Today's give-a-way item is kindly being donated by Spiritwind Farm, which is located in Lebanon, Maine. My husband and I stayed there several weeks ago on our trip to New England and had a really nice time. I wrote about our trip in this post. Spiritwind Farm is run by Kathy Ossinger and includes two large Shire horses that are used for hay and sleigh rides, pigs, chickens, and goats. We are very thankful to the goats for providing the milk used in our give-a-way item today - two bars of goat's milk soap, Lavendar and Black Amber, handmade by Kathy. The soaps are made with natural ingredients and essential oils.
(photo courtesy of Spiritwind Farm)
I was interested to know how Kathy became involved with milk goats and how much milk goes into a bar of soap. Here is Kathy's response:
"My ex brought home two Nubian does (babies) and I fell in love with them. I didn't do much with them at first then I bred them and milked them and enjoy it to this day. When the does freshen (give birth) they are full of milk and I keep the babies with their Mom for 2 months then I start "stealing" it and milk the mom in the morning after separating kids at nite. I usually get 1-2 qts at each milking, some people milk twice a day then get 2-4 qts a day. I am not that greedy (yet) and still have plenty of milk just milking 2-3 goats. I am going to be breeding 5 goats this December so in 5 months they will deliver hopefully lots of kids and there will be lots of milk. It takes (the way I make soap) 20 oz of milk to make one batch of soap which is approximately 16-18 bars of goat milk soap. It really depends on what oils you want to use and the amount of oils. I use something called the lye calculator to balance everything. I love the freedom and beauty of my farm. I am lucky to have a lot of land and I am getting to make a living and am able to sustain a good life here. I love my animals, from my German Shepherd dog Rue, to my Shire horses, Abby and Lucy, to all the goats, the pigs and chickens."
Kathy participates in Farm Stay US, a organization that farmers can join if they are interested in providing travel lodging for people on their farm. That is how we discovered Spiritwind Farm. Kathy is also looking to expand her goat milking operations and will soon be starting a campaign to raise funds to build a creamery where she can make cheeses to sell.
If you are interested in winning the two soaps offered today, please leave a comment below. I will assign a number to each comment and draw a winner. The contest will close at 7am on Thursday.
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