Amaltheia Goat Milk Lotion
The familial pulse is ubiquitous upon entering the Amaltheia Organic Dairy cheese plant. I am greeted by Sue Brown, co-owner of the double-decade operation with her husband, Mel. Sue has her hair netted and her hands are full with the day-to-day operations. As if a picture from Sue’s past, her daughter, Sarah, walks into the office. The physical resemblance is uncanny, the entrepreneurial spirit running thick, but while Sue is reticent, Sarah’s energetic presence instantly draws you into familiar conversation. It’s a good thing, because I’m here to talk to the younger Brown about her recent ventures into goat-milk-based lotions.
Many individuals retire from a day’s work, peel off their professionalism, and find solace in hobbies that reflect genuine interest. But for Sarah, 36, her passion project of producing goat milk lotions echoes her trade at the farm. And while the cheese is a priority, with the lotion taking a secondary status, Sarah feels both excited and nervous for this solo transition. As I grip a jar of the cream, Sarah reminds me that I hold the final product from a trial-and-error process, one that even included a few explosions due to shelf-stability struggles.
The origins of Sarah’s new enterprise came out of necessity. “Making cheese, my hands are constantly in bleached water, so at the end of the day they are completely dried out,” she says. That certainly answers a question most consumers yearn to know: Does the creator actually use the product?
The origins of Sarah’s new enterprise came out of necessity. “Making cheese, my hands are constantly in bleached water, so at the end of the day they are completely dried out,” she says. That certainly answers a question most consumers yearn to know: Does the creator actually use the product?
In 1995, the Brown family moved to Ryegate in Central Montana, seeking the crisp mountain air and a place to put stakes in the ground. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Belgrade and in 2000 they opened the dairy. Still school-aged at the time, the Brown children would return home from school and make cheese with their parents well into the evening, almost like attending nightly communion.
Sarah now musters buckets of organic oils, pasteurized goat milk, and notes of fresh rose. For her lotion, she combines organic shea butter, organic avocado oil, organic coconut oil, organic grapeseed oil, vitamin E, distilled water, goat milk, and vegetable-based phenonip for preservation. The lotion offers healthy fats, protein, copper, selenium, and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, and E. It provides anti-inflammatory properties and Sarah claims it is the true antidote to sunburn. Because of our similar redhaired, fair-skinned complexions, we commiserate about seeking relief from the sting of an exposed summer day.
Not lost in the hours spent together, Sarah speaks to the faithful givers: the goats that buttress the Browns’ ventures, and the same goats whose cheese I smear on toasted sourdough every morning. “A goat will look you in the eye,” she says, as if the goat levels with your understanding of the exchange. Sarah’s true passion lies on the farm with the animals, and she explains that enriching their lives enriches hers.
“What we learned from a young age was the symbiotic relationship between animals, nature, and people,” she says. “Being able to harness that is a gift.”
