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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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It’s Goat Yoga Time!

Mad Lavender Farm [5 Images] Click Any Image To Expand

Goat Yoga arrived at Mad Lavender Farm in June 2016 when a yoga teacher friend shared a video of goats jumping up on people doing yoga. It looked like so much fun. She informed us that this was a “thing” and that it was called Goat Yoga. We had five Dwarf Nigerian goats on the farm, so our friend offered to teach it and so we started offering goat yoga sessions. It took off right away.

This will be our sixth season of Goat Yoga and we have learned a few things:

Yoga Goats are different than farm goats.

Goats are really only friendly when they are raised by hand. A typical farm goat is actually shy of humans. The more goats are handled at a young age, the friendlier they become. Yoga goats are super friendly because they spend so many hours interacting with people during goat yoga.

They even develop different personalities, ranging from silly to serene. During a goat yoga session, they may ask to be petted, eat out of your hand, leap onto your back, sit in your lap or play with each other. 

Goat Yoga teachers are a very special breed.

Goat Yoga teachers must have a big call to adventure, an unflappable inner calm, a love of goats (naturally) and a sense of mischief to match. Folks of all ages and levels of yoga experience do goat yoga and goat yoga teachers need to be responsive to all their needs. It also takes a big dose of creativity to run a goat yoga session because goats are unpredictable and they don’t always follow the “lesson plan.”

Why Goat Yoga? 

People sign up for goat yoga out of curiosity at first. They keep coming back for the love of the goats. I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked, “why goat yoga?” I try to explain how goats lift the spirits, how they take you out of the mundane and into an adventure, but it really is something that needs to be experienced to be understood. We have hosted Goat Yoga bachelorette parties, birthday parties, and even octogenarian parties. It is so gratifying to witness the pure pleasure I see on the faces of people enjoying a yoga session on a beautiful summer day with goats.

Mad Lavender Farm is a family farm owned by Adrienne Crombie and Don Dalen, and located at 452 County Rd. 579 in Milford. For more information on all the farm offers, call 908-310-5973, email  [email protected] and visit MadLavenderFarm.com. See ad, page 10.


Mad Lavender Farm - 452 Co Rd 579 Milford NJ

Mad Lavender Farm - 452 Co Rd 579, Milford, NJ

Get back to nature with goat yoga, hands-on workshops, fresh lavender and more. An artfully designed venue for celebration modeled for earth-kind consciousness with a zero-waste ideal.... Read More » 

 

In-Print May 2022
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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