Sunday, March 14, 2010

SPICE magazine: Autumn 2010. One for the Kids




John Martin and his wife Miriam are on a personal mission that spans more than twenty years. The couple are passionate about self-sustainability and have applied the principles of permaculture to nurture and build their Swan Valley property, Caprino Goat Farm, literally from the ground up.


"We moved to the farm in 1986 and back then it was pretty much a bare, useless piece of ground,” recalls John.


"The neighbours all laughed at us when we said we were going to run a goat dairy here. They didn’t know how we were going to survive on this particular block as it wouldn’t grow anything. The land was basically wasteland when we bought it. It was desolate, a desert. We brought three cows, twelve goats and some chickens with us when we moved in. A week after we arrived we were down to two goats, no cows and no chickens. We brought in loads of organic matter and introduced it to the soil. It was a lot of hard work. It has now reached a point where it’s absolutely self-sustaining. It just seemed like the right way, to feed the soil rather than to fight against it.”


But for the couple, the farm wasn’t just about going green. It was also borne out of love for their children who, at a young age, were afflicted with asthma and terrible allergies due to their intolerance to cow’s milk.


“The farm all started from our personal experience,” says John.


“I’m lactose intolerant, and so are our two children. They would have an asthma attack if they had any cow’s milk products. That’s how we started it”.


It wasn’t too long before the word had spread about the healing benefits of their goat’s milk.


"Parents started to knock on our doors asking for the goat’s products because they had children who suffered from asthma, eczema and other allergy problems because they couldn’t tolerate cow’s milk products. But we simply couldn’t sell it to them. We had to say no as it was illegal for us to sell back in those days. But then they’d come back with their children, who were covered in red, itchy sores. It was heartbreaking because I knew I could make it go away. So it was pretty much impossible to say no.


“Then the health department showed up to test our products, which tested safe. So now we stick to their testing regime and we can sell legally.”

Nowadays, the farm is home to around forty beautiful white Saanen milking goats, as well as an Anglo Nubian and a British Alpine. John is hoping to introduce a Toggenburg into the fold this year to make up his dairy goat quadrella. There are also six bucks and twenty cute kids. But having 60-plus goats roaming his property hasn’t stopped John from naming them all. Where to start?

“There is an Australian branding code that is released each year, and each year there’s a different code,” explains John.

”So we use that code to name all our goats. For instance, last year the code for 2009 started with ‘E’, so all the goats’ names started with ‘E’. That lets us know the year the goat was born.”

Goat milk is arguably one of the most consumed milks in the world. An estimated 4.8 million tonne of goat milk is produced worldwide.

“Goats are probably the oldest domesticated animal in the world,” says John.

“If you go back in the Bible, it makes mention of them back in Genesis. The ancient Egyptians used them for milk as well. It just shows you how long they’ve been around with man.”

As well as being widely consumed, goat’s milk is also known as being the closest to breast milk than any other food. Recent studies have suggested it can help prevent anaemia and bone demineralisation. It’s also easier to digest than cow’s milk, making it suitable for some lactose-intolerant groups.

“There’s zero cholesterol in goat’s milk and it doesn’t need to be homogenised because there are no fat globules, they don’t need to be broken down. It’s already digestible.

The farm sell their goat’s milk and natural yoghurt direct from the farm to the public, as well as to small suppliers, such as The Greenhouse restaurant in Perth.

Matt Stone, head chef at The Greenhouse, makes curd out of the milk he buys from Caprino’s, and he’s soon to enlist John to teach his kitchen how to make cheese.

“We use John’s milk to make yoghurt, and once we eventually get a Pacojet we’ll be making goat’s milk ice-cream and sorbets,” says Matt.

“After we’ve done the cheese-making course we’ll use the goat’s cheese on pizzas and in salads.”

For John and Miriam however, it’s all about the kids.

“Because we are a very small operator, we try to keep our prices low so that the people who need them can afford to buy them. Our focus has always been on young children who need it as opposed to people who buy it as a lifestyle choice. It’s not about the money. It’s not about making a million dollars. It’s about supplying a product that children out there need and their parents can afford. That’s what it’s always been for us.”