We'll be attending a few festivals this year

This is our first year to have them planned throughout the year. We're looking forward to meeting you and getting to know your preferences first hand.

Please check out our Festivals schedule for more information. I'll update it often so it will be as accurate as possible.

See you at the festivals!

Crochet Face Cloth Sets

You'd be amazed at how bathing with a hand made crochet cloth enhances your bathing experience. That's why I make them.

I use 100 percent 4-ply worsted cotton yarn for its softness and durability. Please allow for normal 100 percent cotton sizing and/or shrinkage. Do not wash in hot water, it dries out your skin. Use warm water for best results.

Bathe with a handmade crochet cloth for a baby soft touch but with an ever so gentle exfoliation. Sizes vary but each cloth is approximately 11" x 11".

Visit our website for more color selections.

Even though smelling essential oils alter your senses almost immediately, soaking in tepid water deepens its affect.

Aromatherapy further enhances your bathing experience while soothing your skin and adapting your mood -- from a morning pick-me-up to an evening settle-me-down.

We at Gran' Nanny's Goat Milk Soaps use both essential oils and fragrance oils in our products. But we're picky and use them with caution. The basic difference between the two is that essential oils are extruded from plant material while fragrance oils are synthetic.

Being picky, we've established two different product lines so you'll know which aromatherapy oils work best for you. Botanical essential oils are in our Gourmet products (see Gran' Nanny No. 5 above), whereas fragrance oils are in our Fiesta products (see Willie's Apple Wooooooo below). Fragrance oils are loads of fun and reflect the seasonal holiday moods.

Visit our website for more information about aromatherapy and our product lines.

Benefits of Goat Milk Soap

The secret is in the butter fats that get turned into soap during the saponification process. Saponification is the chemical reaction that turns liquid, lye, and oil into soap. Goat milk contains butter fat, water, lactose (a milk sugar), casein (proteins), and salts.

But because goat milk is naturally homogenized, the butter fats and milk proteins react with lye and form a fat rich soap that contains vitamins A, D, E, and K.

For  more information on the benefits of goat milk skin care products, please visit our Gran' Nanny's Goat Milk Soaps website

Goat Milk Lotions by GraNann

Our goat milk lotions contain olive oil because its healing and soothing properties have been know for centuries. By combining goat milk with its moisturizing properties and olive with its nourishing properties, we offer an all natural lotion that soothes your dry, cracking skin.

Bound together with emulsifying agents like goat milk protein fats and beeswax, goat milk lotions won't clog your pours and offers the vitamins, proteins, and minerals that your skin needs.

By using our goat milk lotions after your goat milk soap bath, your skin will be gently moisturized and supple.

Healing Properties of Goat Milk Olive Oil Soap - Our Nutrure Products

Because the healing properties of olive oil have been known for centuries, I wanted to make a goat milk soap with as much olive oil in it as possible. But saponification (making soap) can be a tricky process; the ingredients must be balanced correctly or the soap could be too hot and burn your skin or too gooey and slime your skin, or too oily and float on your skin. Precision is important.

Goat milk has so much to offer your skin that I wanted to enhance its vitamins and minerals with a comparable oil. It took some doing; but, I figured it out. Our goat milk and olive oil products offer the gentleness of olives balanced with the richness of goat milk minerals, proteins, and vitamins.

Developed for the most delicate skin types, our Nurture product line is made with a 100 percent olive oil base. This pH balanced, creamy soap is the most gentle soap available. It is also our softest and therefore must be kept dry when not in use or it will dissolve prematurely.

I initially made this product for our mothers: one is 86 and the other is 92. Both have thin, delicate skin that is sensitive to cleansing chemicals and harsh environmental drying conditions.

Our Nurture product line contains only three ingredients: olive oil, goat milk, and lye. Yes, lye is required to make soap; otherwise, you'd have a oily milky gooooo that would sour over time. But the process of making soap, saponification, transforms these three ingredients into soap. As ingredients, they ALL change.The oil is no more. The milk is  no more. All three ingredients are now soap. Isn't chemistry fun! I love it. No, the milk does not sour because it is now soap.

All of our Nurture skin care products are made with a goat milk and olive oil base. Additives are selected to produce special benefits like exfoliation with finely ground oat meal or detoxification with Dead Sea Salt. But keeping our Nurture products soft and gentle for delicate skin is our primary directive.

Minding the Garden Muses

I've tried. I've REALLY tried. Honestly, I tried. But I can't help myself. The Garden Muses own me. They tug at me unceremoniously until they get what they want. This year they're making me improve our chicken yard. Since it's in our front yard having a welcoming area makes sense.

Well, it's actually a chicken AND goat yard for now. We're breeding a buck with three delightful ladies and needed the space and shelter. Sooooooooooo the chickens had to move over.

This picture was taken last summer (2009). Jordan (my goat-helping angel) went bonkers on us after sheering 25 goats. By the time she got to Lester, she HAD to express her creativity. Isn't she terrific! Lester deserved it, don't feel sorry for him. Mr. Wonderful is our beloved pain-in-the-bottom. More about him later. His antics could fill volumes. Every farm needs a Lester; he's ours.

The chicken yard is in the background. Containing two structures: a 10x10 chicken house and a 4x10 chicken tractor (designed to be portable), the area is shaped like a kite, sort of. With only two 90 degree angles and long unused algebra, I have no idea of the square area. It isn't THAT important.

Since this photo was taken we've added heavy mulch and steel edging around the beds OUTSIDE the chicken area. Notice the bird bath area. The rock driveway was added last year. While clay makes for highly nutritious mud, tromping through mud at the front door is NOT good.

The umbrellas have been removed (needed for summer shade); and, the goats have eaten down the grass. The chicken tractor (first photo foreground) has a brown tarp wrapped around it so the goats would have shelter apart from the chicken house. The tractor's floor began as dirt but with all this rain it's major muddyyyyyy. Since goats don't do wet feet, the goats are residing in the chicken house. Sigh ... .

The trash cans are food containers and store various chicken-related tools. With the land grade being slightly down hill from the barn (see background) all water drains through the chicken yard down to the front door. NOT a desirable result.

Lots of mud. Lots of wet, slimy, slippery mud. Did I mention that this mud has chicken AND goat poop mixed in with it? If you've ever fallen is 'poop enriched farm mud" you'll know the choice words used on the way d-o-w-n. Luckily water hoses are everywhere. In the summer I don't mind hosing myself down before going inside; but, during the winter it's tufffffffff. But poop drenched clothes are NOT permitted in the house. Not even mine.

Long hair donated to Wigs for Kids

Well, I did have a few hair cuts during those years. But it was always long. Will some one please tell me why men prefer long hair? Please!

My husband likes long hair so I accommodated him -- for 29 years. For 29 years, I washed it, brushed it, braided it, and lugged it around. Had headaches because of the added weight on my head. Duh ... .

He had no idea what a 'big deal' it was to care for. Hey, HE maintained his short hair cut. And, along the way, managed to loose a bit of hair. So HIS hair maintenance got easier while mine got longer and required more time and attention. Well, there was the obligatory pony tail. Vundebar, it was EZ.

Those of you with long hair know what I'm talking about. But he liked long hair so I accommodated him. Hummm ... .

I finally found a value in having long hair. When I DID get it cut, I would cut off 12 inches then donate it to Wigs for Kids. This organization promises that the recipients incur NO costs. Wigs for Kids supplies hair to kids who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy treatments.

I donated a few lengths and was happy to do it. But after cutting 12 inches I realized how heavy my hair had become. Then I cracked. I HAD HAD ENOUGH! I went to my hair stylist, Chris, and told him to 'cut if off'. Being cognisant of the shock one goes through with dramatic hair cuts, Chris cut just a bit more than usual. It wasn't short enough.

The next visit it would be shorter. THIS time Chris got to the new program. Thank you, Chris!

My long hair time is over. For the next 29 years my hair will be short short short. Hey, it took me less than 10 minutes to wash my hair last night and it dried B4 I went to bed. With long hair, it would take hours and hours for my hair to dry.

May I encourage you long hair divas to donate some of your hair to Wigs for Kids. It is a worthy organization that guarantees NO COSTS to the recipients. Those folks have enough to deal with. Kids need your hair. Please help.