Got Goat Milk? It's Coming!

As many of you may know, this is the time of the year that the goats are on maternity leave. That means that goat milk is in short supply. Goats are not like cows in lots of ways, but one of the main differences is that goats come into breeding season only during a few months at the end of the summer and beginning of the fall. The gestation period is five months. Now, the breeding season can be spread out a little bit over that time of year, but even so, most of the goats will be taking their maternity leave a the same time. That is why there is so little goat milk to go around right now. The good news is that the goats have started having babies and the milk will be flowing again soon. We visited the goat milk production farm this afternoon. Here are some of the pictures we took of the babies. Just too cute!

Do We "Fortify" Our Milk? Why Not?

This morning Tim had an email with the above question. Do you fortify your milk with Vitamin D and if not, why not.
Here is Tim's answer to that question:

Hello Meredith,

  Thank you for your great question. We do not add or delete anything from our milk, it's whole milk as it comes from our Guernsey cows. So when your question arrived a had to do a little thinking and research into why some companies are offering fortified. Here's what I found.

  Vitamins are naturally found in the fat of milk. The process that most dairy processing companies follow when they receive whole milk for dairy farms is to separate out the fat (cream). Then they will add back in various percentages of cream as they process the milk into 1%, 2% etc. Because of this, if a dairy processor is producing any product other than whole milk they are required to add vitamins (fortify) to the product, in an attempt to replace what has been removed. And it should be noted that the vitamins that are added back in most circumstances are synthetic vitamins. Whole milk in the commodity dairy processor world has been standardized at 3.2%, they add back in cream to the skim milk to achieve that level, whole milk from commodity dairy processors is not the whole milk as it comes from the farm. Then the milk is homogenized to ensure that everything stays in solution and does not separate out. You can decide for yourself whether or not this process is a healthy food or not. 

  Our milk is whole milk as if comes from the cows, never separated or homogenized, therefore none of the vitamins or minerals that are naturally in the milk have been removed, smashed, compressed, messed with or adulterated. Our butterfat will average between 3.5 and 4.5% of total fluid volume, depending on the season of the year. Guernsey milk is a lovely milk, that I believe offers superior nutritional benefits as compared to other dairy choices.  According to the World Guernsey Cattle Federation, Guernsey milk also contains 12% more protein, 33% more vitamin D, 25% more vitamin A and 15% more calcium than average milk. Here's the link for this statement. http://ebymanor.ca/our-products/guernsey-advantage 

 

Thanks again for your question, it is our privilege to serve you.

Best Regards,  

Best Vanilla Latte Ever--With No Espresso Machine!

Best Vanilla Latte Ever! 

And you don't need an espresso machine!

Here You Go!

Please try this at home.....

Heat Grace Harbor Farms Vanilla Milk (or chocolate milk, if you want a mocha) add one package of Starbucks Via! That's it--a truly Northwest drink.

Free Theo's Chocolate Bar This Week

Free Theo's Chocolate--this week only
Get a Free Theo's Chocolate bar with any Grace Harbor International order this week only. We love this stuff and we are giving you a free, early Christmas present when you place an on line order through December 8th.

Theo's is fantastic. Organic. Free Trade. Made in the US. No Soy. Best Chocolate, ever, and we like promoting another great Washington State company. So here you go! Buy something from us and we will give you a free bar.

Here's the link to our website: Grace Harbor Farms Online Store

We have lots of great on line specials, and the shipping is always free. What a deal!

Goodies to try on Saturday the 24th

We are featuring all the dairy products in our Farm Store this weekend. Come to the store: Here is a map.
Google Map to Grace Harbor Farms

We will be open from 10-5 on Saturdays through the holidays, but tomorrow will be a special day because I am making Chocolate Cake for you. Yes, for you, anyone who comes to visit the farm store this Saturday, the 24 can try the best chocolate cake ever! I call it Yogurt Fudge Cake. You can see the recipe here:
Yogurt Fudge Cake

We will also have cheese made from yogurt. This is so easy I don't even need to write a recipe for you. Simply drain our yogurt in cheesecloth. Voila! Yogurt Cheese. It is like cream cheese. Come try some. I will have all three flavors for you  to try.

And. . . if you haven't tried our Salt Glow yet, you must! It is a show and sell. If you come try it you will buy some, that is my warning to you. And. . . you will want to buy some for gifts.

I love giving gifts that can be used up! (I love getting them too, for that matter.)

Hope you had a bless-ed Thanksgiving.

Saturday Events at the Farm Store

This Saturday, the one after Thanksgiving, we will have treats to taste made with our milk and yogurt products. Please join us for some great ideas for the holidays--both things to eat and things to give.

This is the super Salt and Chocolate Gift Basket. This one was Tim's idea. He loves the Theo's Chocolate Salted Almond, so we designed a gift basket around it. 

Click here to find it on our website

Come on Saturday and try some yogurt cheese, chocolate cake, vanilla or chocolate milk and some other goodies made with our milk products. We will even have free recipes for you to take home.




Yesterday, November 17th, we had a great day with the store open on the farm. Ryleigh helped me wait on customers and she discovered that she LOVES the salt glow! Every time someone came in she could hardly wait to do a demo with them. Great fun!

We have decided to keep the Farm Store open on Saturdays. It is a good way for the local people to get their stuff--helps us because we don't have to pay the postage for people who come in--and it keeps us in touch with our friends who like to shop in the store. We have also found it greatly to our advantage to keep the store closed during the work week while we are busy building products and getting them shipped out. Our internet business is booming, and we are very thankful for that, but it makes it impossible to wait on people in the store at the same time. This Saturday opening is a great solution! Eventually we may even hire another person for the Saturday job, but for now since I am not going anywhere, I am doing it with my granddaughters help.

First day in Arizona

Wow!

Laura and I had our first day at Litchfield Park Art Festival yesterday. This was our first day selling our products in Arizona, and it was amazing! First let me tell you about some of the people who were touched, and helped by the MSM cream

--The most dramatic was a lady who had fallen through a plate glass window. She is about 50 years old, I think. She had nearly cut her arm off, and broke it as well. She approached she with her arm in a cast/sling and a very fearful face. The accident had happened about a month ago. She, with trepidation, removed her cast/sling from her right arm and showed it to us. The scar was horrible. But she said the cut didn't hurt anymore, it was her hand and fingers that were in constant pain. She allowed Laura to apply the MSM cream to her hand while I supported her arm at the elbow. Then I prayed for her.  I know that the Lord had brought her to our booth for healing. I expect that we will see her again today!

Some of the other people we touched include these:

--Two ladies who could not lift their arms because of shoulder pain who allowed us to put the MSM cream on their shoulders and then returned later to joyfully show us what happened! They each could raise their arms above their heads. They each were laughing and exclaiming how amazing it was. (They were not together, they came at different times during the day). Needless to say, they each bought some.

--A man who stopped with a stiff neck, and left being able to turn his head

--A tall, Christian man with his wife. He loved hearing the God stories of our business and his wife found relief from upper back pain

--Two different ladies with lower back pain 

--Several knees

--Several carpal tunnel sufferers

--Two elderly ladies with eczema problems. One of them we could see the amazing difference right after we put the MSM cream on her arms, the other had bumps around her fingers that come and go. We don't know yet what lasting relief she may or may not find from the MSM cream

--Another lady with itchy skin--instant relief

--Restless leg people who took samples home to try it

--A lady with a broken toe

--Two different, young, ladies who took samples for their fathers. One of them had had a severe head injury and the other is facing knee surgery on Monday. I expect and hope to hear back from them today

--A lady took a sample for her church organist who has plantar fasciitis 

--A very skeptical man who had had shoulder surgery

There were many more people who stopped and tried samples, or just took samples with them. 

I know that we will see more little miracles today, and hear more stories. Laura is off to a great start here in Arizona!