I promise we're not hoarding goats...

In the past week we've added two new goats.

One of them was planned. Mr. Nick used his birthday money from my parents to get a dairy goat from Puget Sound Goat Rescue. (That's her with Mr. Nick, enjoying an apple from our neighbor's tree). We've named her Sugaree after the Grateful Dead song but we will most likely end up calling her Shoog for short. She is a Saanen, we think about two years old, and she is very very sweet. Shoog came to us in milk but not very much because the Rescue isn't equipped with the staff to milk goats twice a day. We're working on bringing her back.

The second goat was not planned. But, when you get a call offering you a free dairy goat, 15 months old, bottle-raised, it's hard to say no. Mahidabelle was born in the Hoh Rainforest but her mother didn't make it. So, she was bottle-raised. Which makes her extra nice. She is not in milk but we plan to breed her this season along with Nana. And yes, we're keeping her name.

Which means we have Bjorn and Toto (the lemon goats), Mrs. Robinson (our herd queen), Nana, Sugaree and Mahidabelle. (Spoiler Alert: There's another goat coming, but she's getting bred as we speak).

Now to answer, why all the dairy goats?

Well first, we love goat's milk. I can't tolerate the protein in cow's milk so before Nana we suffered a huge void in our diet. But now, we put goat's milk in everything! Pancakes, cheese, bread, butter, you name it. We also make some really wonderful soap. And, truth be told, one goat was enough for us to do all of these things.

But, we're also raising pigs. And if you've seen the news lately then you've seen what the drought has done to feed prices and consequently, the commercial pork industry. We've always been on the path to grow our own food (both for us and our animals) but since we're trying to farm responsibly in the forest, on land that has never been farmland, it's slow going. Which brings us to milk.

Pork raised on milk are healthy and delicious. And, we can control where our milk comes from. Win Win!

We promise everyone is being well cared for, no one is missing out on any smooches, and we're not collecting kitten skeletons in our closet. So, no judgment :)