My Goats Eat Better Than Me!

I have decided owning goats makes you healthier!  That is a bold statement (that probably isn’t true of everyone), but for our family, there has been a tangible shift towards healthier living since bringing our goats home in May.

Even though I am a Registered Nurse and a mother of 4 young daughters, I admit I initially found goat care quite complicated! Having 5 baby goats was like having 5 human babies!  There was crying, bottle feeding, vaccinations, growth and development milestones, weaning, dietary transitions …

Navigating all the various recommendations about feed, vitamin and mineral supplements, medications, parasite and worm prevention, and herbal/organic versus commercial products was daunting to say the least.  There are a lot of strong and different opinions out there about how to properly care for goats. There doesn’t seem to be a manual, or clear set of directions, just a lot of personal preferences and “trusting your gut” philosophies. I desperately wanted to “get it right”, but I was confused and overwhelmed.

All of these decisions were being considered knowing that the milk from these goats was something I was ultimately intending to put on and in my body, my family’s bodies, and eventually those of our customers.  In the stress, I longed for simplicity and balance! I shared how I was feeling with our farm vet and she comforted me, “Food, water, and fresh air!”

So I began to simplify my approach, balancing natural, organic practices with the necessary modern medicine to ensure health and safety.  I started to have peace and a sense of confidence and satisfaction with my developing care plan.

Then I came to the realization, I was paying more attention to the health of my goats than my own!  Could I apply these same, intentional principles of simplicity and balance to our family’s diet?

Photo by Josh Hartman Photography

Our grocery choices had been largely budget and convenience driven, and I justified them to that end, but there was a considerable amount of waste.  

Whenever the kids started grumbling, “There is nothing to eat”, I would head to the store to stock up on more groceries.  When I got home and began to put the new purchases away, I would find half consumed containers of this and that shoved in the back of the fridge.  The convenient packaged and portable snack items had been gobbled up, but the fresh fruits had been neglected and gone to waste. Those vegetables I bought, for that dinner that I never got around to making that week, were moldy in the crisper drawer.

I decided to start shopping at a grocery store that offers more natural and organic food.  As I started to fill the fridge with healthier, raw, perishable choices, we began to approach snacks and meals differently.  We started following some accounts on Instagram that post pictures and recipes of delicious looking smoothie bowls. This became the girls’ breakfast of choice.  They are having so much fun experimenting with different fruits and toppings. We tried guava for the first time!

Now, a pack of Oreos or a carton of ice cream may still sneak into my cart from time to time - hey, remember the balance part - but overall, the contents of that cart have transformed from convenient, packaged foods to raw foods and products with minimal ingredient lists.  We still have a long way to go towards sourcing our food locally and being more self sustaining, but we are starting to pay more attention to what goes into our bodies!

The biggest change I notice is when the weekly shopping trip rolls around, everything from last week’s trip has been consumed. The fridge and pantry are actually empty.  And when I look at the healthy new choices we are filling it back up with, the satisfaction parallels the peace that has come with a simplified, balanced goat care plan.

And remember my vet’s recipe for success? Food, water, and fresh air?  Being outside, caring for the goats, has had its benefits too!  There has been a fair degree of sweat equity poured into this little farm and I can see a change in my body as a result. Every Sunday, the whole family is in the barn turning out stalls, washing buckets, freshening hay, trimming hooves, etc.  We are working hard together and that feels good for our bodies!

Healthy lifestyle choices are not a foreign concept to me, but it took being responsible for where our future food and body products are coming from to make it personal and intentional.  I am grateful for this experience and its benefits for my family. We are embracing a whole new lifestyle with this farming and business venture, and I am excited to share the result with you!