As we begin our new venture of offering goat/farm-based education, we expect to learn a great deal ourselves in the process! We’ll share those learnings as we can through this blog. To start, here are some initial impressions from Ellen Frye, LexFarm’s Board liaison to the goat yard…

Ionia is every bit the “queen” who reigns over our small herd of Nigerian goats. She has also been teaching her LexFarm caretakers Ben Schlosser and Sofia McDonald Games some special life lessons she feels they need to know…besides the basics they’ve been taught about feeding, housing, and milking. They have been listening to Ionia, and one big lesson they have learned is that things (including milk production) happen in their own good time (or at least Ionia’s good time).

Ionia, her own three doe kids, and a young buck, arrived at their new home in mid September, and they’ve needed to settle in. “Ionia made it clear to us from the start,” says Ben, “don’t expect a new experience to work instantly.” So now Ben and Sofia are letting Ionia set the pace—the goat pace—and are moving the small herd forward with the help of the queen.  “It’s been quite an experience; each day we learn something new, and Ionia occasionally gives us what seems like a wink and a nod…not to mention her own fresh milk,” says Ben.

For more information on LexFarm’s Goat Yard, please see this page.