Dear Friends,
For those of you that have been to the farm, you’ll know this is a photo of Beatrice, our happy, spoiled and well cared for Angora goat. This breed of goat, known for it’s soft warm wool is also known as mohair. The breed dates back to the Paleiolithic area. She is having her fall wool and hoof clipping and is quite happy to have it done. Visitors often ask, “do you spin her wool?” and I chuckle to myself thinking how lovely it would be to have the time and space for such a task. The other inevitable question is, “do you make cheese and soap from the milk?” which leads to the discussion of why you need a male goat (would never want one – smelly and hormone driven) and that one is tricky especially with the children that ask.
The reason I’m talking about this, is this last week have a new set of people that have predetermined that farms with animals treat them cruelly, slaughter them and mistreat them and they’ve contacted little ole us. I’m not sure who the organization is behind this but there was a notice from the SD Farm Bureau not too long ago warning county farmers that there might be trespassers and demonstrations. Again, I did my best to assure the callers that our small group of chickens and goats are extremely well cared for as is the case for the vast majority of farms. When asked if they have ever actually worked or spent time on a farm to see first hand, the answer is always ‘no’. He he..that’s when I invite them to come work for a few days to see for themselves and have yet to be taken up on it. Just another day on the farm in a world that thinks food just appears on the plate.
Speaking of woolly creatures, we located a group of women that make their own wonderful natural goats milk soap, hand wrap the bars in soft and chemical free sheep felt
that make wonderful gifts or spoil yourself with luxuriant lather. Let’s support other small farms to keep them going! Available on our GreenStore.
We know many of our subscribers are enthusiastic about getting freshly harvested food from Seabreeze Family Farm. It would be helpful if you could take a photo of a plate you prepared with your farm share and post it on our Facebook page and on Next Door so your friends and neighbors could also benefit from your neighborhood’s locally grown food.
We look forward to seeing how you transform your Seabreeze ingredients.