Due to the overwhelming response to my donkey posts I've decided to move them all to a new site all for themselves.
You can find this article and many others about donkeys here
Sorry for any inconvenience.
Showing posts with label Donkey Milk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donkey Milk. Show all posts
Things to know about Donkeys
Due to the overwhelming interest in my donkey post I've decided to give them a site all for themselves.
You can find this post and others here
Sorry for any inconvenience
Creating Farm Businesses
From homestead to small subsistence farm and now to the farm business.
Our wild ride in different homesteading/farming ventures has been a blast of successes and crushing times of utter defeats!
Now this new year, as I've stated in other posts, brings more changes and it feels so overwhelming but totally exciting.
For 2017 Gods Blessing Farm is now Gods Blessing Farm LLC.
The milking donkey herd is getting bigger and the donkey milk soap business is a major undertaking. You can try some out yourself here Donkey Milk Soap
Check out my board for some soap making business ideas if its a business you are thinking about! Soap Making Business
The Ever Changing Homestead
For this to get bigger other things must get smaller. Management of time has never been more critical. So there will be No other dairy animal projects and no additional poultry projects.
To be honest, Over the years I'm realizing that my gardening and poultry efforts are ...
Well.... A bit too large!
Ok much too large!!! 2 people do not need to raise over 80 goslings a year with no intent to sell them!
And 2 people do not need the huge and extensive amounts of food I grow in my garden.
So these things get much smaller and some things will get eliminated.
Other dairy animals I wanted, unfortunately, there's no time for me to dedicate there. The donkey milk is superior in skin care and I can't digest other milk like donkey milk so the focus has to be on what keeps me healthy and makes the best product.
I'll raise about half of the grain corn and veggies that I raised last year and the more difficult things to grow, like things that aren't right for this climate but I've learned hacks to grow them anyways, will not be planted.
I love my gardens and growing but I got to refocus on what most important. The ever-changing goals of the homesteader!
I will only incubate some quail next fall for replacements but all other hatchings will be left to the birds themselves. Thankfully my Pilgrim geese and Muscovy ducks are excellent mothers and need no help from me!
My poultry efforts will be very very tiny.
I feel good that we reached an amazing goal of growing over 90% of our own foods here. This year that will be a smaller number. I'm good with that and looking forward to local sourcing from other farmers what I've decided to no longer grow.
I feel the need to move on to other farm goals and challenges. I feel like these challenges have been put in from of me for a reason and I need to pursue them.
Check out my Pilgrim goose post here though. Best goos ever! The Pilgrim Goose
The Meishan Pig Business
My husbands' farm challenges and goals with the Meishans have also grown and changed somewhat. The Meishan offers opportunities that the American Guinea hogs could not offer.
Having to be given the opportunity to preserve these extremely rare, diverse genetics and get them into the hands of other farmers is a huge undertaking.
When I saw my husbands breeding schedule for the 2017 Meishans it was terrifying at first look!!
The Meishans are a big part of the farm business. They are such wonderful pigs that I don't even mind having half our farm be a *pig farm*!
He's put a lot of work into them. If you would like to learn more he has a great youtube channel where you can see them in action.. or lack of action! Meishan sleep a lot!
They are mostly my husbands' responsibility and as the Meishans get bigger other stuff he does must get smaller. It's all about balance and dedication to the opportunity given.
There's much to be organized, much to be built and expanded and certainly, much to be learned with these new farm ventures we believe the Lord has led us too.
It's a new day....
God is Good
Starting a homestead soap business
We have much going on for the coming 2017!
The Meishans and Donkeys are certainly taking over here!
And I'm super excited about my new Etsy shop! check it out in the link below!
And I'm super excited about my new Etsy shop! check it out in the link below!
Our first batches of donkey milk soap sold out quickly! And more is curing and being made as fast as we can!
As a professional licensed Esthetician, it thrills me to be able to work with such amazing natural skin care ingredient!!
As a farmer, I'm blessed that I have the ability to produce this milk myself so I know first hand that the donkeys the milk is taken from are loved and fed the best natural foods. And my milking donkeys are chemical free!
Another goal for 2017 is My herb gardens will also be expanding as I find the need for more of my own medicinal herbs and I want to grow more herbs for the soap line. Herbs and Donkey milk do work so well together! Of course, lard from our Meishan pigs is another farm product raised here. A lard hog is such a wonderful thing for a soap business!
Having a soap business side hustle can be a great way to bring in extra cash to the homestead!
Especially when I grow SO much of the things that go into my soaps!
To find out more about Meishan pigs (best homestead niche hog ever!) check out the breeders association Why Meishan Pigs? and one of our previous post on the hog here Make mine Meishan
Of course, I have info on milking donkeys here on our blog like this one Milking Donkey
Check out my soap making business board on Pinterest too! Soap Making Business Tips
And this board on Donkey milk Benefits Donkey Milk Soap Info Board
Here's a board for Herb garden Ideas too! Herb Garden Plans and Tips
Good quality herbs are hard to find and expensive. Many are stale by the time they get to you and their effectiveness isn't very good. Growing your own herbs is so easy!
If I do honey soap we have our own honey and beeswax, my egg white facial soap is made from our own eggs.
As you can see my cost for a bar of soap is very low and we get the benefits of having these other homegrown products!
If you're interested in milking donkey on your own farm a good place to start is with my ebook Donkey Care Primer which can provide you with info you need to know before you bring home a donkey!
As always thankful to God for the wonderful opportunities he has put in front of us! All the glory is His!
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