[peaceful music]
- Inga Witscher: Let's go boss, g
ood boss.
Come on, girls.
Go boss, go boss, go boss, go
boss, go boss.
Come on, girls.
Welcome to the farm!
You know I love my dairy cows.
I've been farming my whole li
fe and I just love cows.
But I wanted to explore some
different animals
so today, I've decided to vis
it with some goat farms.
First, I'm gonna be heading out
to a farmstead goat creamery
to learn about goat milk cheese
and then, I'm gonna see
how goats can restore native
prairie
and finally, I'm gonna learn
about goat milk soap.
Gather with us, Around the F
arm Table.
I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
Good morning, girls.
I'm Inga and I love everything
about farming.
Midwestern farms are
a bounty of good food made b
y good people.
I love being able to travel
to search out good ingredients.
Cooking is all about what's s
easonal, what's fresh.
Every day can be filled with go
od food,
good friends, and a beautifu
l herd of cows.
Welcome to the farm!
[affectionately to cow] Good
girl!
-Around the Farm Table
is funded in part by
Wisconsin Farmers Union,
united to grow family agricul
ture,
Heartland Credit Union,
Focus Funds for Wisconsin Pr
ogramming,
and Friends of Wisconsin Publ
ic Television.
[birds chirping, peaceful music]
- When I start to put the cows
back out on pasture after a
long winter,
I know it's time to start harve
sting nettles.
Nettles are an amazing wild
food.
They're so abundant here on my
farm,
and I'm sure probably in your
own backyard too.
They're delicious to eat
and they're extremely healthy
for you.
So, nettles, you might also
know them as "burning weed."
I think that's what people call
them in the Midwest.
They're a stinging nettle, so
they will sting you
if you just grab them withou
t any gloves on.
You might be saying, "Well, w
hy in the heck
"would you want to eat these we
eds?"
Because they're delicious, th
ey're full of iron,
they're full of minerals.
They're really, really good
for you
and it's one of the first nice g
reens of the year.
So, we use them in everything.
We use them in soups, we use
them in egg dishes, sautés.
Today, I'm gonna be making a
nettle cake,
and before you think that is the
craziest idea, just wait.
It tastes delicious.
So, when I'm harvesting my n
ettles,
I harvest the top leaves.
Those are the tastiest, the
most tender leaves.
As the summer progresses,
the nettles will get a little
bit hairier and more fibrous
and then I stop using them
because I'm kind of nettled ou
t by that time.
Nettles, to me, are like tom
atoes,
I wanna eat enough tomatoes
in August and September
that I'm so sick of eating f
resh tomatoes,
I don't wanna eat them again 't
il the following summer
when they're delicious again.
But I really encourage you to
eat them
because, well heck, they're
free,
they're everywhere, they're ab
undant,
and it's kind of fun.
When we get this bag to the kit
chen,
I'm just gonna do a nice...
I'll throw these either in boil
ing water
or just rinse them with hot w
ater
and that takes the sting out of
them.
Well, I'm gonna put these back
in the kitchen
and then we're gonna go on a li
ttle goat adventure.
[folksy music]
For my first stop, I traveled
to Cross Plains
to the Dreamfarm to meet with D
iana,
a goat farmer
and cheese maker.
- Hi, Diana. - Hi, Inga.
- Nice to see you. - Good to
see you.
Welcome to Dreamfarm. - Than
k you.
I'd love to check out the goats
.
- Diana: They'd love to gree
t you.
- Inga: Dreamfarm is nestled
on 25 acres of rolling hills
which provide perfect pastures
for a herd of playful dairy g
oats.
Oooh, hi, hi.
Diana milks her goats daily,
and she uses that milk to pro
duce a variety
of artisanal hand-crafted goat
cheeses
and she sells those cheeses to
local stores and restaurants.
This is so fun to be out here
with the goats
and just to be on the farm here.
They're so sweet.
- Goats have great personalitie
s, they love people.
- They really do, and as I was w
alking up,
I saw them kind of just playi
ng together
and you can't help but smile
being around these.
- Diana: Most times, they mak
e you smile.
- How did you find yourself
getting into the cheese business
and getting into being a goat f
armer?
- Well, it's a long story but
the short of the story is,
we were living in a rural sett
ing
and we got some goats for ou
r kids
and bred the goats, had milk,
and had extra milk so decide
d to make cheese,
and I was sharing it with the fa
rm where I was working at,
at the time, that had a CSA
they asked me if I'd be inte
rested in providing cheese
along with their vegetable sele
ctions
and I thought, that'd be a g
reat opportunity.
- Can you explain what farmst
ead cheese is
for people that don't know?
- Diana: Farmstead cheese is m
ade from the milk
produced only on your farm.
We don't purchase any outside mi
lk.
- Inga: So, you're doing the
milking,
you're doing the feeding, the
taking care of the goats
and you're also doing the ch
eese making too?
- Diana: Right.
- I like that system because
I think it allows you to be
a little bit more intimate with
that cheese
and the cheese is gonna be
a little bit different each tim
e, right?
Depending on what the goats ar
e eating?
- And the seasons,
and the stage of lactation that
they're in.
- Okay, goats have a little b
it more butterfat,
is that right? Than dairy cows?
- It depends on the breed.
- Oh, okay, just like cows.
- Just like cow breeds.
The Jersey has higher butterfat
versus Holsteins,
the Nubians have more butterfat
than the Alpines
so that's why I choose to do
a mix of Alpine and Nubians.
- Okay, what is it about farming
and cheese making
that really just, that inspir
es you, keeps you going?
- Diana: I think to wake up
every morning
and just step outside into the
beautiful environment
that you have to work with
and then being greeted by these
animals.
I can't imagine a morning not
being shared with the animals.
- Inga: For sure.
- And then, just having that
opportunity to provide food
for other people is really a humb
ling experience.
- That's really beautiful.
Well, I am so excited to see
your creamery
if that's possible
and just spend a little bit
more time here
with these beautiful goats.
- I'd love to show you.
[light peaceful music]
- There's so many different
varieties of cheeses
that you can make.
Can you explain to me what t
his variety is
and how you make it?
What's the process?
- This is called a fresh chèvre,
or a fresh goat cheese.
So, it actually started yest
erday,
we brought the milk up from
the milk house
in our boat cooler,
brought it up in buckets, dump
ed it into this facility,
which is a vat pasteurizer.
- Okay.
- So, because it's a fresh chee
se it has to be pasteurized.
We got through the pasteuriza
tion
and then we add a little bit of
starter culture
to get some good bacteria
breaking down that lactic acid
in the milk.
And then add a little bit of
rennet,
and then it's set in here over
night.
And this morning, lift up the
lid
and you've got this nice vat
of soft curd.
And I take that curd and scoop
it out with this ladle
into these cloth lined baskets
and it'll drain here until to
morrow morning.
Then we'll take it out of the
cheese cloths.
It'll have a consistency of
like a cream cheese texture.
We'll put it into bowls, add sa
lt, add herbs
and then package it into indivi
dual containers,
ready for sale.
- This has been so inspiring
to learn about all this
and to be here and to see that
it can actually happen
for me to have a small creamery
as well,
so thank you for spending the ti
me with me.
- You're welcome, thank you
for your interest.
- Well let's head on down the ro
ad
and check out some more goats.
[light peaceful music]
After meeting with Diana and he
r dairy goats,
I took a ride up a steep rid
ge with Jesse.
Jesse and Jay are a husband
and wife team of ecologists
who manage several herds of g
oats.
- Come on goats, let's see some
goats.
- Inga: They put their goats to
work,
clearing brush and controllin
g invasive species
as they preserve and rehabili
tate natural areas.
[goat bleats]
This is so spectacular to s
ee these views
and be up on this ridge.
Can you tell folks where exac
tly we are?
- Yeah, this the Hogback State
Natural Area.
We're in Central Crawford County
which is the heart of the Dri
ftless Area.
We're actually on a ridge
which used to be part of the
Kickapoo River Valley
but tens of thousands of yea
rs ago,
the river cut through the bluff
about a mile to the south of us
and left this part of the ri
ver valley dry
so we have this spectacular view
of this huge river valley with
no river in it.
The Hogback itself is one of
the finest examples
of dry prairie left in the st
ate.
- Ingrid: So, what I'm lookin
g at here,
this is all native to Wisconsin?
All these plants.
- It's a mixture of the native
prairie plants
that have been here for mille
nnia
and then things that have bee
n brought in
since Euro-settlement,
so we have all of the common i
nvasive species.
One of the main reasons the
goats are here
in all this shrubbery behind us,
is exotic bush honeysuckle.
It was brought in as an ornament
al.
'Til a few years ago, you could
buy it at every garden store
and the birds poop it out, th
en it's everywhere
and become a very, very serio
us issue.
Prior to using goats, we used
chainsaws and herbicide,
and fire.
Many of the sites are too rugg
ed to use machinery
and so, really, your only op
tion is hand labor.
This site, for instance, prescr
ibed fire
just won't carry through this bru
sh layer.
We're using grazers as a surro
gate for fire.
This area would've burned nea
rly annually
so once a year, there would
have been a great disturbance.
Wildfire, they came through
and it top-killed all of the bru
sh
and let the prairie flourish
and because this site has a
federally endangered butterfly,
there's some apprehension to b
urning too much.
- What is that butterfly?
- Jesse: The regal fritillary.
- Inga: That's a mouthful.
- Jesse: Yeah, it's only known
from just a few places
on earth.
- Inga: Really?
- Jesse: Very rare, federall
y endangered butterfly.
Goaty goats!
T-1000.
- Can I pet you?
Will you let me pet you?
Some scratches up here.
Come here, sweetie, look at
this.
- So, do you consider yourself
to be a farmer?
- Yeah, absolutely.
When we first got goats, we boug
ht a dozen
to see if we could use them t
o manage natural area
because that's what our business
had done for over a decade
but now that we have hundreds
of goats,
I'm very much a farmer.
- So, do you like goats, do you
like working with them?
I've always had cows which I
think are the most docile,
easiest things to work with.
- Over the last 20 years,
we had employees for most of th
is time
and goats are, to some degree,
easier to manage.
[laughing]
- I wish I could teach them ho
w to milk cows. [laughing]
My whole dairy farm career, pe
ople have been saying,
"You should get goats instead
of cows,
"because they're so much easier
to work with."
And I think, boy,
if my cows are out of their f
ences all the time,
I don't think I could manage fe
ncing for goats
'cause they're climbing ever
ywhere and everything.
- We have cows on our own farm,
and I would have to say
that raising cattle's easier
than raising goats.
- Yeah, but the goats are so
much friendly,
or they have this appeal that i
s just so lovely.
- They have a personality, th
ey seem to think quicker,
and they seem to be more social.
They're more like a dog.
[goats bleating]
- My cows will come up to me
in the pasture
as long as I have a little tre
at for 'em,
and then they'll make me scratc
h 'em forever.
But if I'm out of treats, they
're just like "Forget it."
- Yeah, we have goats that y
ou can call individually,
and some of my best friends
are goats.
[laughing]
- Well, thank you so much!
This was just such an inspir
ation.
- Thanks for coming out.
- Well now it's time for me t
o get off this ridge
and on to our next stop.
From the hills of southeastern
Wisconsin,
I traveled to a farmstead in t
he North Woods
where Julie takes loving care
of her small herd of goats.
When she realized they were pr
oducing more milk
than her family could drink,
Julie found a new way to get
value out of her dairy goats.
[light melodic music]
[door opens and closes]
Hello, Julie. - Hi, Inga.
- May I have a seat? - Absolu
tely.
- Nice to see you. - You too.
- I see I've come just in time
for milking.
- You have, you have.
- So, I've just been really fe
eling intrigued
by goats lately
and I've been trying to visit
as many as I can,
so immediately I thought,
I need to come out and see Ju
lie.
- Thank you.
- Goat milking is a little di
fferent than cow milking.
- Less than half the work.
- My cows will typically milk
about 25 pounds a day
when they get on good pasture,
it goes way up.
But how much do goats do?
- Well, right now I'm probably
getting
about a pound a half a day
but that's because the kids a
re with her
and they're drinking a lot of
milk.
- This year, I'm experimenting
with having my calves with t
he cows
which I know a lot of people
do
and boy, are they healthy.
- Yes, they are.
- I don't mind sacrificing that
little bit of milk,
I'm sure you don't either.
- Not at all, not at all. - Ye
ah, for healthy babies.
- That's right.
- So, how did you get into go
at milking and goat farming?
- Well, I grew up in Appleton,
which is not exactly farming co
untry,
but my great grandparents had
a farm
just outside of Berlin, Wiscon
sin
and it was my favorite place in
the whole wide world.
My great grandma Lucy was ther
e as I was growing up,
and she had tons of animals
and I decided then and there,
that that's what I wanted for my
life when I could.
- There is something amazing,
isn't there,
about being on a farm?
- There certainly is.
- I was lucky enough to grow
up on a farm
and I find a lot of people wi
ll say to me,
"Well, and then you decided to
be a farmer?"
Well, I decided to be a hair
dresser,
but I failed out of beauty sc
hool, so I became a farmer.
[laughing]
But now I find that I have th
at need for those animals.
I need to be around it, and
I enjoy milking.
- I do too, I do too.
- How did you decide on goats?
- Julie: Well, I had a neighb
or who had baby goats
and as you know, there's nothin
g cuter than a baby goat.
- Inga: Oh, I know, I know.
- And that was the start of us
getting two goats
which has turned into many mor
e over the years.
- I don't blame you.
I've been spending a little bit
more time with goats,
and I have Jersey cows which
have these big personalities,
but the goats are so friendly.
- They certainly are, yes.
- It's just such a nice feeling
that they're--
I feel needed. [laughing]
- Julie: It's like having a bi
gger Golden Retriever.
[laughing]
- So how did you decide on s
oap making?
- Well, we had started to do
farming
back in the early 2000s
and were wondering about how to
make things profitable.
At that time, we had a gentle
man come up
from the department of Ag, Tr
ade, and Consumer Protection
to help us with our financials
and when he found out we had goa
ts,
he told my husband
he could just take his wallet
out of his pocket,
shake all the money out on the
table,
'cause he'd never see it again.
[laughing]
And a few months later, I wa
s in Eau Claire
at theValue Added Farmin
g Conference
and met Tony and Della Ens from
down near Brodhead.
They had a grant to teach seve
ral other farm families
how to make goat milk soap
and I thought that sounded re
ally interesting,
so I went down and spent time
with them and their farm
and learned how to make soap
and I've been doing it ever s
ince.
- And really turned it into
a business.
- Julie: Yes, I did.
- That is so, for me,
we went through this barn fi
re thing
and the creamery burning down,
and now I'm sort of having to j
ust stay strong emotionally,
and meeting with ladies like
you,
hearing your story and seeing
the success that you've had,
I can't even tell you how mu
ch it's helped me
and really said to me, "Hey, it
's gonna happen.
It can happen."
Because there's no way I'm go
nna give up my cows,
and I might be having some g
oats soon, too.
I'm not gonna give those up.
So, I have to keep figuring o
ut a way--
- Well, we can help you with
that.
- That must have been nice ra
ising a family, too,
and having that flexibility.
- It was very nice.
Our kids were in grade school
at the time
and when I first started making
soap,
I made it in our regular kitch
en.
My concern at the time was, i
n order to make soap,
you have to use lye
and I was concerned about havi
ng my kids around that.
- 'Cause lye is, like, a chem
ical, right?
- Yes, a very caustic chemical
so I wear gloves
and I'm very careful when I do
that part of the process.
And I was doing it in our own
kitchen,
but I would only do it
during the hours my kids were i
n school
and would have to clean ever
ything up real good
by the time they got home.
And a number of years ago, we
built a dedicated soap kitchen
off the back of our garage
which has a door that locks
so I can leave my mess behind,
[laughing] keep it safe.
- This is wonderful.
I would love to see where you
make the soap, if that's okay?
- Oh, I'd be delighted to sha
re that with you.
[light guitar music]
- So, these soaps look amazin
g, they're so fun
and beautiful.
It looks like it's an easy th
ing to do.
When I think of soap making,
I think "Oh, you can just throw
it together."
What's the process?
- Well it actually takes at lea
st four to six weeks
from start to finish.
- That's crazy. - I know.
[Inga laughs]
So, I start by making just a
big plain bar
and to do that, I have to us
e frozen goat milk
and combine that with lye.
If I didn't use the milk frozen,
the lye would heat up so hot
that there would be a burnt
orange chemical reaction to it.
So, I have those in the sink
and then on the stove,
I'm melting all my oils and
bringing them to temperature.
And when those two products ar
e ready to be combined,
I put them together in a lar
ge pot.
I use a electric drill with a
paint stirrer on the end
for about 10 minutes,
then pour all that into a big T
upperware container.
The Tupperware container sits for
24 hours
so that the soap will harden
and there's a chemical process
calledsaponification
where the lye no longer is caus
tic.
That comes out of the Tupperware
and sits on the shelf to dry
for about four to six weeks.
At the end of that time,
I bring the soap up to the s
oap kitchen,
I cut the bar into big slices,
put it through the food process
or and grate it,
put it back on the stove for a se
cond melt
and if you've ever heard of Fre
nch milled soaps,
it means they've been melted
more than once
and the reason for that
is so the soaps last longer
and hold their scents longer.
- Inga: Oh, interesting,
so these are really artisan pr
oducts.
What is the difference, can
you tell folks,
between your basic bar of soap
and something that's homemad
e with care?
- To actually be considered
soap, you have to use lye.
And if you look at some of th
e things
that you think of as soap in t
he grocery store,
they aren't labeled as soaps.
They might be labeled as moi
sturizing bars,
or something to that effect
and are full of a lot of dif
ferent chemicals.
- They're like the margarine
instead of butter.
- Yes, yes, that's an excell
ent analogy.
And with goat milk soap,
the goat milk in and of itself
is a moisturizer
and when you make homemade soap,
all the natural glycerin is retai
ned in the soap.
Glycerin is a humectant,
which draws moisture to your
skin
so you're actually getting mo
isturizing benefits
both from the soap itself and
the goat milk.
- Well, I'm excited to share
some of it.
It smells delicious in here
with all the different essent
ial oils.
This is heaven.
- It is, it is.
- But I need to get back to the
kitchen.
I'm so excited that the ladies
are gonna be showing up soon
and I hope that you'll join them
for a little goat yoga.
- Thank you, I would love to.
- Well let's head back into
the kitchen and frost our cake.
[folksy guitar music]
Having a farm definitely has
its challenges
and that's why I surround myse
lf with wonderful people
and some of those wonderful
people happen to be mothers,
especially my mother who come
s down
and she helps me here all th
e time,
whether she's helping me weed the
garden,
chase cows around, or help me
in the kitchen.
And today, I wanted to celebrate
those mothers in my life
with a little bit of
a nettle moss cake, I like t
o call it.
It's a cake made out of nett
les
and I know you might be think
ing,
"That sounds terrible."
It's gonna taste amazing.
And it's gonna look beautifu
l.
So, I've already baked my cakes,
and what I did for that
was that I just creamed the
butter and the sugar together,
I added six eggs, I let all th
at come together.
Put in two tablespoons of van
illa,
four teaspoons of lemon juice,
the zest of two lemons,
and then I slowly added two
cups of pureed nettles.
Finally, I added four cups of f
lour,
four teaspoons of baking powder,
and a half a teaspoon of salt.
Once that came together,
I put them in three different
pans
and baked them in the oven.
I baked them at 325° for ab
out 25 minutes.
I bake them low and slow
so that I don't lose the color
of the nettles.
And now, we're ready to make ou
r goat cheese frosting.
So, the first thing I'm gonna
do is,
I'm gonna take some of that w
onderful goat cheese
that I got from Diana,
add it to my mixer.
Now I've got some cream chees
e,
a little bit of vanilla.
And I'm gonna whip this up.
And now, when it's on low, I'm
gonna add my powdered sugar.
Give that a swirl, it's looki
ng good.
I gotta taste it here.
That's gonna be delicious.
All right, now we're ready to
get our frosting going here.
My first layer here, I'm just
gonna whip that right on out.
Taste everything as you go.
If you like your frosting a li
ttle bit sweeter,
then put in a little bit more s
ugar, powdered sugar.
Now I'm ready for that next laye
r.
[light guitar music]
I'm not interested in really
making this cake look beautiful
with the frosting
because we have a trick that
we're gonna use
for making it look like moss.
My mother made this cake for me
a few years ago
and when I first saw it, I thou
ght,
"Well, why would she put moss
on a cake?
"That doesn't make any sense."
And then I realized it wasn'
t moss at all.
All right, that looks good.
So, the trick to her moss fr
osting
was actually that extra cake
that we made,
and you can just crumble it
on top.
This is so cute.
This is another fun recipe yo
u can make with kids.
When my nephews are here,
our activities are either doin
g something on the farm
or doing something in the kit
chen
and so this is a fun recipe
to make with those little kids
'cause you get to squish up c
ake.
How fun is that?
[light guitar music]
All right, so that was pretty e
asy,
and it looks really kind of am
azing,
I think it looks amazing and re
ally fun.
Now I'm just gonna decorate
with a few flowers on top.
If you have some fun little
fairy statues or something
that you want to play with o
r anything else
that makes it look really fun,
you can have a really good time
with this cake.
And I think that looks beaut
iful
and now I'm ready to take it
to the ladies.
[light upbeat music]
You'll be delighted by the taste
of this sweet nettle cake.
Combined with the creaminess
of a goat cheese frosting,
served with a hot herbal tea
and enjoy it with friends.
Well, I hope this has inspired y
ou
to gather the important ladi
es in your life
and take a little time out for
cake and tea.
And I hope you'll gather with
us next time...
- All:Around the Farm Table
.
- I'm your host, Inga Witscher.
[cheerful folksy music]
- Narrator: Around the Far
m Table
is funded in part by
Wisconsin Farmers Union,
united to grow family agricul
ture,
Heartland Credit Union,
Focus Funds for Wisconsin Pr
ogramming
and Friends of Wisconsin Public
Television.