Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 17 hours ago
Welcome to love note from the goats number 12! Thanks so much for visiting the farm and for following along while we try something a little different during these cold days. Rest assured come spring, posts will return to all bouncing babies all the time!
Have you ever noticed that you don’t have to venture very far off the beaten path to find yourself all alone in breathtakingly beautiful places?
For example, by most estimations, around 90% of national park visitors don’t venture more than 100 feet off the pavement. Most travelers tend to stick to main roads, visitor centers, scenic drives, short walks on established trails and iconic viewpoints.
Today we tried an experiment with the goats. First we invited just two goats Periwinkle and Ace to walk into the forest with us. They were calm and move slowly and ultimately made it about 10 steps into the woods before deciding to turn around and head back to the barn. Pretty brave since that’s not an area of the farm they have explored in the past. Then we tried it with 25 goats! Our prediction was that only Plum would go into the forest for breakfast. She pretty much thinks she’s a human and will follow us anywhere, and she is very motivated by grain.
Just as we expected, the huge parade of goats only made it to the edge of the forest before most sprinted back to the barn. A few more came a little bit in. Only two made it to the breakfast spot! When goats are nervous, they sneeze in a certain way that alerts the rest of the herd that something might be dangerous. If one goat sends out an alarm, all the goats begin sneezing and run away together.
We too are herd animals and often the fear of others can be contagious, even when the threat is not real. This winter, perhaps we can make a conscious effort to tune out the noise of the world and tune into all the delicious experiences awaiting us if fear does not get in the way.
Plum and Sweet Caroline got to sample some of the sweetness of the road less travelled. I hope you find some of that goodness today too! Try a new coffee shop, read a new author, take a walk on a new path!
The Road Not Taken
BY ROBERT FROST
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Welcome to love note from the goats number 12! Thanks so much for visiting the farm and for following along while we try something a little different during these cold days. Rest assured come spring, posts will return to all bouncing babies all the time!
Have you ever noticed that you don’t have to venture very far off the beaten path to find yourself all alone in breathtakingly beautiful places?
For example, by most estimations, around 90% of national park visitors don’t venture more than 100 feet off the pavement. Most travelers tend to stick to main roads, visitor centers, scenic drives, short walks on established trails and iconic viewpoints.
Today we tried an experiment with the goats. First we invited just two goats Periwinkle and Ace to walk into the forest with us. They were calm and move slowly and ultimately made it about 10 steps into the woods before deciding to turn around and head back to the barn. Pretty brave since that’s not an area of the farm they have explored in the past. Then we tried it with 25 goats! Our prediction was that only Plum would go into the forest for breakfast. She pretty much thinks she’s a human and will follow us anywhere, and she is very motivated by grain.
Just as we expected, the huge parade of goats only made it to the edge of the forest before most sprinted back to the barn. A few more came a little bit in. Only two made it to the breakfast spot! When goats are nervous, they sneeze in a certain way that alerts the rest of the herd that something might be dangerous. If one goat sends out an alarm, all the goats begin sneezing and run away together.
We too are herd animals and often the fear of others can be contagious, even when the threat is not real. This winter, perhaps we can make a conscious effort to tune out the noise of the world and tune into all the delicious experiences awaiting us if fear does not get in the way.
Plum and Sweet Caroline got to sample some of the sweetness of the road less travelled. I hope you find some of that goodness today too! Try a new coffee shop, read a new author, take a walk on a new path!
The Road Not Taken
BY ROBERT FROST
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
