Goat milk soaps and lotions!!

Yes, I know it has been forever since I blogged. Maybe I will try to start it up again. I have been very busy with my new goat milk soap endeavor. Check out my site at www.slapdashsoap.com. I am also working on getting a Facebook account for the business.

RAT

The good news is we caught the pesky rat that was living under our sink. The bad news is that we let it go.... in the barn!!!!

I have 3 different rat traps set under the sink. One was not doing the trick so 3 it was. Anywho, I put some stinky hamburger wrapping in the garbage and then I heard the rat under the sink. I opened the cupboard door and it was staring at me. Btw, the reason people jump on chairs when they see mice or rats is because they don't want the rodent to touch their feet. After it ran away I tooke the garbage out and shut the door. I was finishing making dinner when I heard a trap go off and the poor thing crying. Deklan heard it too and wanted to look at it but I said no and he went out to do chores. A minute later Niko comes in and says Dad told him to get the rat to feed it to Maria in the barn. After moving EVERYTHING out from under the sink and some manuevering and maybe a little screaming from me, he got him to take him outside. When Stef comes in from chores I ask him how it went and he tells me the rat got away. I say no, he says yes, I say no, he says yes. So I ask my nephew and he tells me that yes indeed the rat got away. I guess Niko took the still squirming rat from the trap and set it in front of Maria. Maria stared at it and watched it run away. Seriously? That's what we need, ANOTHER rat in the barn. Dumb cat. At least it's out of the house.

Holly

Holly finally had her kids a couple weeks ago. She had a rough labor, in fact, Fran had to come over and help deliver them. We don't think her cervix was opening all of the way and the first kid got stuck. One of the reasons this may have happened was because she had a prolapse throughout the entire end of her pregnancy and her insides were hanging out of her vulva when she layed down. Her ligaments just couldn't hold her heavy load in. Perhaps there was some scarring from this.
This is the first time I have had to help get a kid out and wasn't sure how to help without tearing the cervix. I had my hand inside of her for a couple of hours massaging it seeing if it would open more. It felt very tight like it wouldn't be very elastic and I was scared to pull on the kid hard thinking the cervix might tear. Fran got here and got them out right away. There is a bit of technique to it and now I know I can be a bit more forceful.
Of course, after all that trouble, she had 2 boys. I was hoping she had quads in there because that would explain the prolapse but there was only 2. They are the cutest little guys we have ever had here though. They are Nubian/Alpine crosses. The first guy was the biggest with the second being considerably smaller.
Holly decided she hates her first born. Not just indifference but hate. She won't feed him and if he comes close to her she bites him and flings him away from her. Poor fella. For the first few days I put her on the milk stand to let him eat several times a day but then she didn't really have a lot of milk and she started to develop mastitis. Now Flower goes to the milkstand a few times a day to feed him. She is such a piggy she doesn't mind at all as long as there is food around.
Since he has no really mommy he follows us around and when we leave the barn area we have to sneak out so he doesn't run through the electric fence. We were going to butcher these two with the other bucks but the boys have friends down the road that have decided they want to keep them as land clearers and pets. So now Bubba (abandoned kid) and Cow (Holly's favorite with black and white spots) will have a new home to go to in a few weeks.
I'm not sure how much longer Holly will be in this herd. We are going to be making some difficult decisions soon.

Lavender

I need to get a better picture of her. This is from a few weeks back. She is so pretty and such a good girl.

Kool-Aid mustache?

I've heard of Kool-Aid mustaches but what about a Kool-Aid Goat-T? Apparently Flower likes fruit punch Kool-Aid. The boys left their cups out on the picnic table and Flower finished them off. The picture really doesn't do her justice, her mouth was really red.

Charity's babes

Charity snuck off and had her babies on her own in hiding. I noticed she wasn't with the herd and sent a party out to search for her. She had a buckling and wait for it.... wait for it... a DOELING! She is so pretty.

The boy is a little slow and not sucking really well yet. He looks just like the other 2 boys.

Introducing...

R.J. and TY! Flower had her babies today around 12:30p. She had two stinky, stupid boys. RJ stands for Rastus Jr. and ty is just because. The first pick is of me crossing my fingers for girls and thinking pink. The video at the end is dark but worth it I think.

When??

Her due date was yesterday, her udder is full, her vulva is puffy and she is mean as hell. When is she gonna pop some babies out?

New Door

Our back door has been broken for a few months now. You had to be VERY careful to not rip the door completely off the hinges. Because it is a mobile home door it has weird measurements and is very expensive to order a new door. One of Stef's students did not know to be careful and ripped the door off the hinges last week. Thank goodness, because Stef built a new door yesterday! Who knows how long we would have lived in terror of our own back door?

Flower is due!

Thought I would share my misery. Flower is due today and doesn't look like she will be ready to go for another week at least. (sad face) Guess it's time to hook up the baby monitor and start waking up in the middle of the night to check on her. At least I have due dated this year. I bet it cut down on at least 2 weeks of sleepless nights.

Liquid soap with milk

The soap with milk in it isn't clear. Is this really important? Would people rather have the clear liquid soap with NO goat milk or the cloudy darker liquid soap WITH goat milk? Also, remember that the bottles I use are frosted, so you really can't see through them anyway. But will the dark color be bad?

Soap on a stick

This is a common phrase on soap forums. Well, I now know the true definition of it, and that is not a good thing. I was making a batch of lemongrass soap and as soon as I added the essential oil all the contents in my pot seize up and became a solid block.

I am sad all of the oils and milk were wasted in this batch. Guess the lemongrass will be strictly for liquid soap.

Lotion

I am changing my lotion formula. I wasn't really crazy for the other lotion. It seemed to disappear too fast and was pretty thin. My new formula is more expensive to make but I think it is a much better lotion.

Liquid Soap

Well, I have been braving the world of liquid soap. I have 2 batches under my belt. One turned out an awful mess and the other is great. The first, I made with goats milk and I had to cook it for 3 days and wasn't finished with it fora whole week. The second I decided not to use milk and only had to cook it for a few minutes and then store it in a cooler for the rest of the night. It was finished in 2 or 3 days. I am working on one now using the second method with added milk.

This is the first milk batch. It is a dark color because of the milk. The oils are separating, I think it is because I didn't mix it long enough in the beginning. this is the second batch. It is really clear, like it is supposed to be. My last one with milk should be clear but a dark amber color.

I am using the first batch for home use. It's not pretty, but it's still soap.

Gift packs

What would you like in a handcrafted soap and lotion gift bag?

Chicks

We have 4 baby chicks running around! Well, not running around too far from their mom. I'll get a picture soon. A few days ago a big black bird was swooping down trying to get them but the mom puffed up sqwacked and Niko went out with the bb gun and we haven't seen him since.

We also had a rabbit have babies but she ate most them, well not eat exactly more like dismembered. hopefully the next litter will be better.

Catch up

I've been talking about soap and lotion so much lately neglecting the rest of the farm. First, Niko's chicken is hobbling about now with the other chickens. In fact, I like that. I think we should call her Hobble. It is really ore of a deep limp almost to the point that she is hopping on the one good leg. Anyway, she is getting along out with the other chickens now and I think she will be ok.

Maria is no longer a roof cat. Well, not exclusively anyway. She is still up there when we go out to do chores n the morning but quickly jumps down to harass us. I have also spied her sunning herself in the barnyard and exploring. If I happen to take a seat out there she wastes no time at all jumping onto my lap. No one told her she was feral. Silly cat.

Flower is getting huge. Her udder is growing nicely too. Flower and Charity are due to freshen the first two weekends in May. I can tell Flower is bred but I'm not so sure about Charity. Holly definitely looks bred but I thought she was bred well after the other two. There is a chance she was bred earlier but she acted like she went into heat again after so who knows. I dried Charity up last month and will be drying Holly up this next week just in case she is due earlier than I think. It will really be nice to get a short break from milking and we have plenty of frozen milk so no worries.

I really hope Flower has some doelings. She has gotten worse with little kids. One of my nephews doesn't want to come out here anymore after she beat him up even though I told him he didn't have to go to the barn with us. Yesterday she knocked over my 3 year old nephew (he didn't seem to care any though). I really love Flower but I can't have an animal around here I can't trust around kids. It just won't work. She has to have doelings though so they can replace her.

And finally,it is well past time to get the pigs processed. We thought we were going to do it ourselves with some help from a friend who hunts wild pigs but it keeps getting put off. So instead of keeping feeding them (this bacon is getting awful expensive) we will be getting them processed at the butcher's. I am calling tomorrow to make an appointment.

Which Label Poll

Here are my labels so far. After the lotion label is picked, I will revamp my busiess cards to reflect the same theme. The "Pink Sugar" on the label will change (color also) depending on the fragrance of the lotion. Please leave a comment. First, tell me which of these you like best and why? Then,if you have any ideas to add to them or a new one all together, let me know. Thanks.

Here they are individually:

I changed the web address to www.slapdashsoap.com. I will get new cards printed soon.

Soap Website

I have published a new website for my soap. You can see it at www.slapdashfarm.com. Tell me what you think. I have gone through several versions of it. First it was Slapdash farm with a spa feeling, then it changed to PurePisces with a spa feeling, now it is Slapdash Farm with a country feel. I'm still trying to get the hang of building the website. I want to do a lot of things its not letting me do so I might have to make a call in to the company for some help. Give me any and all feedback. I need help with this. If everything goes well I will eventually add a shopping cart to the site. Should I change the www to slapdashsoap.com?


Okay, Stef said I should change it back to the spa-like atmosphere on the site but keep Slapdash as the name. He also thinks I should go with slapdashsoap.com.

Busy Day

I couldn't stand my messy barn any more! The boys spent the day raking it out and I rearranged some things and fixed all of the broken stuff. We have not been letting the goats and dogs out on the pasture lately because I'm trying to give the land a chance to regenerate. The dogs haven't taken kindly to this and have been tearing up some fence and some of the barn finding ways out. We reinforced the barn and fixed the fence. I hope we have stopped them. We had a neighbor stop at our house the other night saying the pups have been visiting her in the early mornings, like at 4am or 5am and hanging out in the road. Now, by the time we go out to do chores around 8:30 they are back in with the goats. Sneaky devils. I had no idea they were getting out! Now the trash strewn across the yard makes a lot more sense. Hopefully we will have our pasture area sectioned off into quarters soon so we can rotate them and I won't have to keep everyone in the barnyard. Don't feel bad for them, they have an entire acre in the barnyard area.

Also, moved some hay around and found a momma rat and her 6 babies. The momma got away but her babies didn't. Of course Maria was on the roof and wouldn't come down so I had to throw the babies up to her. She knew what to do with them though. I still can't believe I just chucked them up on the roof. In my defense they were in grave danger of becoming PET rats of Niko's. I think I did them a service really. By the way, from today on I refuse to carry Maria off the roof to her food like I have been doing every morning. I saw her get down herself today and feel like a schmuck.

I don't think I have mentioned we got 2 new rabbits. We got them free off of Craigslist. They are really friendly and Niko is very happy one of them is black. Anyway, Stef made 2 more rabbit cages today also.

Tony is still gone and Maria spends all of her time on the roof. I think it is going to be pretty tough to catch rats that way.

Tony is MIA this morning. Maria is still around. She was on the barn roof and was meowing when I went out. I thought she was hungry and thought it was a good idea to feed her on the roof to keep chickens, dogs and goats out of her food. Even after food and water she wouldn't shut up though. I think she was stuck up there. It took a couple of tries for her to trust me enough to let her down. Kind of weird I know she could have jumped, Keiska could have. Guess we'll see if she gets up there again.

Slapdash Resort

It is very nice out today but not hot. I wonder how Jake is going to handle the heat this summer.

I think we need a bigger pool, DD is stuck with just putting her front feet in the water trough.

Here is a picture of the resident piggies.

Who let the cats out, who who who who

Okay that title is pretty lame. I let the cats out today. Tony has been itching to get out for days but Maria has seemed ok with her captivity. Tony explored right away. Maria stayed in her cage then went into Tony's for awhile hissing and howling at Tony the whole time. I think Tony missed the memo that he is supposed to be a feral barn cat. He wants me to do nothing but pet him.the only problem is that he gives a little bite when he is really enjoying himself.

Maria kept her distance. Lala came to see them and Maria was actually very friendly towards her and brushed up against her. Tony, on the other hand, does not like dogs. He got Lala on the nose once and she is scared of him as is DD. I couldn't get Jake near either cat so I'm not sure of his reaction. Flower is the only goat that has shown any interest in them but she is a little apprehensive yet. Maria is now lazing on top of the rabbit roof and Tony is still exploring.

Bun Video

While we were in Iowa Stef took this video of him feeding a bunny. I thought it was cute.

Theyr'e hear....

and not a moment too soon. Meet our new barn cats (tentatively) Tony (black) and Maria.

Tony is much friendlier than Maria. She is NOT a happy camper. He doesn't mind being petted. We don't know if she minds yet, no one has been brave enough to try.

They came with the names Romper and Maria. WE don't like the name Romper but don't mind Maria. Stef thought Tony would be a good match for Maria (West Side Story). Everyone likes it except Niko. He is campaigning for a different name.

Now it is time for ... Drum roll please ... my daily brag about LALA!!! Look at her, she is so sweet and already protecting the kitties even though they scare the crap out of her! It's pretty funny. They have both jumped and hissed at her.

Chicken ER

This is a chicken that was attacked by JD when she got too close to him while he was eating. She is having a problem walking but can get around. She kind of scoots around. Niko is taking care of her in one of the kidding stalls. She is still laying her pretty green eggs for us. She doesn't seem to be in pain and Niko wants to doctor her. We will keep you updated.

Barn Cats

Stupid, stupid, stupid rats and mice. I recently heard you could not have both a rat infestation and a mouse infestation. They were wrong. We have seen mice running around occasionally and the poop around the milk stand is either from a rat or giant mouse, which really is just a rat anyway, right? They are no longer avoiding the area around the rat trap, they are just walking and pooping all around it. This morning I found a big hole in the top of a plastic garbage can we were using to hold chicken scratch. Chewed straight through. Stupid,Stupid,Stupid.


Yeah, I know they actually sound pretty smart, but I'm sure you get my gist. At first I though it was a raccoon, but a raccoon would have just opened it up and wouldn't have had to chew through the bag. The teeth marks are pretty big on the lid. I think it had to be rats. Anyway, Stef is picking up 2 barn cats at an animal shelter today. 2 because the lady at the shelter convinced me that these cats weren't completely feral, just preferred other animals to humans, and would be happier with 2 of them. I'm starting to feel I may have been taken. She even mentioned me taking 3 at one point. I'll post pics later.

Chicken Turf

We were looking out the kitchen window this morning and Stef commented at how interesting Featherfoot is and then I read my mom's comment below and it got me thinking how interesting the chicken society is around here.

We have 2 main roosters Featherfoot and Mr Tibbles. Featherfoot lives near the barn and Mr Tibbles lives near the coop. I say he lives near the coop because he eats there and sleeps there but after eating promptly escapes to forage. Featherfoot gets fed by himself by the barn because Mr Tibbles doesn't allow him to eat in the coop area. These are their territories. A while back Mr. Tibbles started coming over to the barn area and started a turf war. I though he was going to win too. I'm not sure what happened but Mr Tibbles is back where he belongs now. There are also certain girls that hang around more in certain territories than others. Featherfoot is a firm yet loving partner. He lets the ladies know that he is to eat before them but then lets them join him. There is one particular hen, Awkward, that just ruffles his feathers, he is always having to tell her off about something or other. Mr Tibbles is more of a tyrant. Most of the time he eats fine with the other chickens but sometimes gets irate over some wrong doing. I just don't see him being very compassionate towards his subjects. For those of you who know about chicken mating know that it is really just barnyard rape and that is what Mr Tibbles does. The hens holler and holler until he lets them go. It is quite brutal. We also have 2 other roosters that have somehow escaped the butcher knife that hang around with Tibbles. At first he ostracized them but it seems they are a part of his gang now. The girls don't like them either and sometimes after a failed breeding attempt the poor guys lose a few feathers from a ticked off hen. Featherfoot, on the other hand seems to have some sort of camaraderie with his girls. He protects them too. When they are laying in a nest, lord help you if you happen to walk too close and interupt her. She screams at him and then he screams at me. Or maybe they are just screaming at each other. There is one hen in particular that won't shutup for a good 20 minutes after the disruption. Poor Featherfoot, nag,nag,nag.

Bummer

First of all the rat is back. Yes, that's right, after not seeing any droppings for a week maybe, he is back. Stupid rat.

Second, we have had a broody hen over the last few weeks. I was pretty excited and curious if she'd actually hatch chicks. She did. Last night Stef and the boys were out doing chores and heard a bunch of chicks chirping. We didn't go look at them or anything. I was scared the mama hen might get nervous and move them and it was kind of wet last night. We couldn't wait to go out there today and see them but there were no chicks. They were gone. Not a peep. Stef thinks they were being so loud a raccoon probably got them. They, of course, weren't in the fenced are with the dogs. They were on the outside behind the barn under a tarp on the hay. I didn't hear the dogs raise a ruckus either, which I think they would if there was an ambush, but something had to have happened. We are pretty bummed, but hope to have a better chicken system done soon. At least we know we have a few broody hens.

Mad Goat!

Our beautiful, loving, friendly Flower has an evil side. It is weird, she doesn't like certain kids. She has been around our boys and a few of their friends and been very friendly. A couple of months ago my nephews were here and she attacked them. At the time we blamed it on a peanut butter sandwich that they had just eaten. Thought maybe she could smell it on them and was trying to bully them into giving some to her. Well, today the boys had some friends from down the road over and Flower attacked one of them. Ian says he doesn't like peanut butter so that is out. When Donavan was petting her she kept ignoring him and was staring at Ian the whole time then when he turned his back... Flower attacked! She was headbutting him and trying to knock him down. This is our sweet bottle baby that drives us nuts trying to cuddle with us, this is the sweet girl that tries to sit in my lap. Very Odd.

The New Loo

Here it is!! Our New Humanure compost toilet!!!It is sitting in the living room right now, but after being painted and made pretty will take its rightful place in the bathroom.

Aw, rats!

I set up the live trap in the milk room and a regular rat trap where I see the poop and we caught nothing. No new poop for 2 days either. Can they sense the impending doom? I'm gonna keep setting them if it is keeping them away.

Rat Hunting

The rats are getting worse. Every morning I see rat droppings on the milkstand feed tray. I think they are also harassing the rabbits. I set a trap for them in the barn, but I'm not sure the rats will be heavy enough to set the trap off. I will try it tonight and see if it works, if not, I will have to buy some real rat traps. I think I am going to have to get more serious about a barn cat. Fran was concerned about toxoplasmosis and the goats, but with the amount of time the goats actually hang around the barn area and the amount of area they have to roam I think it will be okay. I will reasearch more and think more about it if my traps don't work.

Random pics

This is Charity and Cole hanging out in the tiki hut. Someone finally uses that spot! We let Cole out a few weeks ago because he was so lonesome all by himself in the buck pen. I figured all the girls were bred so we didn't have to worry about unwanted pregnancies. I am so glad we let him out too, because out of nowhere Holly went into heat last week! I saw Cole mount her several times so I hope she is now taken care of too. The only other question about him being with the girls is that sometimes the buck scent can make the girls' milk taste off. We haven't noticed anything so far though.


This is Lazy DD. I swear not a day goes by that she doesn't scare me to death. I always think she is dead. She lays so still in the weirdest positions.



Here's our big porkers. I tape weighed them yesterday and they were 170 lbs. We want to get them up to 250 before we butcher them, but it seems like it is taking forever. Stef and I discussed maybe feeding some pig feed to beef them up a little.

Rabbits

I got up bright and early this morning and put a fence around the rabbits so the dogs can patrol their area too. The only problem is that the goats also have access to them, I hope they leave the buns alone.

I also put the babies and the Male New Zealand in their new cages and put them in the barn until we can put them with the others. Stef is working late today and we have soccer practice tonight so we probably won't get to it.

I also introduced Lala to the babies. They were very unhappy about it but Lala really liked it. She started guarding them outside of their door and barked to let everyone know to watch out. She is so Awesome! When all of the rabbits are moved to their permanent spot I'm going to introduce all of them to all of the dogs. Then hopefully if we have any break-outs the dogs won't be as likely to kill the buns
This is a picture of Lala after meeting the bunnies. She looks almost as happy as when the goats have babies.