Holiday Gift Sets

We’ve got lots of holiday gift sets that I’m uploading into our on-line store as we speak.  You can see all the gift sets that are up so far here.

This photo is of our Deluxe Holiday Gift Set, which includes 1 Butterfield Road (Boutique/Peppermint Citrus) goat milk soap, as well as 1 facial creme, lip balm, and bath salt all packaged up in our brand-new wooden gift box, kraft crinkle and cranberry grosgrain ribbon.  These wooden boxes are extra special because they are handmade on our property using reclaimed wood, and are great to re-use again and again as a gift box or storage container.  This gift set is a perfect way to share the best of Chivas with your friends and family!

Milking Goats on the Chivas Farm

Photo credit: Coral von Zumwalt Photographs. If you would like to find a higher resolution version of these images for print, please visit our Flickr account or contact us.

Can’t Decide What Goat Milk Soap To Try? Let Us Help!

Did you see us on Good Morning America and want to try our products for yourself? It can be difficult to decide which scent of our hand-made goat milk soap to get so we thought we would give you a few pointers to help you make the right selection!

Do you like to garden?

Try our Herb Garden Goat Milk Soap! It can be used as a hand soap and is tough on grime but soft on your senses. Poppy seeds & cornmeal exfoliate. Comfrey root relieves irritation. Hemp seed oil soothes dry, overworked skin. Rosemary, basil & fennel bring the garden into your home.

Is your face in need of some TLC?

Try our Clear Complexion Goat Milk Facial Soap. This soap is designed for acne prone skin. The bottom layer  helps prevent new blemishes from forming, while the top layer helps to heal current scars.

Still can’t decide?

Try all 6 of our most popular soaps! The 6-Pack of Essential Goat Milk Soaps includes one each of our essential goat milk soaps: Original, Sweet Nothings, Lavender Oatmeal, Spearmint, Wise Sage and Lemongrass.

Want more than just soaps?

If you want to try more goat milk skincare products than just our soaps try our Starter Kit. The Starter Kit is a great way to sample our line and includes Original goat milk soap, a Sweet Nothings goat milk facial creme, an Original lip balm and one Sweet Nothings bath salt sachet.

Featured on “Good Morning America” with Tory Johnson!

Chivas Skin Care was on Good Morning America! We wanted to share a segment of the article online about us…

“Mother-daughter team Donna and Lauren Johanson run Chivas Skin Care on their goat farm in Fillmore, Calif. They make soap from goat’s milk and sell their wares online and at farmer’s markets and holiday bazaars.

With a cash-only business, customers don’t buy as much as they do when they can pay with plastic. Now they use Square, a small attachment to a mobile phone that allows them to swipe credit cards to accept payment on the go. The Johanson’s says business has increased by 15 percent since they began using Square.”

You can watch the video and read the whole article by clicking here. Many thanks to Good Morning America, Tory Johnson, and Square!

Photo and video credit: Good Morning America

Twitter connects Terrain, Dallas Shaw & Chivas

One of the many reasons I love using Twitter is that I get to connect with people from all over the country.  I recently e-met artist/designer Dallas Shaw because we both follow @ShopTerrain – an Anthropologie sister-store in Pennsylvania (learn more about Terrain here).

Photography by www.petervanbeever.com Dress by www.katetowers.com

I follow Terrain because it carries Chivas’s brand-new line of boutique goat milk soaps (and a bazillion other crafty/cool home and garden products); Dallas does because she’s a huge fan of their incredible 5-acre with an organic nursery, café, home store, wellness area and garden shed.  I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting Terrain in person, so I was curious to learn more about the store from Dallas.  Here are some pictures of a recent bridal show she took part in there (see her bridal illustrations in the last photo). Beautiful, no?

Photo Credit: Laura Novak

Photo Credit: Laura Novak

Photo Credit: Laura Novak

Photo Credit: Laura Novak

If you like her style (as DesignSponge, Daily Candy, Oh Joy!, Poppytalk, and Free People have) you can follow Dallas’s “visual-candy” blog with eye-popping images of fashion, design, and other creative inspirations.  And if you want to see more of her artwork, as well as her collaborations “with the likes of DKNY, Dace, Vaute Couture, and American Eagle, complimenting their brands with fashion sketches, custom designs, and vintage wallpaper store displays,” visit www.dallasshaw.com.

If you want to see our new boutique soaps and do not live near Pennsylvania, you can also find them at Terrain’s on-line store.  They carry our Lavender Oatmeal goat milk soap and our Rosemary Fennel goat milk soap.

Gourmet Goat’s Recipe for Goat Cheese Croissants

Not only does goat milk make our goat milk soaps super rich and nourishing, but it can also be a nutritious ingredient in your kitchen. Gourmet Goat loves to share her favorite recipes made with goat milk and goat cheese, and here is her latest: Goat Cheese Croissants.

Goat Cheese Croissants:

Gourmet Goat loved the Goat Cheese Puffs so much that she wanted to make them again for her friends. Unfortunately, the grocery store didn’t have any puff pastry. Gourmet Goat had to adapt and decided to try making Goat Cheese Croissants. This recipe is really easy and quick. Goat Cheese Croissants make a great last minute appetizer or snack.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces Herbed Goat Cheese
• 1 Package Large Croissant Rolls

Directions:

1. Heat oven to the suggested temperature on the croissant package.
2. Unroll the croissant dough and separate the triangles, lying them flat.
3. Place about a tablespoon of goat cheese at the base of the triangle (the straight edge portion opposite the point of the triangle).
4. Roll the croissant and try to pinch together both sides to keep the goat cheese inside.
5. Place the croissants on a cooking sheet and cook for 12-16 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Want more goat cheese recipes? Check out Maggie Foard’s cookbook, “Goat Cheese.”

Recipe created by our social media and marketing intern, Taylor.

Photo credit: Taylor Harkins

Quick & Easy Recipe for Goat Cheese String Beans

Not only does goat milk make our goat milk soaps super rich and nourishing, but it can also be a nutritious ingredient in your kitchen. Gourmet Goat loves to share her favorite recipes made with goat milk and goat cheese, and here is her latest: Goat Cheese String Beans.

Goat Cheese String Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 Bag String Beans in Microwavable Bag
• 1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs
• 2-3  Ounces Goat Cheese

Directions:

1. Microwave the string beans according to the instructions on the bag. Purchasing the sting beans in a microwavable bag makes this recipe quick and easy (plus, there is less clean up!)
2. Place the string beans on a serving dish or on a platter.
3. Break up the goat cheese into quarter-sized portions. Scatter these portions over the middle section of the green beans.
4. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the goat cheese.
5. Serve while warm.

Note: these string beans make a healthy and colorful side dish.

Want to try other goat cheese recipes? Click here to see other recipes from Gourmet Goat.

Want a cookbook full of goat cheese recipes? Click here to see Maggie Foards cookbook “Goat Cheese.”

Enjoy wine with dinner? Click here to see “Pizza and Wine” it’s filled wine pairing suggestions.

Recipe: created by Taylor Harkins

Photo credit: Taylor Harkins

Need a Birthday Gift Idea? What About a Country Cooking Gift?

If you have a birthday party coming up, Gifting Goat can help! Just follow these 3 simple steps!

#1 – Pick an Apron Pattern

Simply Savvy Aprons makes adorable and unique aprons. We fell in love with the Country Girl apron and chose to go with a “country cooking” theme for the birthday gift. The apron has pockets, and a cute ruffles around it.

#2 – Pick a  Chivas goat milk soap

I thought the Lemongrass goat milk soap paired nicely with the “country” theme. There are tons of soaps to chose from, so if Lemongrass is not your favorite try Herb Garden goat milk soap or Santa Rosa Valley goat milk soap. Place the soap of your choice on a walnut soap dish and tie together with a ribbon.

#3 – Pick a Cookbook

Pick your favorite cookbook and write a sweet note on the inside cover. Maggie Foard’s cookbook “Goat Cheese” is a wonderful cookbook. The recipes are divine and include our favorite ingredient, goat cheese! The hard cover cookbook is filled with amazing photos and can be a coffee table book as well. Wrap the cookbook with the apron and place the soap dish on top.

Need a gift idea? Check out Gifting Goat’s suggestions!

How to Make a College Care Package

Care packages are a great way to help  a new college student feel at home in their new surroundings. Gifting Goat thought it would be nice to send a care package with a theme… college showers. The reputation college bathrooms have for being dirty is not a wives tale. The recipient of the care package will be grateful to have certain luxurious amenities even if they have to shower in the not-so-luxurious dorms. Gifting Goat suggests you include these few things in the care package…

1. Shower Shoes: it is absolutely amazing how dirty shower floors can be, so send off a pair of fun shower sandals. We loved these nautical shower sandals from Dorm Buys.
2. Clear Complexion Goat Milk Soap: skin has a tendency to break-out in new environments. Making first impressions is important so include a Clear Complexion soap in the package, as this soap is designed for acne-prone skin. The bottom layer helps prevent new blemishes from forming, while the top layer helps to heal current scars. Learn more here.
3. A Travel Soap Container: bar soap is cleansing but it is important (especially in showers used by multiple people) to keep your soap clean. Send along a travel container so they can store their soap in their room. You can find tips on how to use a travel soap container on our “Travel with Chivas” blog post.
4. Something Fun: this little hippo is a toothbrush holder. You can suctions him to the mirror and keep a toothbrush protected from dust and other bacteria… not to mention he is cute! We also found this little guy at Dorms Buy.

Photo credit: Taylor Harkins

Green Goat Shares Green Back-to-School Basics with Recycled Paper!

Recycling and using recycled materials is important to us!  So, we package our soaps with 100% recycled paper and we do NOT use any plastic packaging for our soaps. The Green Goat  knows that recycled goods are also important to you in all parts of your life, so he looked at the basic back-to-school shopping list and navigated through “The Ultimate Green Store” to find green alternatives for you, or your kids.

1. Notebook: Environotes Recycled Notebook contains 30% post-consumer recycled materials and Environotes recycles 98% of their scrap materials from notebook production.

2. Pencils: EarthWrite Pencils contain 60% post-consumer waster and the casing is made from recycled newspaper.

3. Ruler: TreeSmart Recycled Newspaper Ruler is made with recycled newspaper and recycled plastic.

4. Binder: The cover of the Universal Eco-Friendly Round Ring Natural Kraft Binder is made from 100% recycled materials and is dye-free.

5. Backpack: The Solar Converter Bag allows you to charge your phone, ipod and camera on the go with the 4 watts of solar power generated from the solar panels.

Since having a green and healthy lifestyle is important to us, we do what we can to incorporate those values into our product line.  In addition to using recycled paper to package our soaps, we use fresh goat milk from our farm and herbs from our herb garden to make our wonderful goat milk soap. Using local ingredients helps to reduce our carbon footprint.  Also,  our goat milk facial cremes are made with 82% organic content and our lip balms are made with 76% organic content. To find out more about our mindful product line click here.

Picture credit: (1)gwsports.com (2)chivasskincare.com

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