Saturday morning arrived and we excitedly made our way to East Lansing, to the campus of Michigan State University, where the Michigan Dairy Goat Society was holding its annual Spring Goat Day in Anthony Hall. (Which made me think of 16 Candles and National Lampoon’s Vacation, but I digress.) We were able to join as members right at the registration table, which not only gained us admittance to the programs that day, but also, covered our annual dues. (At a very reasonable $15 for our family, I might add.) We will be getting six issues of their magazine, and there will be other goat shows throughout the year that we can attend.
By the time we filled out our paperwork and used the loo, the first classes of the morning had already been in session for about ten minutes. The “Right to Farm” class was in a classroom where we would have caused a distraction coming in, so we decided to go to the Chevre Recipes demonstration in the lecture hall, where we could enter without causing a real disturbance. It turned out to be a very delicious decision, as we got to sample some of the items being made. Let me tell you, goat cheese truffles are one of the most decadent desserts you can enjoy, and with a whopping three ingredients, deceptively simple as well! The instructor also shared some recipes for warm goat cheese salad, a goat cheese appetizer with marinara sauce, goat cheese, pesto, and sun-dried tomato pizza, and she answered a lot of questions regarding cheese making. As this is something I want to do in the future, I found it all very exciting!
The next session was given by a gentleman who works for the County Extension Office, and does he ever know his stuff about hay. We feel a lot more comfortable about what to look for when it comes to quality in hay. My husband is still having difficulty in remembering the difference between hay and straw, so I keep pointing out that one is green, and one is golden. 😉
We went into the vendor room next, which was small, but we got a Hoegger’s catalog and met a very nice lady who sells handmade wooden butter and soap presses – when the time comes, I will be getting one from her. She and her husband have a herd of Toggenberg goats and she gave us some very helpful pointers on fencing. We are going to be getting some old utility poles in the next month or two, and we will be using those to construct a fenced-in area that will be electrified. That is what she uses for her herd and she said once they realize the fence is hot, they don’t try to cross it again. Her fence also utilizes lengths of utility poles for the corner posts, so we are feeling even more confident about our idea to use those. (We are also going to be use them to expand our existing garden, which has utility pole posts already.)
We weren’t able to stay for the entire day – so we missed the potluck lunch, and two more sessions of classes, but we plan to be there for the entire day next year. We had to get back home because I forgot to put our dinner in the crockpot prior to leaving the house, and we were having some friends over for dinner. Additionally, we had to prepare for the arrival of some other ladies on Sunday. Want to see them? Click below.
I’ll introduce you formally to them in my next post!
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