Madeline Varela

My earliest memory of wanting to be a farmer was when I was in preschool we had to draw a picture book of all the the the things we wanted to be when we grew up and one of my was a farmer.

When I got older maybe around 14 I decided I wanted to do dairy so I started researching and because drawn to goats because of their practicality. They require less land, less feed and less water and even Though they produce less milk their value add products usually go for more money compared to Cow milk products but it wasn’t until I started working on the simple farm that I really fell in love with the animal.

One of the first steps I did to become a farmer was to start looking for a internship at the time I was still in high school living in fountain hills so I had to find something close to me but It’s pretty hard to find a working goat dairy in the middle of suburbia. After a little bit of research I found the simple farm it was only around 15-20 minutes from my house, I reached out to lylah and she brought me on. When I got there I was instantly taken back by the beauty of the farm and how kind Lylah was. I spent the first day shoveling mulch into the garden it was hard working but you felt good at the end seeing the empty beds now completely covered! After I was introduced to the goats, they instantly came up to me and loved on me. I was at the simple farm for about a year I learned all sorts of things like hand milking and taking care of the animals it what that first year taught me is that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

After that year I graduated high school and went to work on another dairy for a year in south east AZ called Stand Alone Ranch they made goat milk soap, lotion and other body products. That year I really learned animal husbandry which was very valuable information. Now I am on my third year internship at Valley Shepherd Creamery in Long Valley New Jersey they make sheep, goat and cow cheese and other dairy products. I am only a week into it but so far I have work in their cheese cave where they age the cheese and the cheese room where they make the cheese and other products. I have also spent a lot of time in the barn helping their barn manager Anna take care of their 400+ goats and sheep. After this year I plan to travel Europe for a year learning about their cheese making and farming practices out there then after I want to settle and start my own dairy with Nubian goats and possibly sheep and make cheese, caramels and fudge out of the milk.