The first thing I noticed when I pulled up at the old McBride farm in Littleton recently was a Soil and Water Conservation farmer recognition sign, much faded and rusted, but hanging as an ode to the history of the farm. It seemed a good omen and set the stage for my visit with Carla and Kenny Hamilton. The former potato farm is now home to the Hamilton’s Udderly Blessed Homestead and Goat Dairy, housing several LaMancha milk goats and a recently completed licensed dairy and creamery.
Carla’s goat barn is tidy, filled with light and lined with separate pens of goats along two walls. LaMancha goats are known for their calm temperament and ease of handling. When we walked between them to the milk room at the far end of the barn, the goats rested their front legs on the wooden doors, anxious for a head pat and hello.
The milk room itself is pristine with a small heater making it quite cozy. There is a counter with cupboards and bins for grain. Strangely, there was also a coffee maker. Carla confessed that when her goats kidded this past spring, she removed the goat milking station and replaced it with a twin cot and her knitting basket and there she lived, day and night, for three weeks. Once the birthing was over, she found an excuse to remain one extra night, “just to make sure the first-time mothers would be OK.” Her husband, Kenny, would come out each morning and they would have coffee together before beginning the day’s chores.
What all this means is that the goats live well. Once Carla begins talking about them, it’s obvious that she has found her passion. Her connection to the goats is influenced on a personal level as well. There are health benefits of goats’ milk; one such benefit is that some people who are lactose intolerant can actually digest goats’ milk and cheese just fine. In Carla’s case, she and two of her daughters had always had allergies. Since the goats, they have all seen a marked improvement in their health. In fact, the health benefits are an aspect of the goat products that she tries to educate people about.
In addition to raw milk and cheeses such as chevre, mozzarella and feta, Carla has begun making kefir, a cultured milk product that provides beneficial organisms for the intestinal tract, along with solid lotion bars and soaps.
The creamery is located just off the summer kitchen of the farmhouse. Carla told me that they started slowly, renovating and accumulating necessary equipment over a three-year period to make the goat barn and creamery a reality.
She summed up her new career by saying, “I’ve always been a wife, mother, and homemaker, working menial jobs. I don’t have a college degree or ever had an actual career. Raising goats and having a licensed goat dairy has made me feel this is exactly where I’m supposed to be at 64.”
Depending on how you look at it, the Udderly Blessed Homestead and Goat Dairy’s journey ended with securing that license or is just beginning. Carla’s goat milk and products can be purchased by contacting her at 551-5535 or via Facebook.
