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You will have plenty of goats to feed you and your family and
others...Proverbs 27:27 The Garden JourneyOur Journey ::
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I love gardening about as much as goating … so blending my love of gardening and its benefits to the goats was a natural way of life for me. Please understand that this information is being given to encourage more and more folks to learn about herbs and tending to their goats in more natural atmospheres. This is a delicate area as most of us are part of the generations who have not learned about herbs for our pets or livestock as we grew up so it is a journey that will take quite some time. Every life journey must start with baby steps of knowledge so please do not try to grasp a little knowledge and run full blast with it as you will find yourself deep in the proverbial briar patch and your goats will pay the price for “a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.” Read all you can find, talk with folks that are on the same journey, and use the internet as the unlimited source of potential information that it is. Make changes in your pets or livestock management slowly and monitor the changes carefully. Your goats will teach you much about nutrition and life if you allow them to!
This information is not meant to give you the details – it is only meant to encourage you to begin an herbal journey with your goats and allow them to live less chemically and much more naturally. If you are using their milk for cooking, drinking, and/or soap making, you will tell the difference in its quality! The first and foremost point I would like to make very clear is that just because something is an herb or plant does not mean it is good for your goat. Many plants are poisonous for goats (i.e. azaleas, rhododendrons, crocus, jonquils, jasmine, daffodils, cherry trees, tomatoes and most plants in the nightshade family). So, please take the time to learn about the poisonous plants for your goats and check your land to be sure you are not allowing your goats to graze where it could be dangerous for them.
If you are growing herbs to feed your goats DO NOT PUT SPRAYS AND CHEMICALS on them. We have become a society that too quickly sprays for bugs and to enhance growth of plants. These chemicals can make the otherwise “good plants” toxic to your goats! For many years in England a “hedgerow” of herbs was grown between pastures to allow goats and other livestock to select the herbs they needed to maintain health. Perhaps it is time we do this once again by planting herbs around areas where our goats will graze. I have incorporated this by planting things around my goat pens such as roses, grapes, daylilies, a variety of other herbs such as comfrey, yarrow, bee balm, thyme, sage, lavender and sunflowers as well as blackberries and raspberries. I have an understanding with them – they get what goes inside the fence and I get what is outside. Please research each herb and plant carefully before including it in your planting. Some things (blueberries for instance) are very poisonous for the goat!
You can get some wonderful information about plants and the goat at Fiasco Farm website, and Hoeggers Supply. My favorite books on the subject include: The Complete Herbal Handbook For Farm and Stable by Juliette de Bairacli Levy, Natural Healing With Herbs by Humbart Santillo, Nutritional Herbology by Mark Pedersen, and Good Beginnings with Dairy Goats by J. E. Eberhardt. Even if you grow a garden for ourselves and the goats, you should consider participating in a Community Supported Agriculture program. Community Support Agriculture originated in Japan in the ‘60’s. It caught on in Europe 10 years later and made its way to the USA in the 80’s. The movement has really “caught fire” in the last five years as a way to provide a direct link between consumers and the local farmers. The goal is for small farms to have a way to survive and consumers to have a way to get amazingly fresh, high quality food. It has proven that the benefits reach even further into our communities by creating a bond within the members of the CSA and a more sustainable way of life for the community.
Members get a “members share” of the organic vegetables each week of the 25 week season. They are also given the opportunity to purchase pre-ordered sustainably raised meats, eggs, dairy and honey from partnering farms. They are given an opportunity to learn how to prepare, preserve and enjoy local, seasonal foods. Each members volunteers for work that will make the CSA a success for all. This can range from helping with harvests, working at distribution sites, planting, community outreach or events. CSA gives members a way to nurture the family’s relationship to the community, the food, and the land through workshops, festivals, newsletters, outreach activities and many other ways. If the program itself is not a good fit for your location and time available to participate, please support your local farmers markets. Many areas are cultivating these CSA programs so check with your Agricultural Agent for those in your area. In the Piedmont Triad, Goat Lady Dairy has a wonderful program started (contact them at info@goatladydairy.com for more information).
Winters Moon
© 2011, Winters Moon & Gloria Winters.
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