Jim and His Goats

He doesn't fit the stereotype of your storybook farmer wearing overalls, a straw hat and riding on a big old red tractor. In fact, like many farmers today he has a university education and is knowledgeable  in animal husbandry, nutrition and growing crops .  His name is Jim and he's a goat farmer. 

Actually, Jim’s farming is not limited to goats.  At his rural property near Uxbridge Ontario, Jim runs a mixed farm, raising goats, rabbits, chickens, calves as well as a few token horses and a mini donkey.  By his dress he may look like a city guy, but he certainly knows his stuff as evidenced by the health and harmony of the animals on his farm.

Jim has been providing Savon Du Bois with fresh goat's milk for our soap since the very beginning of our business.  His award-winning goats produce exceptionally creamy milk, giving our soap the gentleness and moisture that is our hallmark.  It might have been more convenient for us to use powdered milk or buy cartons of goat's milk from the grocery store, but we could never match the quality and freshness of the milk we get from Jim.  Often, we are making a batch of soap with milk that was just milked from the goat that morning.

We visited Jim's farm recently to learn more about his goats.  He raises Nubians exclusively, which is a breed known for its long floppy ears and the high protein and fat content of their milk.  They are sometimes called “the Jersey cow of the goat world”.  Jim has been breeding purebred Nubian goats for 13+ years and currently has 20 of them actively milking.  Now that the cooler, wet weather is here, they are predominantly indoors as they find the high wind and rains stressful as they cannot easily detect predators and as such become fearful.  They are housed in groups according to age and gender in order to avoid bullying and  stress.  They peacefully share their space with a few free range chickens and barn cats, who roam in and out of the pens freely, going about their business. 

The barn is stocked with all of the goats' preferred foods which along with hay includes various weeds and swamp grasses.  There is a well-known saying that goats will eat anything – including tin cans.  While it is true that goats will try to eat many things, they are actually very finicky eaters and received the “bad publicity” on their eating habits because they prefer to eat what other livestock will not, such as tree leaves and aggressive weeds such as Canadian thistle and Stinging Nettle ahead of the normal grasses that other livestock consume.  While in the fields they graze on buckwheat and late planted oats , but their favourite treat is dry, fall maple leaves.  They all come running when Jim pulls out a bag of leaves and sprinkles them around for the goats to munch on.  Competition for these crunchy treats sometimes results in a bit of posturing and head-butting, even amongst the females.  Jim is strict in making sure that the hay he feeds his goats are free of pesticides by harvesting it all himself.

Jim houses the adult bucks in another barn, away from the does.  They are a spirited bunch with scruffy beards and curious personalities.  One of the bucks, Webinar, is currently the top male goat is Canada for production and type as determined by goatgenetics.ca.  In fact many of Jim's does and bucks are ranked in the top 10.  Genetics combined with husbandry may be why many of Jim's goats remain productive for many years and are capable of producing milk for upwards of 600 days, rather than the more typical 300 days.

In spite of gates and fences, coyotes are an ongoing threat to Jim's herd.  When in the fields, a donkey provides good security, but in the barn, precautions must be exercised.  The most effective deterrent that Jim has tried is music!  He keeps a radio playing in the goat barn at all times.  While the goats are enjoying the latest Christian songs, the coyotes are fooled into thinking there are people around and run off to search for food elsewhere.  Currently, the goats are in the Christmas spirit, listening to holiday tunes on the barn radio.

Several years ago, one of Jim's goats was attacked by a coyote.  She was seriously injured on one of her front legs, requiring it to be surgically removed.  She was subsequently donated to Windreach Farm, a local facility catering to individuals with disabilities, and has been living there quite happily for many years, enjoying the attention she is given.  She is a great encouragement to their visitors that even though she is disabled, she is still useful and special.

We are very proud to be partners with Jim and his goats.  Not only does he provide us with a outstanding, creamy milk for our soap, but he is a genuinely nice person.  He shares our values of local, natural, and quality and that makes him all right in our book.

www.savondubois.com

Our New Beer Bar with Beau's Beer

When I was a kid, hair trends were all about looking like Farrah Fawcett or Dorothy Hamill.  I was a short 'n sassy girl myself, and I spent many long hours in front of the mirror trying to perfect it.  My friends and I all used “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific” shampoo, and dreamed of being Breck Girls like Cheryl Tiegs and Jaclyn Smith.  If we found something we liked, we told two friends, they told two friends and so on and so on...  We feathered our hair, parted it in the middle and rocked the shag.  I think it might have been about this time that beer became a popular trend in hair care also.  Some of us bought beer shampoo, and some of us poured bottles of beer directly on our hair hoping to get the shine and body that the magazines promised us.  I am very happy that these hairstyles have fallen out of fashion, but I think we were on to something with the beer thing.

We don't hear much about beer in hair and body products anymore.  Today, we are more sophisticated and prefer to put fruit extracts, herbal oils, and nut butters on our skin and hair.  Unfortunately, a lot of today's products also contain chemical ingredients which strip out all the goodness of the extracts, oils and butters.  This got us to thinking:  sometimes things are trendy because they actually work.  With that in mind, we bring you The Beer Bar. The Beer Bar originally started out as a new addition to our men's product line.  What guy doesn't like beer, right?  We thought a refreshing, cleansing bar with beer in it would be a must-have for the testosterone crowd, so we started researching and testing recipes.  We made several test batches before we came up with one we liked and wouldn't you know it?  It is one of the nicest bars we've ever made!  We used beer from a local, organic brewery and mixed it with almond oil, coconut oil and an amazing olive oil to create an extremely creamy bar.  We also added lime and rosemary essential oils to give it a clean, refreshing fragrance.  The finished bar was so amazing, we decided we couldn't let the guys have all the fun and now include it in our regular soap product line for everyone to use.  We also discovered that it is great for your hair, as well as your body.  The Beer Bar does it all.

You may be wondering why we strayed from our trademark goat's milk when we created this bar.  We certainly didn't do it as a gimmick.  We strongly believe that nothing goes into our soap unless it is beneficial in some way, so beer had to have something good to offer for us to consider using it.  Beer contains a lot of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and amino acids.  These are great for our skin.  It also contains brewer's yeast which helps kill bacteria, making it great for acne sufferers.  The yeast also helps control oil production and balances pH levels.  Enzymes in beer provide gentle exfoliation without causing dryness.  Dull, frizzy or chemically processed hair will also benefit from the amino acids in the beer.  Beer may help with fine hair by adding texture, volume and body.  An itchy, irritated scalp will also feel better after a wash or rinse with beer.  With benefits like this, substituting beer for goat's milk was something we felt was worth trying and we're extremely glad we did.  We are very proud of this bar and believe it will be a new favourite.  For the record, we did try to keep some goat's milk in the beer soap recipe, but the gloppy, curdled mixture that resulted was not pretty.

I am happy to say that my Dorothy Hamill haircut grew out sometime in the late seventies.  Since then, I made it through several perms (you did too - admit it), one or two home hair colour disasters, The Rachel and The Snooki.  Although I use a different brand of shampoo now,  I'm reasonably sure that my hair still smells terrific.  The Beer Bar is the next big thing.  Can you dig it?  Far out!

A quick shout-out to Beau's All-Natural Brewing Company, our beer supplier and partner.  They are a local, organic brewery that shares a lot of our business philosophies and practices.  Simply put, they're great people and their beer makes great soap.  It tastes great too... we tested that also.

www.savondubois.com