Kris, Rob, and Teresa 
GB and ErinnWe sold soap in Kerrville at the Market Days on Saturday. Teresa and Rob came too and if it hadn't been for them we probably wouldn't have sold anything since we aren't natural born sales-people. We had a really fun day! It was cold and windy, but we still enjoyed it a lot.
We saw some people we knew! It's so nice to be "home" and actually know people. :p
Rachel, David, Susan, Caleb, Johanna, and GBSomehow I managed to cut James in half in the next picture. Sorry!
Things we learned:
1. Take business cards to pass out to people - we had printed up a few, but quickly ran out, and were getting lots of requests for them.
2. Address type labels on the bags would be a lot easier than writing "Goat Milk Soap - fourmilefarm.com" on each bag!
3. We should have had more informational signs. Such as "What is Saponification?" And, "Is there LYE in this soap?"
4. And a few goat pictures would have been good too! I had planned to do that, but ran out of time.
We made $115 and Erinn made $47 (she bought all her own supplies and made her own soap and labels), so it wasn't really GREAT, but it's certainly better than nothing! Minus the booth fee of $15 plus a "first time" fee of $10, plus the cost of soap making supplies... I can see how we would do better over time if we were there monthly, because of repeat customers. People are reluctant to spend so much for a bar of soap not knowing how wonderful it really is. A lot of them bought "just one bar to try".
Sunday we got caught up on housework that had been neglected all week due to frantically getting ready for the soap booth.
In the afternoon I went and helped a friend butcher 5 large Maran roosters. She was very pleased with my method, which I learned from some other friends. I cant claim any credit for it, but it is a VERY effective, fast, and clean method! In return for the help, she gave me one of the roosters!
She has some lovely Tunis sheep - 4 ewes, and 1 ram so far. They are a dual purpose meat and milk breed. She plans to use the milk for cheese making. She just ordered a spinning wheel but doesn't know how to spin yet.
We have MILK!!! Erinn has a friend whose family bought a Nubian doe kid from us a couple years ago, and she kidded last Thursday with twins. Due to some problems with the kidding, and one kid dying, and the doe not acting right on Friday, I brought Mama and Baby over here to try to help them out. They are gone to school/work all day and it is very hard for them to take care of a sick animal. Also, they were going to be out of town for the weekend so wouldn't be able to care for Honey. They took her to the vet Friday evening, and she is now doing great. They don't need the milk right now and so they have graciously agreed to allow her to stay here for a few weeks! Yippee - fresh milk! We have been drinking frozen milk, and the supply was getting dangerously low. Scarlett isn't due to kid for several more weeks, and even then, she is just a first freshener so won't have near as much as this doe does. It will be a few more days before the milk doesn't taste like colostrum any more, and then we'll have FRESH MILK.
Sunday we got caught up on housework that had been neglected all week due to frantically getting ready for the soap booth.
In the afternoon I went and helped a friend butcher 5 large Maran roosters. She was very pleased with my method, which I learned from some other friends. I cant claim any credit for it, but it is a VERY effective, fast, and clean method! In return for the help, she gave me one of the roosters!
She has some lovely Tunis sheep - 4 ewes, and 1 ram so far. They are a dual purpose meat and milk breed. She plans to use the milk for cheese making. She just ordered a spinning wheel but doesn't know how to spin yet.
We have MILK!!! Erinn has a friend whose family bought a Nubian doe kid from us a couple years ago, and she kidded last Thursday with twins. Due to some problems with the kidding, and one kid dying, and the doe not acting right on Friday, I brought Mama and Baby over here to try to help them out. They are gone to school/work all day and it is very hard for them to take care of a sick animal. Also, they were going to be out of town for the weekend so wouldn't be able to care for Honey. They took her to the vet Friday evening, and she is now doing great. They don't need the milk right now and so they have graciously agreed to allow her to stay here for a few weeks! Yippee - fresh milk! We have been drinking frozen milk, and the supply was getting dangerously low. Scarlett isn't due to kid for several more weeks, and even then, she is just a first freshener so won't have near as much as this doe does. It will be a few more days before the milk doesn't taste like colostrum any more, and then we'll have FRESH MILK.
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