Summer giveaway: Goat-milk farm products

Goat milk is the 'stuff' of legend.

My recent haul: Calendula, Purity, and Thieves Defense soaps, plus a shampoo bar and trial-sized bag of laundry soap. We purchase samples ourselves to judge their quality and effectiveness before launching our giveaways.

By Lisa Brunette

I’m thrilled to announce our big summer giveaway: Goat-milk soap products!

It’s not just the purity and homegrown quality that I’m excited about with Goat Milk Stuff’s extensive offerings. This family business also comes with a beautiful origin story, and PJ Jonas, the matriarch of this ten-member clan (and growing), will be our guest on Thursday to tell it to you herself.

It’s a story that’s resonated with people all over the world since PJ made her first bar of soap back in 2005. The Jonas family has appeared on NBC’s the Today Show, in Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine, and on both The Doctors and on Mike Huckabee’s TV show.

PJ, her husband, Jim, and their children—all eight of them—all work at Goat Milk Stuff, with spouses joining in now, too, as the children grow and get married. They’ve branched out from that first bar of soap to a full suite of goat-milk products, including fudge and gelato.

We’ll be giving away $35 worth of goat-milk products (includes shipping) to one lucky paid subscriber. You just need to be a paid monthly or annual subscriber as of 9 am CDT on Friday, September 1, when we draw an address from our email list.

While they certainly don’t need the publicity from our little ol’ Brunette Gardens Substack, PJ has been gracious enough to gift our readers with a 20-percent discount off all products. So if you don’t want to wait for the giveaway to try Goat Milk Stuff, just head to their website and enter the code BG2023 at checkout to get the discount, now through September 30, 2023.

Get 20% off all Goat Milk Stuff products at www.goatmilkstuff.com using the code BG2023 at checkout, now through 9/30/23.

I can personally vouch for their products, as I’m now a loyal convert. I’ll be taking advantage of this discount myself to stock up, as a matter of fact.

As you might know from reading my other posts, I suffer from an autoimmune condition called mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), which makes me intensely sensitive to the chemical fragrances and other additives in most commercial bath-and-beauty products. Here are a couple of past posts for reference.

The problem with herbal and dietary supplements

What really does a body good

Before I discovered Goat Milk Stuff soap, I’d been using a plain castile soap, which can be very harsh on my skin, but I didn’t have any alternatives. Even handmade soaps I’ve found at farmer’s markets often contain added fragrance (a chemical scent), which for me can cause a range of symptoms: rashes and hives, severe itching, migraines, nausea and other digestive issues, conjunctivitis, ringing in the ears, hay fever, asthma, brain fog, and a flareup of interstitial cystitis.

That’s not a fair trade-off when all you want to do is get clean.

But I don’t have to worry about Goat Milk Stuff. Their “Purity” bar, which I’m now using every day, contains just four ingredients: raw goat milk, saponified natural fats, coconut oil, and sunflower oil.

Another one I’ve tried is a wonderful soap made with calendula flowers. Calendula has natural skin-healing properties and has been used for ages to treat dry skin, cuts, bruises, and skin conditions like psoriasis.

Even if I want a little aromatherapy in my life, Goat Milk Stuff has me covered with their collection of soaps scented with natural essential oils. We have the Thieves scent as a good one to use in the winter, when that particular essential oil blend can be a good immune defense.

I’m also regularly using Goat Milk Stuff’s shampoo bar. Again, it’s tough for me to find a shampoo that isn’t full of junk that makes me sick, but the unscented shampoo bar they sell contains only the following: raw goat milk, saponified rosemary-and-nettle-infused olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, castor oil, jojoba oil. It’s a great way for me to get more nettles—a very beneficial plant—into my life.

Lastly, I bet you didn’t know you could buy goat-milk laundry soap. I didn’t until I saw it advertised on the Goat Milk Stuff store on Etsy. That’s how I met PJ, when she quickly responded to my questions. This laundry soap works great, too, with just a few ingredients, including dehydrated goat milk.

I want to thank PJ Jonas and her crew for participating in this giveaway, and to all our readers, best of luck on winning!

Have you ever tried goat-milk products before? What do you think? I’ve recently started drinking raw goat milk instead of pasteurized cow’s milk and am a huge fan. Where we live, we’re not allowed to raise backyard dairy goats, but a girl can dream…