Edelweiss Acres is a small dairy goat farm in Olympia, Washington. We have been raising Oberhasli dairy goats since 1986. We specialize in Purebred and American Oberhasli goats. Our goat backpacking experience is since 1990. Our farm also provides Oberhasli buck service - we have Purebred and American bucks.
The name Edelweiss Acres is derived from the swiss apline flower called edelweiss. The picture on the first page of our web site is that of a clump of edelweiss. Edelweiss grows in well drained alkaline soil. The flowers are about 2 inches across.
We are very proud that we were selected the 1998 Small Farm of the Year for Thurston County, Washington. The award was presented by the Thurston Conservation District.
Community Involvement and Presentations
We enjoy being involved in the community, and sharing our knowledge. We have been involved in 4-H youth programs since 1986. Donna was the Thurston County 4-H Superintendent of Goats for five years. We are still active in 4-H programs involving dairy goats, pack goats and veterinary science. One of our children participated in 4-H programs at the county and state level. We helped coordinate a successful, regional "Goat Information Day" covering all aspects of raising and caring for goats - presenters included many goat professionals and licensed veterinary doctors. We participated in a conference investigating pack goat impacts - attendees included WA State Department of Natural Resources, WA State University, and the US Forest Service.
We are a listed farm in Thurston County, WA on South of the Sound Community Farm Land Trust's web site, http://www.communityfarmlandtrust.org/farm-listings.html.
Donna made a presentation titled "Goats...Goats...Goats" on 2/13/99 at the 1999 Western Regional 4-H Forum in Spokane, WA. The presentation focused on goat breeds, packgoats, judging, youth involvement, and goat nutrition and health. The Western Regional 4-H Conference is held once every two years. We had fun in Spokane, and made some new friends.
For 4H youth there are some revised Goat activity guides available from 4H. Donna was the Design Team Coordinator in 1999-2000 for revising these national publications. The activity guides include all breeds of dairy goats. There is a series of 4 guides (each is 40 pages) that can be ordered from 4H, http://www.Shop4-H.org (click on Curriculum, then Animal and Agriculture Science, then select Dairy Goats) costing $19.50, (for the group of 4), item number #08356. These guides are designed for 4H youth, contain a wealth of information, are full of project and activity ideas, contain challenges for youth, and promote learning by experiencing.
Donna made a presentation titled "Packing with Goats" on 3/13/1999 at the Seattle Center as part of TrailsFest '99 and again on 3/3/2001 as part of Trailsfest 2001 that was sponsored by the Washington Trails Association. Our presentation was one of many presentations throughout the 2-day events. The events attacted hundreds of people and provided some good exposure for packing with goats. Representatives from many Pacific Northwest organizations were present, as were rangers from several state parks, national forests and national parks. We and our pack goats met a lot of people. We participated in Trailsfest 2002 and Trailsfest 2003 at Rattlesnake Lake near Snoqualmie Pass.
Edelweiss Acres raises and sells:
Edelweiss Acres has written and sells Pack Goat Manuals (click here for more information):
Edelweiss Acres conducts seminars on (click here for more information):
Edelweiss Acres sells an educational video about dairy goats (click here for more information):
For additional information, please email: Edelweiss Acres, or call: (360) 742-8310.
