Love of our rural heritage, big dogs, free range birds, and pampered goats highlight the Sleeping Dog Ranch (SDR) activities while our goat milk soap factory, test kitchen, research, writing and artifacts support that lifestyle.
Our primary business goal is to keep our dairy goats gainfully employed. Not a problem!
They give us mounds and mountains of options.
From their milk, we make goat milk soap (and a little goat milk cheese for friends and family);
From their busy herd activities, we make photographic greeting cards; and
From their manure, we make compost for our gardens.
Since SDR had no logical connection to goats, we were concerned about market branding. But the SDR name was a perfect fit for us. We couldn’t change it. We didn’t know what to do but we knew something would develop.
Then, not long after that, a friend of mine (a very dear friend I might add) called me Gran’ Nanny because I’d been babbling about the baby goats. At the time we enjoyed a good laugh, but the name made sense. After all, I had been a dotting granny over the baby goats and because of them we had delicious goat milk. It is truly heart rendering to play with a baby then send it to mama when I’m through playing — hence the name Gran’ Nanny!
So, from a Gran’ Nanny’s point-of-view, our goats produced such fabulous milk that it deserved to be put to an equally virtuous use. The ‘ladies’ were delivering more milk than our refrigerators could hold. So, we had to think of something worthy and fast.
After working on a ranch, cleaning barns in high humidity during fly season, a soothing bath is a requirement! Trust me, nothing and I mean NOTHING beats a smoothing, gently fragrant bath after working in the barn! By the end of the day, something calming, gentle, and without wings is my heart’s desire!
With this in mind, Bob and I developed a line of goat milk skin care products because of goat milk's extraordinary soothing and nourishing properties. Goat milk soap offers a multitude of health benefits and the longer the soap ages the better it gets! Hence, it has a tremendous shelf-life. Just like us!
After researching soap making techniques and perfecting formulas for more than a year, I, ah hum ... Gran’ Nanny launched a goat milk soap product line in 2004. But, Gran’ Nanny’s Goat Milk Soaps are supported by an enterprise of several individuals.
All the ranch hands (a few of us actually do have hands, others have feet, paws, or hooves) contribute to make the soaps: the very picky husband, Bob, is the first human tester, the dogs will be responsible for the pet line (being developed), but it’s the goats who produce the goods.
The Gran’ Nanny team continually researches, tests, and packages the soaps. But, I make the soap myself to make sure that every bar meets or exceeds a Gran’ Nanny’s standard of care. I make small batches so I can personally manage the chemistry, coloring, design, and packaging.
|
|||||||