Saturday, March 17, 2012

Compost Happens!



This is the incredible pile of manure & compost that was removed from the goat pen this weekend! I am thrilled to report that my goats are now in a very cooperative situation. Well, maybe I'm the one that's in the cooperative situation.

My goats are on a piece of horse property in Agua Fria Village, owned by a lovely woman who is turning her family land into a space for all kinds of people to experiment, and bring lovely dreams and plans into reality. I found her through my beekeeping friend (and honey/beeswax supplier) Steve Wall, who keeps some hives on this property. There is also a man who keeps his backhoe parked there, in exchange for him cleaning out horse pens--and I just benefited from this arrangement myself! Can you imagine cleaning this out by hand, wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow?? And FYI--this is just this winter's mucking. Goats are sloppy, wasteful eaters, so there is lots of hay in this; plus they get food scraps from Kitchen Angels, so some of it includes veggie & fruit scraps, even eggshells. Then of course there's nanny berries and goat pee all mixed in. The perfect compost recipe!






This is the new compost arrangement as brilliantly envisioned by Sara, the landowner. Her idea: not have to move anything. This strawbale compost bin sits just outside the goat fence. Food/hay is fed to the goats in the big round feeder; then the next day scraps are dumped over the fence into the compost area. Dirty water gets dumped here as well, when we come to give fresh water to the goats. Worms are on order and will be moving in; so are fly predators and . . . MUSHROOM SPORES! Worms & mushrooms will help transform the scraps & manure into compost, and give us mushrooms to eat too!

While the goats are mine and the property is not, my goats have inspired the compost pile, which Sara will nurture. So wonderful to be part of something bigger than me and my goats.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Honeybee Lotion Bars in the Grand Canyon



Our full line of Milk+Honey body care products will now be available to visitors and adventurers to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Bar 10 Ranch, a lodge, family cattle ranch, and host of Grand Canyon activities from river rafting to helicopter tours, will be offering our Nanny Goat Milk soaps, Honeybee Lotion Bars and Anywhere Balms.

Our products are perfect for their Ranch! Several years ago, a ruggedly-handsome young man came to my booth at the Farmers Market to tell me that my lotion bar was the only thing that saved his hands while he was going down the Grand Canyon. Since then, I have wanted to get my products into the backpacks of more outdoor adventurers, knowing that their natural ingredients were appropriate for camping, soothing for active skin, easy to carry, versatile, and consistent with environmental values.

Bar 10 Ranch has smartly ordered all my products in tins, so that folks can easily pack and protect their soaps and lotions during their Grand Canyon journey.

I'd love to hear more stories of adventures my products have been on!