Fog and Raspberry Jam

For about 3 weeks in October we experienced constant fog.

On  the occasional day the sun would peak through and try to burn off the fog

The photos here are on a late afternoon as the sun was heading to bed and managed to shine a bit under the fog cover.


It was a mystical time - all sound is muffled as it is in a snow fall, at times I had to call the goats as we couldn't even see the pens from the house. The cold damp got into everything and let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I was a year older and wiser - and bruised.

We stayed inside and cooked up jam - fogging the windows on the inside of the kitchen as if to taunt the fog outside.

Just spent this Wednesday morning re-cooking some of the raspberry jam - hadn't thickened up enough. Back in the pot with another package of certo and boiled once more will solve the problem.

I did look up how to make my own pectin. Tart/unripe apples and crab apples, cleaned/sliced (skin on) boiled down, strained and the juice becomes your very own liquid pectin. You can test as this point for gel-ablity, cooking the juice more if needed. Then you refrigerate or pressure-can the juice/now liquid pectin for next year's jams. If you didn't want to bother and didn't want to use commercial certo-type products you could probably add a couple apples to the fruit & sugar and cook it in that way as well - depends on the berries or fruit you are jamming. Those "old wives" knew what they were talking about. 

Have a good one,
Jaki A.

Baby goats Feb. 2013

It's been awhile and I am just going to pen a few lines and include some adorable pictures of my baby goats.

This is Gnomewood LMGS Island Honey Vanilla, daughter of Primrose and one of quadruplets! Just Amazing. Mousse is the big guy laying in the background on the right hand side of the photo.










We have had 26 does kid and are taking care of a slew of babies.

 

 

Most are now drinking their milk from a lamb bar (the square bucket) it has nipples and plastic tubes acting like straws - so the babies can eat when they want. Always a bit of a scrum when the buckets first go into the pen.

 

 

 

`As you can see, some are less interested in food and more interested in playing or jumping on each other.

 

 

Little Miss Vanilla is more than happy to get attention.

 

It's been extremely busy but very satisfying so far. Raising up the next generation is lots of work but they are so endearing and such happy little girls. Just love them.

Stay tuned for more blogging.

Jaki

 





Ideas about growth and sustainability

Everybody has great ideas!

Wow, since we have actually launched the gelato business we have received tons and tons and tons of advice. One of the most common is for us to try to get on Dragon’s Den/ Shark Tank. I haven’t actually watched much more than part of one episode and those people are mean! Couldn’t make me have to go thru that experience. I don’t want to sell part of my company either, not now anyways; I am just getting into the whole ownership thing myself. In addition, I like not having someone tell me what to do. Those are pretty successful people on the programs and you don’t get successful without being able to order people around.

Many people are giving me advice on flavours as well – I think they want their own favoritesJ. However, I just love hearing new ideas for flavours – I can imagine what it would be like and just salivate at the thought. Chocolate with raspberry, chocolate with peanut butter, chocolate with… anything. Shows where my flavour favorites are, doesn’t it.

Growth and distribution are another theme that we are hearing about all the time. My views on expansion and growth are quite different from the majority of folks. I don’t believe that growth, especially at a large scale (province/country/world) is sustainable. The news is rife with statements about “new markets” and growing industries. Does anyone else see where expansion of our society and rampant consumerism has gotten us as a species? Bigger everything has led to a loss of sense of community, a loss of a sense of dependency on friends & neighbours and a huge loss of self-sufficiency for a family, community, town, area and country. If you don’t believe that our country has lost its self-sufficiency, try to shop without buying anything from Asia, never mind just from Canada or just from the U.S.A.

My gelato business isn’t about becoming a national force. It isn’t about having our product in every grocery store. The business is about making a living from our small farm. We have a limited amount of acreage and there are limits to how many animals you can care for (and care for properly, humanely and with love). My business model doesn’t have us hiring staff. Occasionally we will need help but no employees. To me, a successful business doesn’t have to grow and grow and grow. I think we need to reach a level where we are happy with the business and just keep on refining the business and making it better. It will change over time and that is inevitable but not “grow or die”.

I don’t think compound interest on money is right either. When you invest in a business and that business is successful, makes a profit and you get a slice of the profit – great. But compound interest is creating money out of nothing. And doing it over and over. I understand the math and the principles behind the concept – I just completely disagree with doing it. It should be illegal. Compound interest depends on everything growing and increasing and growing – forever. That concept & mind set is wrong. Nothing natural works this way – Nothing. Even nuclear fisson (or fussion/whatever) runs out – nothing is sustainable forever.

If the world economy is an animal, it feeds to grow. Eventually there will not be enough to feed it. The number of people that can survive on the planet will hit its peak and start to drop off. We run out of food or water or medicine or whatever it takes and the population declines and the economy shrinks, and the “unlimited” growth stops and the entire house of cards built over the last 200 years falls apart.

I hope that if we start to change now, and pull back on growth and fill in the gaps that have been created in our communities and become more self sustainable. And become happier as well.

A little something to think about..... What if electricity had never been used?

What if we didn’t have/use electricity? What could we use instead? I don’t mean if the power goes out, I mean what if we (as in western society or as a planet) had never used electricity.

 

Let’s not change the parameters of how we live, we still need communication, housing, lights, heat, comfort, machines, food production but how would we get it and what would look different.

How about Brownian motion? It’s everywhere, even in objects that seem to be solid and unmoving. So with some sort of amplifier – I imagine looking like the base of a walk around phone for all the equipment that is plugged in now. Your computer would have a base to amplify the motion of the floor/carpet/desk and that would power it. You could put anything down anywhere and have it work. Overhead lighting would have an amplifier that would attach to the ceiling and take power from the building itself.

So no power lines, no wires or plugs for electrical current. There would be no hydro lines, hydro sub stations, or coal burning power stations. Wouldn’t need nuclear or LNG as well. There would be no power grid. If there was an earthquake you would have to move devices around or set them back up on their bases again and you’d be up and running.

 As technology improved the amplifiers would become smaller and smaller so eventually a table lamp would look just like they look now. You would lay your cell phone on your desk and it would recharge as it lay there.

Cars may be different, probably have an amplifier that moved up and down automatically, so when you were at a stop sign or parked, the amp would descend and touch the ground and recharge. Eventually the amp would be in the tires. You might still need some kind of fuel, maybe gas/diesel, but all the electrical would be Brownian. I don’t know enough about engines to guess if fuel would be necessary at all – perhaps all of the vehicle would run on the amplifier and not other input necessary. Maybe the car would not go as fast or accelerate as quickly but in reality, a car or truck that can go 50 miles per hour (80 kph) can get things done. Its fun to drive fast but isn’t really necessary.

Perhaps some train like device would move most of the cargo that is now transported around by trucks & trailers. A train on rails would be in constant contact with the earth so may even be able to collect more energy.

 Fun to think about – rather stretches the mind in new ways.

Enjoy!

Jaki

Let me tell you about our Launch at the Comox Valley Farmers Market

Saturday, January 12, 2012 - a day that will be held dear in my memory forever. Well for awhile anyways.

Up bright and early - it is still dark here at 6:30 am. I couldn't eat, didn't sleep well and couldn't even choke down coffee. Nerves - do you think? Yup!

We picked up our trailer with a freezer full of gelato from the Canadian Cultured Dairy Inc plant and headed for Courtenay. It's not much of a drive, maybe 10 minutes tops but as I didn't want to be late, everything seem to be going slowly.

Hooked up with Vickey at the Farmers Market - she is the manager - she had our spot and we set up.

From 9 am to 12 noon we ran our feet off. Thanks, many thanks to Dolina Meaden and Jan Martin for coming out to help us. Kenzie Meaden came in a bit later as well and we could not have done it without them. They gave out samples all morning and we had a ton of samples to give out.

It was WONDEFUL to see the delight and surprise on people's faces when they tasted the gelato and really like it. What a thrill, it is the best feeling.

Sold lots, could barely keep up. Lots of requests for vanilla and chocolate. We will have more flavours once the darling doe goats have their babies and we are back in full production.

Thanks again.
Hugs
Jaki A.

The press release worked!

Arrived at my job this morning and received an email from my business partner Karen – the salient points of my press release (which I emailed to as many information outlets as I could) is on the front page of the business section of the Times-Colonist newspaper. It was announcing our opening on this coming Saturday! WOW – I did the prolonged and intricate happy dance around the office.

            Victoria is the largest city on Vancouver Island and the capital of the province of BC. Therefore, it is really a big deal for our business opening. In addition, it is great exposure for the business itself, the more the name is in the public; the more people will recognize it at the markets. I know for myself that I am much more willing to try something new if I have some knowledge or previous exposure to a product.

            Now it seems more real, which is strange as it never has felt surreal. I can feel myself getting excited and nervous about the launch now – it is Tuesday and we rollout on Saturday. That means I am making lists – it is one of my best methods of coping with stress. I have an active mind and when I flip into high gear, I can barely keep track of what I need to do. Checklists save me from feeling overwhelmed and scattered.

            I have created lists for many big tasks. The one list I depend on and use extensively is the comprehensive checklist I have for showing the goats. The shows are only for a 6-week period, once a year and for that very first show I always feel like I am starting all over again. I have shown the girls for about 8 years, so I have experienced all sorts of problems with forgetting essential items. Some have been extremely embarrassing, some just dumb. To avoid adding more stress to a competitive environment I use my list. After the second show of the season, it is generally all good but I still have a quick look to make sure. Now I am pretty confident I can arrive at a show with white pants, underwear, the correct paperwork etc….

            I must mention the work of Emagination Design and all the help they have been with developing a marketing plan. I was complimented this morning concerning the launch’s marketing and I have to thank Emagination for the plan they provided. I really don’t have a firm understanding of what marketing is, I get that it is getting your businesses name out in the public but it is much more complicated that just that. The logo, the colours, the business cards, the labels, the signage, the social media, the web page, giving out samples, every email – this is all part of marketing. And it’s also how I talk about my product and how I present myself. Dang – it’s practically everything! No more sloughing off to Wal-Mart in dirty jeans, rubber boots and a grubby coat – could meet a customer. Didn’t tend to come to town in “farm clothes” anyways but now I think about it.

            Call me superstitious but ever since Dec. 21^st – the end of the long count Mayan calendar – my life seems to have changed. Changes are happening and definitely to the good and positive and healthy. Now it is a new year – 2013 and everything is looking up.

            Still lots of work to do – the launch is just the beginning of the work of the actual business itself. We have to continue producing the product we have and get ready for a new cycle of births in the dairy. I hope that we will still be shipping some milk to Salt Spring Island Cheese but that will depend on what they need. The first flavor I want to produce when the ladies are milking again is our Island Honey Vanilla – it is such a light, clean flavour. We will start visiting restaurants and expanding our customer base after the does have kidded too. Plan to attend a farmers’ market in Victoria in the spring as well.

             I am just thrilled, happy, and excited. Hope you are having a good day as well.

JANUARY 12, 2013 - We Are Open for BUSINESS!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Press Release:

Two local Fanny Bay women, Karen Fouracre & Jaki Ayton, are pleased to announce they will be launching LegatoGelato – artisan gelato made with their own goat milk from their licensed dairy in Fanny Bay on January 12, 2013 at the Comox Valley Farmers Market.

“Our milk is tested monthly to ensure quality and is the best in B.C.,” stated Ms. Ayton proudly and she has the documentation to prove it. “Then we add local organic eggs, local sea salt, organic cornstarch, and organic sugar. The gelato is mixed and pasteurized at Canadian Cultured Dairy Inc. in Royston which is the home of Tree Island Yogurt.” LegatoGelato has less fat and more flavour, and is made from local &/or organic ingredients.

 “Next we add our secret recipe coulis (made with fresh, in season fruit, organic sugar, organic lemon juice, and cooked to perfection). We sell it in pints, single servings and a half-gallon size. We have a website with all our information as well and you can also order online!” continues Karen Fouracre “The website is:  www.LegatoGelato.ca.”

The Saturday Comox Valley Farmers Market is at the Native Son’s Hall on Cliffe Ave, from 9 to noon. Karen and Jaki are excited to have you come out and try some samples & take some LegatoGelato home.