Recently we were sent a delightful box of treats from St Helen’s Farm.

I met them at a blogging event in May and made a bee-line for them as I felt at ease with fellow farmers in the midst of trendy bloggers.

I left my details with them and they got in touch after the event to see how we could work together.

I did ask if I could visit the farm to meet the goats but to be honest, I think they thought I was a nutter-so sent me the box of treats instead.

I had heard of St Helen’s farm before as a lady at work has some kind of cows milk intolerance so she uses the milk regularly.

I was pleasantly surprised though to find they also do a variety of yoghurt, butter and my favourite-cheese.

In fact goats milk can be made into all of the things you use cow’s milk for, it’s just some people find it to digest.

While goats’ milk is not recommended for anyone who has been diagnosed with lactose intolerance,  goats’ milk typically contains slightly less lactose than cows’ milk and the amount of lactose people can tolerate varies. It also contains more prebiotics and people with condition such as eczema have found it helps their condition.

So in our pack we received:

Goats milk-both whole and skimmed

Butter

Natural yoghurt

Flavoured yoghurt (Blossom honey flavoured)

Hard cheese

Badges

Mugs

A beanie goat which we called Gilbert.

Why Gilbert you may ask? Well my own personal brush with goats came with this handsome fella.

Gilbert was acquired by me before we moved to the farm (first mistake). I wasn’t here to look after him myself and goats have got to be the best escape artists EVER. He continually escaped from every place we put him.

He was free to a good home on an internet animal site (second mistake) which I have since learnt is always ‘free’ for a reason.

Goats like to be kept with other goats. I’m afraid our attempt to make him make friends with sheep failed miserably. He was not tame. He would, quite often pin you in a corner with his menacing horns.

Unfortunately he met a sad end in an accident with a tractor.**

He was a pain but he was a character and I like to think the beanie baby Gilbert will become just as much part of the family as his Pygmy goat namesake.

Anyway, back to the cheese.

I did intend to come up with fabulous, inventive recipes with my goats products but instead, I decided to substitute all of the ingredients where I would uses cow products for goat.

We had St Helen’s Farm goats milk in our hot drinks, on our breakfast cereal, as a refreshing drink.

We had butter on our toast and sandwiches and I even used it for baking fairy cakes.

Cheese on toast was made with goats cheese. We had goats cheese sandwiches. We melted it on to the top of pasta dishes and had goat yoghurt after dinner.

When trying out     new things, I always think it is a good idea to use them in everyday situations rather than do something too outlandish and different which you couldn’t keep up on a regular basis.

The results?

I can happily say we are converted. The whole point of substituting products you use regularly for new things is to see how easily they fit in with your lives and the meals you cook regularly.

The quality of the produce from St Helen’s farm and the unique taste of goats products mean they fit into every day life like they were always there which I think is the biggest test of all.

Most major supermarkets stock St Helen’s Farm products so why not try them out for yourself?

You can find out more about the products, the farm and…yes…the lovely goats at: www.sthelensfarm.co.uk.

*We were sent a hamper by St Helen’s Farm for free for us to try it out. All views are my own-especially my love of goats.

**RIP Gilbert.