Meet Our New Goat Gretchen

Gretchen the goat lives up the street at a Mennonite Farm. She's pretty and has a sweet temperment. When she hears my voice she baas, being a very social animal. She shares her pasture with a horse and a pony and a herd of goats, and her barn stall with another goat named Blockie. It's Pennsylvania Dutch for something I've forgotten but is also a play on words for Blockhead in English because she's stubborn.

She gives just under a gallon of milk per day which Mrs. B filters and puts it in 2 quart jars for me to pick up later in the day, or the next day.  When I accumulate some leftover milk we didn't use, then I make some cottage cheese or vinegar cheese or paneer. It's delicious.

Six children and I - we drink a lot of goat milk. My husband still purchases cow's milk for himself. I just shake my head. We're so glad to move along and not have stomach aches and diarrhea. The enzymes in the raw milk also make a difference in my GERD. Reflux happens less with the raw milk in my diet -- and that's a good thing when I am sleeping.

Daniel, our toddler aka Dannyboy, also drinks more milk when it's raw goat milk. He drank some storebought ultrapasteurized goat milk and I'm grateful for it, but he clearly did not savor it as I had to keep pushing the milk on him to get a glass down. He just increased his breastfeeding to make up for it. That wasn't quite my very longterm goal for him since he'll be two years old in October.

Between the raw goat milk and some powdered goat milk in storage we should get through the coming winter just fine with our Dannyboy. No more soy milk sickness for him, or me.