![]() Stan, who works as a Verizon technician, began playing around in the kitchen with different recipes and discovered he enjoyed making the products. “By the time we were done, I wanted them as bad as he did,” Stan said.īut they still weren’t set on making soap. They took taking cheese- and soap-making classes at Goat School in Saint Albans, Maine. He and Stan show Jack Russell Terriers and Joe figured they could show goats as well.įor two years they took classes on raising the animals and using their milk. Goat beginningsĪbout five years ago, Joe decided he wanted goats. To date, the McCoys estimate they have sold some 5,000 bars of soap.Īnd in May, the McCoys started marketing their soaps to a wider audience by getting them on the shelves at Big Y supermarkets in Amherst, Northampton and Southampton. They were picked up by Nash Gallery in Easthampton and Outlook Farm in Westhampton and found early success at farmers markets and festivals as well as on their website, At last year’s Cultural Chaos fair in Easthampton, they sold 200 bars of soap, and then 700 at the recent Cottage Street Open Studios. That landed Sage Meadow’s first client, a store in Ohio. Stan started making soap in his kitchen, where he produced sudsy gifts for friends. On a good day, that could mean four gallons, Joe said. In addition to their goat milk soaps, which come in scented varieties from lavender to “herb garden,” they also make cheese for themselves and their friends with their goats’ bountiful yield of milk. Since starting their caprine adventure three years ago with three goats, the number has doubled on the McCoys’ farm. Joe, a veterinarian, focuses on tending to the animals while Stan manufactures soaps at his studio in the Keystone Mill on Pleasant Street. McCoy and his husband, Stan McCoy, run Sage Meadow Farm at their Clapp Street home. ![]() But even if Gem had a perfect grasp of English, it wouldn’t matter for the intelligent animal: “They know their order,” McCoy said. “Gem, you’re next,” McCoy said after Thelma had been milked to depletion. One by one and in a particular order, the lactating goats get milked by McCoy. “They’re somewhere between a cat and a dog as far as affection goes,” McCoy said. And once he enters the barnyard, the goats greet him in the same way a more common domesticated animal might, by nuzzling their heads against him. JERREY ROBERTS-ĮASTHAMPTON - Twice a day, every day, the goats know the drill.Īs Joe McCoy nears the gate, they crowd round, clearly excited to see their owner. Joe McCoy prepares to use a milking machine to milk Daenerys, one of his seven goats, at his farm in Easthampton, Wednesday. Joe McCoy spends time with Daenerys, left, and Gem at his farm in Easthampton, Wednesday. Joe McCoy milks Thelma, a 4-year0old goat, at his farm in Easthampton, Wednesday. Joe McCoy milks Thelma, a 4-year-old goat, last week at his farm in Easthampton. Stan, left, and Joe McCoy feed their goats at their Sage Meadow Farm in Easthampton, Wednesday. Joe McCoy spends time with his goats Wednesday at his Sage Meadow Farm in Easthampton. Stan McCoy spends time with one of his seven goats at his Sage Meadow Farm in Easthampton, Wednesday. Stan McCoy moves some of his Sage Meadow Farm goat- milk soap in his studio at Keystone Mill in Easthampton. ![]() Goat milk soap by Sage Meadow Farm rests on a shelf Wednesday at Keystone Mill in Easthampton. At right, various leaf-shaped soaps made using goat milk. JERREY ROBERTS-Īt left, Sage Meadow Farm shaving soap kit made by Stan McCoy rests in his studio at Keystone Mill in Easthampton. Lavender-scented goat milk soap by Sage Meadow Farm rests on a shelf Wednesday at Keystone Mill in Easthampton. Stan McCoy pours goat milk soap into molds Wednesday in his studio at Keystone Mill in Easthampton. Stan McCoy pours goat milk soap into molds in his studio at Keystone Mill last week. Stan McCoy gets a container of an oil mixture from a tank while preparing to make soap Wednesday in his studio at Keystone Mill in Easthampton. Stan McCoy makes goat milk soap Wednesday in his studio at Keystone Mill in Easthampton. Soap rests on a rack in the studio at Keystone Mill. Joe, left, and Stan McCoy share goat cheese at their farm in Easthampton, Wednesday. Joe McCoy, owner of Sage Meadow Farm in Easthampton, feeds his goats last week.
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