Welcome to Blue House Farm

2009 babies

We are a family in North Hero Vermont who care about where our food comes from.   We started homesteading in 2008 by raising our own eggs and poultry, and now we are producing our own dairy foods with luscious milk from our American Saanen does, Sunrise (Sunny), Breeze, Susannah, and new to our herd in 2009, Serenade. These lovelies bless us each day with more clean fresh goat milk than we can consume by ourselves. And so, we enjoy sharing our abundance with our Champlain Islands (and beyond!) neighbors.

We are also able to share cheese-making ingredients and eggs from our many chickens, turkeys, and soon ducks.

In addition to our four saanen does, we have a growing herd of fullblood and percentage boer goats.  We were thrilled in early April 2009 with the arrival of 8 goat kids all sired by our handsome red fullblood buck Cherokee.  And in 2010 we added Russell, our handsome fullblood Kiko buck to the mix. Russell sired 10 goat kids in 2010.  

Later in 2010 we will have goat meat (cabrito, chevon) to enjoy.

Being new to a homesteading lifestyle, we decided to raise goats for dairy and meat because we learned through a lot of research that pound-for-pound, goats are the most efficient livestock animal for converting grass/forage to food.

Below are some links to websites where we have learned a lot about goat milk and raw milk. We are drinking our girls� milk every day, and making cheese, yogurt, butter, buttermilk and kefir. Truth be told, we were a little nervous at first that milk from our goats would not taste as �clean� as store-bought milk that we have been buying and enjoying for years. But we have found (happily) that our fresh goat milk tastes delicious! It is not appreciably different from grocery store milk: only fresher and richer. 

Because ours is fresh un-pasteurized milk, it is a LIVING FOOD.  A similar comparison would be that of a raw apple to applesauce.  The living food is replete with all its original vitamins and minerals, plus enzymes, pre- and probiotic  we need for a healthy and efficient digestive system.   As such, it will be tasty and good for us for a very long time.   Compared to the cooked food (pasteurized), all of the beneficial living components have been cooked and killed.  Some vitamins and minerals are still there (though in diminished quantities, and altered by heat), but the food, having lost its beneficial enzymes and bacteria, begins to decompose immediately after pasteurizing.  Refrigeration slows this process down.  But more importantly, the loss of those enzymes and probiotics and heat alteration of the natural proteins and sugars makes the milk less nourishing to our bodies, and slightly toxic for some people.

If you would like to sample our milk, please stop by and have a taste!

For some excellent reading about raw milk and nutrition, please check out the links below.

Info about Raw Milk and Raw Goat Milk in particular from Fias Co Farm.

Goat Milk Nutritional Information

First-Time Taste Deal: If you have never tried fresh goat milk, we offer a first-taste quart of milk for $1, in your container.

Individual:  $8/Gallon.  Get a dozen eggs for $2 if you buy a gallon.  $5 deposit on bottles & lids, or use your own.

                   $5/Half.  Same deposit.

                   $3/Quart.  $2 deposit

Standing Orders:  $28 + $2 deposit for 4 weeks.  1 gal/week.  We ask that you always pick up your order on the same day of the week, and please give us as much advance notice as you can if you need to change that.

Cheese Culture: $2/packet, with a gallon of milk.  1 packet will inoculate 1-2 gallons of milk.  1 gallon of milk makes about 1.5 lbs of creamy chevre.

Eggs: $3/doz, or $2/doz with a gallon of milk.

For Late Fall and Winter months, our milk is available on a more limited basis.  However, with the addition of Serenade to our dairy herd, we plan to have more available in 2010-2011.  Stay tuned.

If you would like to try making cheese or yogurt, we can help.  We have several types of cheese and yogurt cultures, and veal rennet on hand for you to try, and lots of resources to help you get started.  Come by for a taste of what we have made and you can make some too!

Eggs

We have lots of busy hens at our farm, and plenty of eggs to share.

Our eggs are fertile and ungraded..

Fertile means that in general a rooster has been living with the hens and the eggs are fertilized.  We generally keep the roosters away from the hens, but sometimes accidents happen.  So most of our eggs are infertile but some may not be.  If you want fertile eggs we can certainly provide them.
Ungraded means that we haven�t weighed them and categorized them as medium, large, extra large or jumbo, as eggs in the grocery store are. 

In general our eggs are light brown to brown, large to extra large.  Although occasionally they are extremely large.  Speaking of large, we also have some turkey eggs to eat.

Heritage Turkeys

This year we have a small number of heritage breed turkeys for sale.  We will sell them early in the fall for you to finish yourself for $40.  Later, closer to the holidays we will have a small number of birds ready for your oven.

Chicks and Hatching Eggs

Our (Suzanne�s) unbridled enthusiasm for chickens has resulted in too many eggs (see above) and a nice variety of colorful and productive poultry breeds.  In our henhouse you will find Delawares (ALBC critical), Buff Orpingtion (recovering), Black Australorp (recovering), NH Red (watch), Americauna, Silver-laced, Golden-laced , and Blue-laced Red Wyandotte (recovering), and Buckeye (critical).  I think that�s all. 

If you are interested in raising your own flock for eggs or meat or both, let�s talk!! I may be able to provide you with chicks or hatching eggs. 

About our website

It is bare bones today!! Keep coming back; we will be improving and filling in as time permits.

Thanks for visiting!!

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