Hello, for all of you who haven’t met me yet, I’m Kerry. I live in a small rural town just 30 minutes southeast of Buffalo, NY (Home of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabers). My husband Eric and I met almost 14 years ago in the Biology Department at Binghamton University. We received our Masters degrees, got married and moved to Buffalo, NY by January of 2001. Teaching kept Eric busy while I worked as an agriculture inspector at a New York/Canadian boarder crossing in the area. Lots of overtime spent on the job influenced me to take a few years off once my first son was born 4 years later. We had found a beautiful 4 acre property resting right on the Buffalo Creek in dairy country, set down roots and decided to raise Alpine Dairy goats shortly after. Years later, and much blood sweat and tears spent building our farm to the 8 acre, permanently fenced property it is today, allowed me to pursue another path, that of a small business owner.
Eric and I, having had extensive training in biology and the environmental sciences decided to pursue organic certification for our farm, which we named Beiter and Sons’ Farm in 2009. NOFA-NY Certified Organic, LLC oversees our organic operation. Our farm is small, housing a herd of 20 Alpine Dairy Goats with a few Boer/Alpine half breeds in the mix. We have fallen in love with the Alpine Goat, a breed known for its very good milking ability. Originating in the French Alps, these are hardy, adaptable animals that thrive in any climate while maintaining good health and excellent production. We describe our doelings as being petite, a characteristic I truly enjoy. They are multi-colored and have no set markings, and they have erect ears, horns and a straight face. My blog picture of our goat Milly says it all, our impressive “Cou Noir” beauty!
After learning to milk, improving on our barn and milk house, and producing more milk than we could physically consume, we decided to use our organic milk to create skincare products packing a rich, creamy, moisturizing punch. I wanted to start small, as we did with the farm, so I began tweaking soap recipes to accommodate as much milk as was possible, paying careful attention to use it whole, raw, and never diluting it with water. The end product resulted in a soap containing 38% milk by weight with the other 62% compromised of my base oils (olive, palm, coconut and sunflower). Initially I was amazed at how effective goats’ milk in soap was in moisturizing skin, then I did some research and began understanding why. I’m now grateful to put our organic, goat milk to beneficial use by creating enriching and healing skincare products for our customers. My skin has never felt healthier, and I rarely apply over-the-counter products to it. I make my own salves using my array of dried herbs, extracts, essential oils I have on hand from soaping to heal my family’s skin irritations. So with that said, I’m looking forward to writing more about our adventures in creating and growing our raw, organic goat milk soap company. Visit us at alpinemade.com or on our facebook page, Alpine Made.
-Kerry
