Ah-hah! The long awaited moment is finally here! I’ve dreamed of a goat dairy farm for YEARS! This is every homesteading hobbiest’s dream! A goat is not just any livestock. Goats are quirky and personable. They wag their tales when they see you and come running out to greet you. They are eager to please and curious little lifeforms. So, you see, owning a goat dairy farm, for me, is perfect. It’s like having the most adorable pets, but also getting to harvest something sustainable from them! Amazing!
We spent all spring last year, 2020, gathering our little goat babies, with the intentions of raising them up, in a safe, closed herd, and breeding from there. So, with most farming, and business alike, I’ve come to find out, beginning a new endeavor takes time and patience and more of an upfront investment and a return later. But by doing it this way, and having a bit more patience, we keep a healthy, happy goat herd and control the breeding ourselves; allowing us to carefully select which doe we expose to who. Also, by growing out our goat herd organically, it takes more time and patience to do so.
We decided to expose Druzy as our first freshener (first time mom/milker). The main reason-when we got Druzy, she was a packaged deal and came with Moonstone (at the time, Moonstone was a 12 week buckling we selected for our sire for the Nigerian dwarf herd). We see why Druzy was a “deal”. She is absolutely gorgeous. Naturally polled (born with no horns and never will grow horns). And petite. Perfect for throwing petite, little, desirable baby goats (kids). However, she was skittish. She was not bottle-raised. She was dam raised (by mama) and in a pasture. So, for a goat, if you don’t interact with them closely, like most animals, they get used to not being around humans, and therefore become scared of humans, making it more difficult to work with. So, we thought, Druzy would be the first girl to try this breeding thing with, to see if we can get her in milk, and maybe by milking her, daily, she would become less skittish. Which is happening! And she is in milk! And I may have to wrestle her down to the milking station everyday, but we’re getting there! We are all so thrilled that with time, patience, and some heartache (read previous post), our little dairy farm is now officially in production, thanks to Druzy and her sacrifice.
The WCF Market (wcfmarket.com) will feature homemade, homesteaded, simple daily cleansing/washing products from our dairy goats. I know exactly what I want to make and can see it now!!So, since we are collecting a bit over a quart of milk a day, it adds up quickly! We decided to get to work quicker than initially imagined (that’s how all businesses can go…striking while the iron is hot!) so we do not waist the milk. Plus-I’m already jumping at the chance to learn how to use this amazing milk product and to get the opportunity to share the medicinal benefits of goat milk with others!
So I got to brainstorming and created a list (I love lists!) to keep a focused note of the products we want to sell. I reviewed my list and figured that the goat milk bath bombs we wanted on our market page, would be a good starting point. The first (and most important step) to making goat milk bath bombs, is to dehydrate the milk. Yay! A new learning experience about my favorite thing of all time! Food Preservation! Oh this is my truest passion in life! My most favorite pleasure! And a joy I share with my equally passionate husband on the matter! You didn’t have to ask me twice to learn how to dehydrate milk…not only to dehydrate it for the making of the bath bombs…but to also have abother tool in my belt of a way to preserve it. Because on a farm, there is (hopefully) always a surplus amount of product, and you just have to figure out how to preserve things, or you’ll lose them.
After the whole process was complete; from the milk being dehydrated, to the bombs being assembled and dried…we knew right away what our bath bombs should be called. Biscuit bombs! Because they literally looked like a pan of rising biscuit dough, when we were done. 😂
Today, I wanted to chat about not making the bath bombs themselves, but how to complete the first step, which is dehydrating the milk. This is a long process, and no processes we do on the farm are quick. That’s the whole point. I enjoy learning about the old ways of preserving and farming. It also adds that extra step of labor and love that goes into another product, here, at WCF. You can do this at home, too, with regular cows milk or any goat milk you may have laying around, yourself! If you need milk to try this yourself, we’d be happy to sell you some. Haha!
For WCF’s Biscuit Bombs…I first, milked our Nigerian Dwarf goat, Druzy. Because she is a first freshener (first time mom/Milker) and I am a first time milker, we’re learning all of this together, as we go!
My absolute favorite “hobby”, as I’ve mentioned before, and joy in life are all things homesteading! I have a crazy, insatiable desire to learn; and a passion for living simply. So, naturally, I HAD to dehydrate 2 quarts of milk, by HAND, to make the biscuit bombs! This is also another excellent way to preserve your surpluses of milk!
I’d definitely say it was a labor of love. My favorite way to show I care. To do something entirely by hand. To labor. For you.
It took about 24 hours and included pictures to kind of show the process! (Yes you can also use a food dehydrator!)
I’ll definitely be incorporating this into my weekly routine on the farm.
Goat Milk Dehydration How-To
Items Needed:
Oven-safe shallow pans
Oven or food dehydrator
Goat’s Milk (I used 2 quarts)
Bowl
Sifter
Blender/food processor
Parchment Paper
Time:
Just like with any homesteading hobby, this takes time! The process is old fashioned. And, yes, you can buy powdered/dehydrated milk from the store, already. Probably with added preservatives. But the point of this is to learn the ways of our ancestors and to keep these old traditions alive! So this whole process takes about 24 hours.
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting. For me, my oven goes down to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. While your oven is preheating, pour your milk into your pans. You can use multiple oven-safe pans in any material. Just do not fill the pan with more than an inch of milk. This allows for quicker drying times.
3. Set your pans of milk in the oven and keep the door to your oven cracked at all times to allow for air flow and quicker absorption of moisture. Note: if your oven has a fan…no need to crack the door! Make sure the fan feature is turned on!
4. And now it’s time to wait! You’ll want to stir your milk as often as you can. This will help the evaporation process as well. You’re watching, and waiting, for the milk to start to form a paste. For me, this took about 10 hours, or more, to get there. Once it is there-it’s time to move the paste to a parchment-lined cookie sheet!
5. Take the milk paste and spread it out on your parchment paper, on your cookie sheets and place back into the oven until complete dryness is achieved. No need to stir at this point. For me, this process from paste to dry sheets was another 10-15 hours.
6. You’ll know your dried milk sheets are dried out, when you can easily snap the milk in pieces. If there’s some bend still, put it back in the oven to continue to dry.
7. At this point, you’ll want to transfer your milk sheets to a blender or food processor. Blend the milk until dry and crumbly like sand.
8. I then take the crumbly milk and run it through a sifter for finer grains, still.
9. And that’s it! You made it! Store your milk powder in a dry, air tight container. Homemade dehydrated milk will keep this way in a cabinet/on a shelf for up to 2 years! Wow! What a great way to preserve milk! And to use not just in food but also perfect for making bath bombs and bath salts!
Additional Notes- if you are using a food dehydrator-all the steps are the same, however you’d pour your milk into your dehydrator. If your food dehydrator has slots in the trays, line your trays with parchment or silicone mats, to keep the milk pooled in the trays.
Friendly city slicker reminder: whenever you purchase a good from a local farm, remember you’re not just paying for the amazing, local, medicinal, whole product…you’re also paying for the labor and care involved in producing the product, and the feed, love, and shelter for the animal.
Not into doing this process yourself? That’s ok! It’s not for everyone! If you’d like to experience a goat milk bath bomb made from powdered goat milk, please visit www.wcfmarket.com to purchase one!