aren't progressing as they should. It's the cusp of May and my soap bins are nearly empty. It's been 'sell a little soap, buy the tiniest amount of supplies, sell slightly less soap, buy slightly less supplies.' Being financially restricted to purchasing my oils, labels, and what-have-you in the smallest available increment means paying a higher per unit price, thus further harming net profits in a period of reduced sales. What that translates to it a vicious cycles of skipping craft shows and farmers markets for want of products, then not making any money to buy supplies to make more product.

So if you see my table looking a little bare, please be patient and come check out what I do have. If you don't see me in my usual venues at all, at least you'll know why.

Be sure to stop by my booth at this weekend's Arts in the Park and (most) Thursdays at 17th St Farmers Market.

The week: Baby Goats at 17th St Farmers Market

2009-04-21T13:00:00.002-04:00

This post goes out to all the people who've ever asked me "Why don't you bring a goat with you?" at a farmers market or craft show. On Thursday April 23 (9-2) and Saturday April 25 (10-4), I will be taking two six week old baby goats with me to the 17th St Farmers Market.

Here's a pic of the female, Prieka, when she was just a few days old:

Who could resist that little face? :D

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should mention that Thursday isn't a lock. My husband is having spinal surgery on Tuesday and the doctor wants him to stay in hospital for two days. Further updates as they become available.

No good deed goes unpunished

2009-04-20T07:21:00.006-04:00

Things are about to get very busy down on the farm and not just because farmers market season starts this week. With heartfelt thanks to the ElderHomes organization, we're about to have a great deal of renovation done to our house and property to get it up to code. One of the tasks before them is demolishing the old workshop because of its dilapidated condition and proximity to the house. This workshop was chock full of stuff when we bought our farm - vintage car radios, nuts and bolts, milk glass, light fixtures, you name it. Me, I hate waste and I didn't want to see potentially useful objects razed by a bulldozer and scooped into a dumpster. To that end, I posted a "freesale" on Freecycle and Craiglists. For those who may not be familiar, Freecycle is an internet community to give thing away or find things for free and a freesale is like a yard sale but everything is free (stop me if I'm going too fast). We had done this once previously with the old barn down by the street, which has been crammed floor-to-ceiling by the hoarders we bought the property from, and that had been a rousing, and easily managed, success.

The freesale was set to start at noon on Sunday and run until six o'clock. People began arriving at ten and were promptly turned away while my husband, who is having his fourth spinal surgery the day after the demolition and construction work begin, worked hurriedly to get our belongings out of the workshop. A number of items were too large or heavy for us to move, so I labelled them with signs that read "Sorry, this stays. We just didn't get it moved in time," including but not limited to my husband's air compressor, rolling toolbox, and the deconstructed engine of a 1963 Ford Galaxy 500.

At 11:40 or so, my father-in-law popped by for a visit and warned me that a crowd had developed at the bottom of our 200 foot long driveway and was growing in size to the point that one man had appointed himself to direct traffic. A few minutes later, my sister arrived with her children, all of whom have been staying with us while she does vital repairs to the house she just bought. She told me she had to shout "I live here!" at the people to get by. The thought of that crowd growing anxious and seeing two cars go past them and not immediately return began to make me nervous. It put me in mind of the 1979 Who concert in Cincinnati where 11 people were trampled to death when people at the back of the crowd mistook roadies tuning the sound system for the concert starting and surged towards the two unlocked doors.

Ten minutes before the opening time, the crowd began to advance up my driveway, twenty abreast, like an army, a mighty phalanx of freecyclers and craigslisters. Here is a picture of half the crowd.
It doubled as soon as I carried one more armful of tools to the storage box. When the clock hit noon or near enough, I approached the crowd to make a basic announcement and they began to move forward, encroaching on me like "Dawn of the Dead" (the original, not the zombies-can-run-now remake). I barely held them back long enough to tell them where they would be scavenging. No sooner did I yell "Merry Christmas, y'all" but they nearly broke out in a run. Remember a few years back when Henrico sold their surplus iBooks and a stampede ensued? I sure did (though I can't find a clip on YouTube for some reason). "Calm down!" I yelled. "I don't want to be on the internet for this. That's not the kind of fame I'm looking for."

Despite having pointed to the workshop and described the workshop, some joker ran immediately over to the patio of my house and started snatching decorative items from around my door. Thankfully, my sister-in-law Dani, a no-nonsense Latina, had just arrived, too late to schlep and carry but just in time to be a most effective bouncer and guard our home.

It was pandemonium. People were rushing everywhere, grabbing things and hot-footing it back to their cars. If there was a couple, one had to stand guard over the pile of stuff because anything unguarded would be snatched by someone else. A number of people had toddlers and babes-in-arms with them, which I directed over to look at the goats and chickens to keep them out of harm's way. Bear in mind that the workshop has no electricity, not everyone brought flashlights as instructed, there's broken things and about-to-be-broken things on every inch of floor and now there's twenty to thirty people elbowing their way through to find broken lamps and old junk with no conceivable use to anyone.

A woman coming out of the workshop very early on in the proceedings warned me that people were moving my signs, so I rushed inside. Sure enough, there's a man digging through my husband's tools. Do we look rich enough to cast perfectly good socket wrenches before swine? I stuck two more signs on that corner and posted my husband in the workshop for crowd control. Poor Kevin was already well in pain but at least it was dim in there and he likes that - he'd live in a cave if I'd let him.

We would learn later that one woman got knocked down and another woman was standing on her leg, refusing to move until she's gotten what she wanted. There was also reportedly a fist-fight down at the street while people were waiting. It's any wonder my neighbors didn't call the constabulary. At one point we heard someone screaming blue murder down by the old barn, which people were also offered to dig through. I rushed down to find out what was going on, only to have it be that someone took a picture frame off an old woman's pile. "It was obviously my pile!" she insisted, which is patently ludicrous. How could anyone tell a pile of junk made fifty years ago by the previous owners from a pile of junk made today, let along that that pile "belonged" to someone? I had to stand by her pile went she went to get her truck just to make her quiet.

The peak of activity ebbed and I went inside to check the time, expecting the freesale to be half over. It had only been an hour and a half! We were already exhausted. Everything not nailed down, and a number of things that had to be pried up, had been taken. The savages even stole our newspaper!

One bright spot in all of this was a family group who came out hoping to find scrap metal to help support themselves - one of the brothers had recently been laid off and he had a wife and two kids, with another on the way. Not only did they find a lot in the workshop and old barn, but we took them around the property to caches of old appliances and engine parts, which have been the bane of my existence every winter for nine years when the leaves die off and they reappear. These folks made three trips yesterday with their pick-up truck and trailer piled to the limits of reason and they plan to come out again today. They're even taking the walls and ceiling of the workshop itself and the old VW Beetle out in the woods (that we could never figure out how they got it there because its completely surrounded by trees). The sub-contractor hired to bulldoze the workshop Tuesday should be pleased to find a lot of the work done for him already.

If you've got vast cubic yards of stuff to get rid of, a freesale can be a good idea. But next time, I'm hiring armed security.

Odds from the farm, 2

2009-04-18T04:57:00.000-04:00

You're never too young to learn a trade and apparently 5 years old is the idea age to begin teaching welding. Here my darling husband Kevin gives our nephew Rieley his first lesson.

Don't worry, Kevin never took his hands off Rieley's and they only cut one hole in a scrap piece of pipe.

This weekend: Celebration of the Vine (Chesterfield)

2009-04-14T16:58:00.002-04:00

My booth is near the main entrance, though I can't say specifically because I haven't gotten my map yet. The weather looks just perfect, mid seventies and mostly sunny.

from the official website:

About the Festival
The Celebration of the Vine will be held at Chesterfield County Government Complex
9800 Government Center Parkway
Chesterfield, VA 23832

11:00am - 6:00pm

Be sure to bring a blanket or chairs and to enjoy your food, wine and the band!

Restrictions:
Please no pets and no coolers
There are no refunds for ticket purchases
This is a rain or shine event

Entertainment
Casper, a popular Richmond-based band whose musical repertoire covers great dance music from many decades and genres, including Motown, rock, funk, swing, and country will be taking the stage during the festival. Their energetic and enthusiastic sets will provide the perfect ambience while you enjoy tasting samples from participating wineries.

Attending Wineries
Amrhein Wine Cellars
Blue Ridge Winery
Chateau Morrisette
Cooper Vineyards
Davis Valley Winery
First Colony Winery
Grayhaven Winery
Horton Cellars
James River Cellars, Inc.
Lake Anna Winery
New Kent Winery
Peaks of Otter Winery
Virginia Mountain Winery
Woodland Vineyard Farm Winery

Purchase Tickets Online Now »

You can also buy your tickets at the following locations:
Chester
Flagstop Carwash & Quick Lube - 11031 Iron Bridge Rd.
Village Bank - 4221 W. Hundred Rd.
Village News - 4607 W. Hundred Rd.
The WeekEnd Brewer - 4205 W. Hundred Rd.
Chesterfield
Chesterfield Chamber - 9330 Iron Bridge Rd., Ste. B
Chesterfield Co. Parks & Rec. - 6801 Mimms Loop
Village Bank - 6551 Centralia Rd.
Vineyard's Corner - 6523 Centralia Rd.
Colonial Heights
Boulevard Flowers - 2100 Ruffin Mill Rd.
Flagstop Carwash & Quick Lube - 610 Boulevard
Medallion Pools & Spas - 840-A West Roslyn Rd.
Fort Lee
MWR Information, Tickets & Travel Office - 9024 Battle Dr.
Hopewell
Appomattox River Peanut Co. - 424 S. 15th Ave.
Midlothian
Bella Vino - 12010 Southshore Pointe Dr.
Village Bank – 13521 Waterford Pl.
Village Bank – 6736 Southshore Dr.
Village Bank – 13531 Midlothian Tnpk.
Village Bank – 1120 Huguenot Rd.
Village Bank – 11450 Robious Rd.
Village Bank - 15521 Midlothian Tnpk., Ste. 200
Wine Cellar - 2017 Wal-Mart Way
Petersburg
Java Mio - 322 N. Sycamore St.
Richmond
Belle & Kitchen Kuisine - 3044 Stony Point Rd.
Once Upon a Vine - 4009 Macarthur Ave.
Once Upon a Vine - 2817 Hathaway Rd.
Strawberry Street Market – 415 N. Strawberry St.
Strawberry Street Café - 421 N. Strawberry St.

Odds from the farm

2009-04-14T08:08:00.003-04:00

What a great way to start a Monday. Yesterday morning, I hosted two visitors to the farm during morning chores for a milking lesson - a nun and her sister. Her actual sister, not another nun. I met Sister Eva, the nursing director of the local house of Little Sisters of the Poor, (who are having a French food festival this weekend, by the way) at the Church Hill Irish Festival. She had her younger sister Anna, an aspiring vet tech visiting from Pennsylvania, in tow at Easter on Parade. They seemed thrilled to hear that we let folk come out the farm and scheduled their visit for the next morning, the only time that would work before Anna had to go home. We all had a great time. Eva in particular had lots of great questions. Here's a pic of us, with me in my fuzzy first thing in the morning' best. Don't think I need to tell you which sister is which. :)

P.S.: To the sister and her sister, sorry if I goofed your names up, hope I was close.

This weekend: two events

2009-04-10T07:01:00.003-04:00

Saturday:
Williamsburg Farmers Market, 8:30 - 12:00: keep a weather eye open for my booth. The manager has decided to put a small number of vendors across the street in front of the bookstore, me among them. I've asked for first dibs on any openings in the main market, so fingers crossed.

Sunday:
Easter on Parade, 1 - 5: dress up the dog and bring the whole family!

I apologize in advance, but we are still running very low on product. If you see something you like, don't stand on ceremony.

This weekend: Gloucester Daffodil Festival

2009-03-26T09:21:00.003-04:00

Yes, the wise and world-weary weatherman are calling for rain most or all weekend, just like last year, but the temperature should be at least twenty degrees warmer and that will make all the difference in the world.

From the official website:

23rd Annual
Daffodil Festival

Saturday, March 28 & Sunday, March 29, 2009
Main Street - Gloucester, Virginia

2009 Daffodil Festival Program

Calendar of Festival Dates

The Daffodil Festival Committee and the Gloucester Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism sponsor the Daffodil Festival. The Daffodil Festival Committee's goals are to sponsor a festival to celebrate the heritage of Gloucester County and the daffodil industry, to promote a positive image of the county, to provide a family atmosphere and to encourage involvement of civic organizations and individuals in the festival which will create a sense of community.

The festival is held rain or shine.

This weekend: Church Hill Irish Festival

2009-03-19T07:41:00.005-04:00

From the official website:

Join us for the 24th Annual Church Hill Irish Festival on March 21st and 22nd in historic Church Hill. The festival will begin Saturday at 10:00 a.m with a walking parade to include traditional Irish music and dancing. The celebration will continue with a street festival in front of St. Patrick's Church on North 25th Street between Broad and Franklin Streets and will run from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm on Saturday and 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Sunday.

A huge children's play area will be sponsored by the great folks from "Connor's Heroes", an organization that assists families and children who are fighting childhood cancer.

A $2.00 donation will be collected at the gate. Sponsored in part by Guinness & Harp Beer and our friends at Loveland Distributing.

We kindly ask that you leave all pets at home. For more information, please email us or call 804-356-1093.

Vendors don't get their booth assignments until we show up Friday evening to set up, but I should be on the Broad St end, near to where I've been in previous year.

See you there!

Birthday, baby and birds

2009-03-15T08:56:00.003-04:00

Thanks to all the friends on Facebook and all the folks I ran across last Tuesday who extended their wishes for my 30th birthday. My sisters try to razz me about the year (even the older sister, which is kinda self-defeating), but like they say 'age ain't nothin' but a number.'

My mom stopped by with a darling little cake for me, which was splendid since I hadn't made one. The topper was a little box, containing an antique gold and diamond ring belonging to my family back when we were the Spencers, the same line that produced Princess Di.

Our new Nubian buck Ford finally arrived, his delivery having been rescheduled twice by the February flu and the March snow. He's gorgeous! And ironically patterned exactly like a French Alpine. The plan is to have our herd Queen Dierdre adopt him so he'll come up with rank in his new herd. Thus far, progress is slow. He's not bonding to us very well and was resistant to the playful advances of his kid-pen-mate Prieka. Thankfully, he's beginning to warm up and even accept a bottle from me with minimum struggle. Once he's more settled, we'll make another run at Dierdre. He likes to sit on the couch with us, but I can't tell if its fondness or passive resistance.

Here is Ford with my nephews Rieley and Biscuit.

We also came into possession of half a dozen chickens whose owners have to move and can't take them with. They are Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, a Rhode Island Red and something else. We lost two the second night to the crafty wild predators that call our property home.

And what's a birthday without presents? My darling husband Kevin gave me a pop-up card with kissing gophers (some kind of woodland creature at any rate) with the handwritten message at the bottom, "Good for one starter bee kit." Squeeee! And my sister Joey, mom of the aforementioned nephews brought me a glass vase of cut sunflowers, the bottom of which was filled with something shiny. It turned out to be a small fortune in dollar coins! Seed catalog, here I come!

All in all, a pretty good day on the old farm.

No Shamrockin' this week

2009-03-13T21:45:00.004-04:00

Shamrock the Block, originally scheduled for Saturday 3/14 12-6 on the grounds of the 17th St Farmers Market, has been moved to 3/28 due to the miserable crap weather being forecast.

Unfortunately, due to the change of date, I won't be available to set up my booth as I'll be at the Gloucester Daffodil Festival. With a little luck and a fair amount of bribery, perhaps I can get one of my many sisters to do the Shamrock booth for me - hope springs eternal.

Remember, you can always check our website for show dates. I promise to try to keep it as accurate as possible and be everywhere I say I'll be.

No orangutans were harmed in the making of this blog

2009-02-27T18:44:00.007-05:00

Earlier this afternoon, a concerned email dropped into my box. Well, the email itself was rather indifferent, but the author, whom I'll call Ms. A, had a troubling issue to raise, see below:

"I have purchased your products the past couple of years at Newport News fall festival. This past year I looked at the ingredients on one of the soaps and was sad to see Palm Oil listed. Your products are wonderful but as an orangutan advicate [sic] I am trying to cut this product out of my purchases. Please take a look... "

Ms. A is not wrong in worrying about the orangutans because according to the WWF (the animal one, not the wrestling one):

What is the connection between orangutans and oil palm?

* Orangutans live in areas that are favoured for establishing oil palm plantations: fertile lowland soils close to rivers.
* The orangutans’ forest home is being converted into oil palm plantations at a massive scale. This conversion is being driven by growing global demand for palm oil, which is pushing up prices and hence encouraging the development of more plantations.

Impacts of oil palm development on orangutans

* The development of oil palm plantations causes the fragmentation of forests, which reduces the natural habitat of orangutans. There are about 25,000 km2 of oil palm plantations in Borneo, and the area is ever increasing.

* Where forests are being converted for oil palm plantations, poaching of orangutans for the illegal pet trade is more prevalent. This corresponds with reports from WWF and TRAFFIC that show an increase in the trade in baby orangutans over the past decade.
* Forest fires are set deliberately to clear land for plantations. Not only do fires destroy vast areas of orangutan habitat, but thousands of these slow-moving apes are thought to have burned to death, unable to escape the flames.
* In some areas of Borneo and Sumatra, orangutans are shot as pests by plantation owners or farmers.

I, too, was shocked and dismayed to learn that I might be contributing to the deaths of our fuzzy, orange cousins and set to work immediately researching my ingredients in depth. With much relief, I discovered that I've been using Malaysian palm oil since the inception of my business and that Malaysia has worked for sustainable palm oil farming for over twenty years. In fact, no rain forest land has been converted to palm oil since 1990! 60% of the country is rain forest and must remain so under national law. For more details on Malaysian palm oil, click here.

Remember, we list the ingredients on all of your products, in the brochure and on the website. If you ever have a question or concern, just ask!

*Alternate titles considered: 'Have you hugged your Orangutan today?' and 'The wild man of Borneo says 'it's okay to buy soap'.

Seasonal Fragrances for 2009

2009-02-21T18:23:00.018-05:00

Here at Wild Heaven Farm, we keep a stable of soap fragrances year-round and rotate out seasonal fragrances. For the first time in the history of ever, here is a special preview of limited-edition scents for 2009.

April: Cherry Blossom - Washington DC's got nothing on us!

May: Strawberry Tart - the syrupy sweet beginning of summer.

June: Summer Vacation - if it's summer-y, it's in here, like pineapple, bergamot, sunflowers and ocean rain

July: Green Fairie - a fresh and zesty green scent

August: Pina Colada - bet you're singing that song now, huh? :)

September: Apple Cider - smells the apples, not just the cinnamon

October: Harvest Moon - an engaging autumnal fragrance

November: Cranberry Celebration (watch out for possible Thanksgiving-scented soap)

December: Santa's Pipe - a cherry-vanilla cavendish

I ask only one thing of my loyal followers - be prepared for these soaps *not* to be ready on the first of the given month and for them to possibly run out before the month is done.

It starts with birth and ends with death

2009-02-12T11:50:00.010-05:00

In the fall of 2001, a well-intentioned Chesterfield suburbanite with dreams of homesteading bought three Nubian goats, two does and a buck, from a farm in Tidewater. This was the beginning of the herd of goats who would supply the milk for Wild Heaven Farm's handmade goat milk soaps. The buck, Big Chief (slightly silly registered name: Belle Rive Rainbow Warrior), passed away a few years ago, when wet weather conditions made intestinal parasite populations burst out of control. We were lucky only to have lost Chief and two young females that year; a meat goat farmers I know in the 434 saw her's die faster than she could bury them, which eventually necessitated a backhoe. Sadly last night, another of the O.G.s (“original goats”) died.

Kidding season for 2009 had started well enough. Our herd queen Dierdre gave us two big healthy doelings, who took to the bottle straight away and didn't give me a lick of trouble between being born and going off to their new home with the just-had-a-human-baby-the-same-week Woods family. Their names were Cin-Cin and Eviva, pictured below.

A week later, ostensibly on the day the first babies left, Ceres was laying around in the apparent discomfort usually associated with labor, but there were no contractions. A call to the nearest goat vet (“nearest” being almost in Montpelier) put us on to pregnancy toxemia, for which I ran to Southern States for supplements that were the nearest approximation to what I needed. When your farm is in the middle of the 'burbs, you get used to feed stores with limited supplies. In the past few years, we've also had to get used to a limited number of feed stores, with the two closest ones, included one I worked at briefly, closing. Ceres got glucose, electrolytes, B12, and active cultures for digestion, with my sincere hope that she'd have the vigor for labor when it actually came.

Labor, as it turned out, came in the pre-dawn hours the following morning. A glance out the kitchen window revealed a prone Ceres and a standing kid, named Prieka (below), being looked after by Dierdre, with her overflowing of maternal instinct.

That overabundance which often leads her to steal babies from other goats was a real blessing to us this year, because Ceres couldn't get up to tend Prieka herself. She was flat on her side with a prolapsed uterus, meaning that during or after giving birth, her uterus had inverted and was now laying on the ground behind her. A quick Google image search confirmed my hypothesis and no extra research was needed to tell me this was well beyond our ability to fix. We called Dr B.J. Campbell, DVM, explained the situation and asked her to come out.

If you're squeamish at all, you might want to scroll past the next picture with your eyes very much squinted. We propped Ceres back end up on a bale of hay and Dr Campbell replaced her uterus. She also injected Ceres with calcium, the dearth of which is blamed as the cause of the problem, and a schload of other things.

Two and a half hours and $313 later, Dr Campbell left me with antibiotic, painkiller, oxytocin to tighten the uterus and a gritty nutritious supplement. We also started giving the other does mineral supplements with calcium in hopes of preventing a repeat of this happy happy joy joy fun.

If you've never tried to forcefully syringe feed an adult goat and the opportunity presents itself, I suggest you give it a miss and go on to something easier, like shaving a coked-up ferret. Poor weakened Ceres had just enough strength to give me the business when I tried to feed her the gritty nutritive water that the vet called simply “green stuff.” She had also began a good chesty cough that fateful day, so there was also the concern of her aspirating the green stuff as I wrestled her head back and squirted it down her throat. Making things worse, every two or three squirts of the big fat syringe caused it to clog up with the finely chopped alfalfa that gave green stuff its moniker. Periodically, she'd nibble at food, but never really ate, per se, even when I brought her a fat armload of English ivy I scavenged from the job of chainsawing a dead tree that had fallen from our property onto a neighbor's erstwhile vertical chain-link fence. That's the dichotomy of my day – bottle-feeding tiny baby goats one minute, lumberjacking the next.

It was Sunday when Ceres kidded and for the next three days she just got weaker and weaker, refusing to eat or even drink. The force-feeding put tremendous stress on her. Wednesday, she couldn't or wouldn't walk. Dr Thomas Rohlk at Old Dominion Animal Hospital, a gentleman and a scholar, sold me four liters of lactates ringers saline and an IV line with needles to subcutaneously rehydrate Ceres. I sequestered her in my cozy six-by-seven milking parlor with a board blocking the door, but it was hardly necessary. She didn't move. Even when she tried, she couldn't stand or squirm far enough to endanger the IV. Later that afternoon, I got her to take a little yogurt (for its calcium, cultures, and sugar), which she had refused outright in the previous two days. At evening chores, I was able to get the whole pint of green stuff into her, a frightening circumstance because it meant she lacked the power to fight or do anything more than low quietly in between syringes. A few hours later, she laid her head down and died.

Digging a shallow grave by moonlight with a single accomplice holding a flashlight didn't make me feel as much like a mafiosa as I would have thought. I can think of four different ways in which her death is ultimately my fault, but my wonderful husband, who took over the harder parts of the burial while I feed the kids, pointed out to me the awful luck this goat had been afflicted with, luck bad enough to rival his own. Ceres was totally blind in one eye (which I attempt to show the photographer below) and mostly blind in the other, she was always the goat who got injured when something bad happened, showing up for milking on at least two occasions with a huge, bright red bleeding idopathic wound to her udder, and she had had two set of stillborn triplets. I acknowledged his point, but can't let myself off the hook.

Like any other farm, we've lost babies and few yearlings over the years, but this is only the second time we've lost a full-grown goat, animals I've worked with every day for several years. While it doesn't pain you like loosing a beloved pet, there is sadness here. I've decided to keep the doeling Prieka, who will be bred next year to the Nubian buckling I hope to buy soon and give to Dierdre to raise, which will give him rank and privilege in our herd.

Deep breath. Thanks for listening.

It starts - the first baby goats of 2009!

2009-02-02T08:06:00.002-05:00

Let's give a big Wild Heaven Farm welcome to Cin-cin and Evivia, the first kids of 2009, born Saturday dinnertime to our herd queen Dierdre.

Can you guess the naming theme for this year? There's a prize in it for the first person who does. :)

Now available in "eco-friendly".

2008-12-16T05:42:00.004-05:00

The biggest thing about 'going green' is that it's actually a lot of little things, like the printing on the goats' feed sacks being done with soy ink or our recent 20% reduction in label paper. Wild Heaven Farm is proud to announce yet another teeny, tiny effort to help the planet and reduce our carbon footprint - an eco-friendly version of the website. Available on all browsers except Internet Explorer, you can select Eco-Friendly from the View drop-down (in Firefox, it's under Page Style) and the attractrive vertical stripe background goes black, thus using less electricty in your monitor. Brilliant! Thanks again, Web Penguin.

Unapologetically cute

2008-12-14T08:42:00.004-05:00

Normally, I keep this blog very business-oriented, but here's a little foray into the realm of cute for the sake of cute, my two oldest newphews, whom I call Rieley and Biscuit, singing their favorite Christmas song.

Holiday Market at 17th St Farmers Market

2008-12-03T12:52:00.003-05:00

After the Grand Illumination, once you've marveled sufficiently at the stoic herd of electrified deer, head straight over to the 17th St Farmers Market for another Richmond tradition. There you'll find hand-crafts, decor and gifts that simply don't exist in the mainstream retail world.

Here's what Linette Bond, assistant manager at the Farmers Market, told me about some of the other great things that are planned for the Holiday Market:

"George [the manager] is going to be dressed up as Santa with another associate of ours from the main office as Mrs. Claus and we’ll have pictures taken for the kids (and you may even see a couple of elves!), live Christmas trees for sale, hot cider & wassail from Halligan’s, a fire-pit to keep us warm, holiday lights, the Henrico Pops Chorus live and a Tuba Christmas, of course! I have it on good authority that Santa himself will even have his Tuba to play along. ;-)"

Now isn't that way better than the mall?

Cyber Monday at Wild Heaven Farm

2008-11-28T17:38:00.002-05:00

Wild Heaven Farm goat milk soaps and skin care products make lovely gifts because they are pretty *and* practical, and the soaps fit right into a stocking. So in the spirit of the fourth quarter, pre-holiday, post-turkey economic boost, Wild Heaven Farm is pleased to announce our first ever Cyber Monday Sale! (For those who may be wondering, Cyber Monday is the online equivalent to Black Friday.) For 36 hours, from 6pm Sunday 11/30 to 6am Tuesday 12/2 (Eastern), customers can receive Free Shipping on all orders over $25. Simple enter the coupon code "cyber" in the Voucher field of the shopping cart. (If it doesn't work for any reason, please drop us an email and we'll sort it out for you.)

Turn-around time for orders may be as long as 3 business days

Product Availability: Moisturizing Creme

2008-11-28T17:31:00.003-05:00

Effective immediately, we are having to suspend the production and sale of our Handmade Moisturizing Creme, a.k.a. lotion. The tin roof in our 130 year old farm house has apparently been leaking slowly for a long period of time, evidenced by the fact that the drywall ceiling in the main room has begun to spontaneously cave in. In the moist materials over our heads, we were chagrined to discover mold. I hardly need to tell you what a health problem mold can be. Because lotion is an aqueous product of neutral pH, it's Club Med for mold growth. Therefor, we are unable to make any more lotion until we can get the ceiling and roof fixed. Better to be safe than sorry, as they say. We will make it available on the website as soon as we possibly can. Thanks for your patience.

Be sure to check us out at the Holiday Market at the 17th St Farmers Market on December 5 from 5-9.

UPDATE - downtown craft show

2008-11-12T18:46:00.001-05:00

What happens when a 24-hr bug runs into a second day? I miss my craft show, that's what. I apologize to anyone who planned to get soap tomorrow, but I won't be at the CVC event. Please, PLEASE, go and support the other vendors.

Mid-week craft bazaar, downtown Richmond

2008-11-10T15:37:00.002-05:00

2nd Annual CVC Vendor Fair - Bazaar
Sponsored by The Department of Conservation and Recreation

Thursday, November 13, 2008
Downtown Richmond
Monroe Building, 101 N. 14th St
Conference Rooms B, C, D, E
Lobby and Hallways
9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Door Prizes - Silent Auction

Be sure to pick up a ticket – all items were donated by our guest vendors!

40 VENDORS THIS YEAR

Accessories: handbags * jewelry watches * hats * luggage * scarves
Art: photography * prints * cards hand crafts * wooden & gemstone jewelry boxes * wooden bowls & platters * floral * flourless cakes quilted items
Beauty: soaps * lotions * makeup skincare products
Clothing: popcorn shirts & skirts reconditioned ladies suits * baby blankets * American Girl doll clothes
Food: jams & jellies * brownies fudge * biscotti * baked goods – all homemade!

This event will benefit two CVC charities: The Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy

For more info contact Kim Seckman at 786-2123 or by email at kim.seckman@dcr.virginia.gov

Style Weekly does good (finally)

2008-09-03T16:09:00.002-04:00

When the most recent Style Weekly article about the 17th St Farmers Market began popping up on local blogs, I cringed and almost didn't click the link. Thankfully, I did, because the article is even-handed and expounds on the central problem the vendors face - the apathetic lack of management from the City. How can it be September and no manager is in place? It doesn't take 9 months to fill that position.

Speaking on managers, here's some happy scuttlebutt, former manager Kathy Emerson has expressed interest in being the manager again. After failing to promote Adam Nathanson to the position, the City owes it to the vendors and customers of the 17th St Farmers Market to hire Emerson. She knows the job and did it better than the last five. Kudos of course to current assistant manager Linette Bond, who is doing an incredible job considering she's doing the work of two people with no help or latitude from the city.

Rising costs, but good news

2008-08-15T18:14:00.003-04:00

It could hardly be considered breaking news if I told you that the cost of our feed, supplies, fuel and sundries has been steadily on the rise. You already know that because the cost of products you buy for your own family continues to climb. Some companies, major ice cream manufacturers for example, have avoided raising prices by decreasing the size of the items, sometimes by as much as 25%

The good news? Wild Heaven Farm has not raised one single price nor reduced the size or quality of any of our products.

This is not to say that economically-motivated concessions haven't been called for. By way of example, Patchouli essential oil is now more than $120 per pound, plus shipping, which yields me 4 batches of soap. Rather than raise prices, I have opted to cut back production on Peaceful Patchouli soaps to compensate for the increase.

The raising cost of everything has a silver lining as well. Just as Americans have cut back on miles driven for the first time in....ever when faced with higher fuel costs, we have been finding new ways to increase efficiency and thrift. Our new cigar band labels, which are almost indistinguishable from the previous ones, allow us to get 20% more labels per page with no wasted margins. (Now if only we could find some way to save on goat feed.)

Don't forget about Arts in the Alley next weekend! And you can always find me at the 17th St Farmers Market on Thursdays from 8:30-2.

Style Weekly - at it again

2008-08-07T21:29:00.004-04:00

An open letter to Style Weekly (its editor, reporters, advertisers, and readers),

Wednesday arrives again, bringing with it a new edition of Style Weekly and another unfair sleight to the 17th St Farmers Market and its vendors. We'll leave aside the preponderance of errors in the most recent article, entitled Fresh From the Farm, and focus instead of its message, overt and implied. The article described each of Richmond's farmers markets, highlighting their attributes but only in the case of 17th St, also its foibles. It gives the impression of poor performance at a farmers market that continues to hold its own, just as it has through recessions, droughts, and hurricanes.

First, the proportion of crafters to growers is mentioned as if this condition is singular to 17th St. By way of example, South of the James Market, clearly the favorite child of this publication, features even more crafters and with less concern for quality, diversity and handcrafted-ness.

Regarding the “outdated” schedule, we openly admit that work-day day-time hours are not ideal for everyone, but then no schedule could be. Many patrons find our hours convenient as they live or work nearby. Additionally, it bears noting that three of the five largest, most successful farmers markets in the nation are open during the work week.

A word on parking. In addition to on-street parking, 17th St Farmers Market has a tree-lined lot mere feet from north end of the market and a large lot just beyond that (entrance on 18th). All these parking options are free for shoppers.

The vendors one sees each week are local small business owners, people with families to feed and mortgages to pay. To survive, particularly in the current difficult economic climate, a vendor cannot afford to waste a single day. They must go where their customers will be to be able to earn a living. The vendors depend on the customers and the customers depend on the vendors. If attendance of one drops, the numbers of the other cannot be sustained. Your disparaging comments only serve to make a trying situation worse for the vendors who appear at 17th St loyally every Thursday, some of whom have for decades. They paint an unfair picture of a fictitiously inferior shopping experience.

Each of the farmers markets in the Metro Richmond area serves a different, distinct community. Each market is, in effect, created by the community which its serves. Each market is a different as their location and their patronage. Given the wide array of venues and days, there is no reason that all five of the markets listed could not succeed simultaneously. Ergo, there is no valid reason to denigrate one market over the others.

In the future, please review your articles for tone and fairness more thoroughly. There is no valid reason to single out one farmers market as superior or inferior to the others, particularly given the considerable over-lap of vendors and the overall pro-farmers-market environment in Richmond.

signed,
myself and 80% of the vendors I spoke to today

Shockoe Chef Showdown - a call to backyard growers

2008-07-24T18:08:00.004-04:00

Got a garden that's overflowing with fruits and veggies? Have a ton of tomatoes, a colossal crop of cukes, a mound of melons? Wondering how you'll ever eat it all?

Sell them this Saturday at the 17th St Farmers Market during the Shockoe Chef Showdown. Booths are inexpensive, coming complete with cover and risers to display your wares, and no season-long commitment. You don't need to be licensed or inspected by any government office to sell produce at the farmers market. Just call or email Linette at 646-0377.

Be there to witness Richmond's inaugural culinary competition, with more than a dozen local chefs ready to battle for gustational domination!

My soaps and I will be there, of course.

New Arrivals!

2008-07-17T18:02:00.011-04:00

We'd like to take a moment to welcome five new products to the Wild Heaven Farm family, our Life of Rieley line, products for babe and mama too. All of these products are made from scratch to the high standard of efficacy and gentleness that you've come to expect.

Baby Butt Balm
A blessing on diaper rash and other dermatitis. Contains shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, sunflower oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil, zinc oxide, beeswax, vitamin E, essential oils (lavender, tea tree, peruvian balsam)

Liquid Talc
No baby powder cloud with this soothing product. Contains: distilled water, kaolin clay, lavender essential oil.

Chamomile Belly Butter
With shea butter, cocoa butter and vitamin E. Contains butters (chamomile, shea, cocoa, mango), oils (olive, sweet almond, sunflower), vitamin E, beeswax, essential oils (chamomile, neroli)

Herbal Salt Soak
For mom's swollen feet and ankles. Contains: epsom salt, mint, lavender, baking soda, cornstarch, essential oils (peppermint, lavender, chamomile, neroli, orange)

Fizzy Milk & Honey Bath
The baby's asleep, quick, run a bath! Contains Dead Sea salt, powdered goat milk, baking soda, almond meal, honey powder, cornstarch, citric acid, phthalate-free fragrance

July 26 - Shockoe Chef Showdown!

2008-07-11T21:27:00.002-04:00

(click to enlarge)

I'm definitely going. Now I just need to decide if I'll be vending or cooking.

World Market Day at 17th Street Farmers Market

2008-06-20T08:56:00.001-04:00

Plans for August

2008-06-10T23:00:00.001-04:00

The Richmond Farmers Market Advancement Association has recently teamed with Offering to bring Arts In The Alley to Shockoe Bottom! August 23rd and 24th will be a very special weekend for the Shockoe Bottom community and the Richmond Farmers Market Advancement Association. This charity event is designed to reclaim the heavily used alleys of Richmond from graffiti and neglect. The weekend events will be as follows:

Saturday August 23rd: Cleanup of Walnut Alley and the adjacent alley north to Franklin Street. This will include removal of all trash and debris, weeds, old posters and graffiti.

Sunday August 24th: Renovation of the alleys will take place while featuring artists from the area. This will include retouching the murals on the walls of Alex's Thai Cuisine, Franklin Street Market, and Alley Katz, along with creation of several new murals. The project will also include bands performing at several venues through the alleys and 17th Street Farmers Market. The public is encouraged to take part, and children are welcome. Children will be able to paint their own flower on a mural! If you are interested in taking part in this wonderful effort, please contact the Richmond Farmers Market Advancement Association at richmondfmaa@gmail.com.

Help us get the word out, please forward as you desire!

Scott Sibley
Chairman
R.F.M.A.A.

Brilliant new look!

2008-06-02T14:40:00.006-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, come one, come all to the most amazing new website in town! Wild Heaven Farm is proud and overjoyed to announce the publishing of its new website. The new site shows up correctly on ALL popular browsers, is less graphic-heavy, more stream-lined and easy-to-use, and just plain prettier. Take a look at the Before and After pics below.

If you like our new site and want one of your very own, drop us a line at wildheavenfarm@yahoo.com and we'll put you in touch with our most clever and awesomely talented web designer, whom I have lovingly dubbed The Web Penguin (more about that later).

Be sure to check out the Where to Buy page for a calendar of our upcoming sales events.

The 17th St Farmers Market needs YOUR help

2008-05-25T21:12:00.001-04:00

The 17th Street Farmers Market is one of the oldest markets in America and is located in an area seeing terrific urban renewal, yet it continues to struggle. The greatest contributing factor to this is the lack of quality management. The previous year's management might at best be called “apathetic” and at worst, “disastrous.” At present, no manager is in place, leaving assistant manager Linette Bond to do the work of two or more people in operating, restoring and growing the farmers market.

The upward trend of Shockoe Bottom and the surrounding area can provide 17th Street Farmers Market with the opportunity to succeed along with it, but only if it is strong, well attended and well managed. It is to this end that Scott Sibley presents himself for consideration for the position of Market Manager. As a neighbor of the farmers market, Scott is intensely concerned with fostering the community of Shockoe Bottom, with the market at its heart.

Why Scott Sibley? Scott Sibley...

>grew up in Louisa County, working farmland and actively participating in FFA and 4H,

>personally manages over 100 staff and volunteers annually,is experienced in planning and marketing of fund-raising events,

>has achieved steady growth in fund-raising for over ten years, nearly doubling contributions over a two year period,

>Has a client base willing to assist him, including but in no way limited to

-Markel Corp.

-Shockoe Bottom Association

-Capital One

-National FFA Organization

...and more!

To date, Scott has been unable to get due attention from the City offices who oversee the farmers market. Help us help the vendors, customers and neighbors of the 17th Street Farmers Market in championing Scott Sibley for the position of Market Manager.

We, the undersigned, want Scott Sibley hired as the Manager of the 17th Street Farmers Market with all haste.

Look who's talking: 'Burban Mom

2008-04-24T15:56:00.003-04:00

We here at Wild Heaven Farm would like to send a warmy, fuzzy, goaty thanks to Erin Coe, the 'Burban Mom, for her glowing (and I'm sure brutally honest) review of our products.

P.S. Does anyone else find me "beyond chirpy and upbeat"?

This Week's Event (mid-week) - 17th St Farmers Market

2008-04-16T22:36:00.000-04:00

Thursday April 17 marks the opening of the 2008 season at the 17th St Farmers Market. Local growers and crafters will be out from 8:30-2 with all the handmade and homegrown goods that early spring has to offer.

If you work downtown, hop on GRTC's free Lunchtime Express shuttle, which runs every 10 minutes at stops right in front of the Market.

Be a friend, bring a friend!

FAQ 6: Making a batch of soap

2008-04-15T07:28:00.002-04:00

"How long does it take to make a batch of soap?"

It takes an hour, a day, a month and a hour.

It takes an hour (sometimes longer) to get all of the ingredients to the right temperature, mix them together and pour them in the mold.

It takes a day before they'll come out of the mold.

The soaps sit on screen trays for a month to cure, that is to air dry and harden.

Then it takes about an hour to trim all the edges and wrap the labels.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. ;)

This Week's Event - Williamsburg Farmers Market

2008-04-11T08:54:00.004-04:00

Is there such a thing as an anti-rain dance? We might need it.

Saturday morning, I'll be at the incomparable Williamsburg Farmers Market from 8-12 at Merchant Square. Due to their very strict farmers-only rules, I'll only have my soaps with me (I'm not allowed to sell my other products because I didn't harvest any ingredients to make them).

Don't forget, the 17th Street Farmers Market reopens for the season on 4/17!

FAQ 5: Milking goats

2008-04-08T08:58:00.006-04:00

" Do you have to milk the goats every day?"

Not just every day but twice a day. Goats, like cows and any other milk animal, need to be milked morning and evening at the same time. In some instances, they're even milked *three* times a day, for example to increase production without using hormones or other funny stuff. The goats reeeeeally appreciate me being on time. Don't believe me? Call you mom. No doubt she'll be happy to regale you for hours with the joys of nursing live young. :D

Pictured to the right, my nephew Rieley, future indentured goat-milker extraordinaire.

FAQ 4: Lather

2008-04-02T15:45:00.002-04:00

"Does your soap lather well?"

Yes, it does. We use coconut and palm oil in our soaps to ensure that they lather well. The longer you lather, the better the bubbles will be. Remember, to be hygienic, you should wash your hands for twenty seconds, or as long as it takes to say you A-B-C's.

This Week's Events - Church Hill Irish Festival AND Gloucester Daffodil Festival

2008-03-27T11:33:00.004-04:00

In brief, I'll be at Gloucester Daffodil Festival (Saturday 9-5, Sunday 12-5) and my husband Kevin and sister Kat will be at Saint Patrick's Irish Festival in Church Hill (Saturday 10-7, Sunday 10-6). Gotta get back to work now!

I'm gonna be on television!

2008-03-20T14:38:00.003-04:00

It's not about me, per se, but it still counts. Tune to WTVR/CBS channel 6 Monday at 11 (or so they tell me), where I offer my expert opinion about a local wild goat.

This Week's Event - Easter on Parade

2008-03-20T13:59:00.005-04:00

This Sunday from 1-5pm, come out and see us at Easter on Parade on Monument. Supposedly, the crafters are between Allison and Meadow.

Here's the official info:

Easter on Parade, the beloved Richmond tradition of “parading” down scenic Monument Avenue, continues this year! Join more than 35,000 people as they converge upon the four-block site between Allen and Davis Street to celebrate the arrival of spring. Music on every block, arts, crafts, children’s activities, food, people and dog watching are all part of the celebration. Two highlights of the annual event are the Pet Bonnet and People Bonnet Showcases on the Main Stage at Allen Avenue. For more information call (804) 788-6466 or visit http://www.venturerichmond.com/.
View event map [PDF]

FAQ 3: Lye in soap

2008-03-18T07:00:00.003-04:00

“Well, my soap doesn’t have lye in it.”

Neither does ours. The lye ceased to exist when it mixed with the oil and became soap in a process called ‘saponification’. And if you’re talking about glycerin soap, glycerin is a product removed from regular soap, similar to the way cream is removed from whole milk. It also bears noting that 'bath bars' and 'beauty bars' are not labelled 'soap' because they aren't really soap -- they're often petroleum-based detergents, just like you use in the dishwasher.

And here's a question for you, when Ivory says its 99% pure, why don't they ever say pure what?

This Week's Event - Shamrock the Block

2008-03-13T17:23:00.005-04:00

This Saturday, come out and see us at Shamrock the Block, 18th St in Richmond from 12-6pm. I don't know exactly where my booth is, but the promoter says they're putting together a "Green" area for local and eco-conscious products, so look for that.

Here's the info from their website:
Shamrock The Block 2008 is quickly approaching! Once again, the streets of Historic Shockoe Bottom will be flooded with 15,000 ready to celebrate at this first outdoor festival of the season!

This year, we'll also have a focus on Eco-friendly products and information on how you can do your part to save our planet from Waste Management.

As always, this festival is free to attend and runs 12p-6p Saturday March 15, 2008.

Once again, we will close 18th Street from Grace to Main for a Shamrock of a time.

Performing on the "What Moves You?"Stage
12pm Stone Lucy
1pm Speed8Limit
2pm 4Play
3:30 Conditions
4:45 Georgia Satellites
Set times subject to change without notice.

Some frequently asked questions:
Where do I park?
There is no designated parking area for Shamrock as it is a street festival. We suggest parking around the farmers market area and available lots. (lots may charge)

Is it ok to bring my kids/pets?
Yes. This is a family event with a large kids area. However, there will be beer served. If you are bringing a pet, make sure they are leashed properly and please pick up after your pal.

Will there be ATM's available?
Yes. There will be ATM's on site.

Where do I get tickets?
No ticket is needed to attend. Shamrock The Block is free to attend. Food, beverages and any merchandise costs money.

What can I NOT bring with me?
Normal festival rules apply. No glass, weapons, umbrellas with sharp points or coolers. Backpacks are subject to search. You MAY bring two bottles of water for personal consumption and of course the desire to have a great, fun day.

New Fragrance - Morningstar

2008-03-04T08:23:00.006-05:00

Now available, our latest fragrance, Morningstar,
contains a blend of grapefruit, orange, rosemary and cardamom natural essential oil. Ellwood Thompsons will be carrying it next week and check our website for upcoming sale days in your area.

Baby goats of 2008!

2008-02-24T15:07:00.009-05:00

Create Your Own

FAQ 2: “So what’s so good about your soap?”

2008-01-31T12:01:00.002-05:00

There is actually a two-part answer to this very common question. On the ‘soap’ side, the base recipe is made up of equal parts palm oil for a harder, longer lasting bar, coconut oil for good lather, and olive oil to be gentle and moisturizing.

On the ‘goat milk’ side, goat milk is chemically very compatible with human skin and helps your skin to retain its own moisture. Adding milk to our soap lowers its pH, which helps to maintain the natural pH of skin. Goat milk is also a natural source of Alpha-hydroxy acids. Each bar is 21.5% goat milk.

2008-01-18T14:05:00.003-05:00

Welcome!

You've found your way to the blog of Wild Heaven Farm, home to Central Virginia's only "REAL" handmade goat milk soaps. All of our soaps are made right here on the farm with fresh-squeezed goat milk. No other animal bi-products, artificial colors, preservatives or pre-packaged bases are used.

I can say without exaggeration that these soaps cured the acne of my entire family - that's my mom, myself, and my five sisters.

Why goat milk, you may ask? Adding milk to soap alters its pH level, which helps to maintain the pH of healthy skin. It is also uniquely compatible with human skin, with beneficial amino acids and alpha hydroxy acids that help your skin retain the right amount of moisture.

FAQ 1

2008-01-18T03:49:00.001-05:00

"What do you mean 'Real' goat milk soap?"

Far be it from me to impugn the nature of anyone's trade or profession, but a lot of the soaps sold at craft shows and farmers markets are just not "handmade". The purveyors buy a big block of glycerin, melt it in the microwave and pour it into a mold. They can even buy it with goat milk (of unknown origin) already added. Here are Wild Heaven Farm, our soaps are made by the old-fashioned cold process method and we milk our goats by hand twice a day, every day. In fact, all of our products are made from scratch, no pre-packaged bases, and that's a promise!