I love goats and they have always held a special place in my heart. For starters, my last name ‘Cabrera’ comes from the Latin origin, meaning ‘place of goats’ (source). I like to think that many centuries ago, my ancestors herded goats in a small rural town in Spain. I also happen to be a Capricorn, and while I don’t take zodiac signs too seriously, I have always related to the ever persistent, sure-footed, ambitious goat. I even have a tattoo of a goat on my back. You get the picture. Goats and I are a thing and I am pretty sure the feeling is mutual. When my boss revealed that our ‘out of office work retreat’ was going to be on a goat farm, I was thrilled to say the least.

Before this past week, I knew nothing about Haute Goat. How could this perfect little place exist only one hour away from home and I had no clue about it?

Haute Goat is a goat farm located in Newtonville. It’s a beautiful farm surrounded by a picturesque countryside. The farm organizes all sorts of activities and events and you can check out their website to read all about the services they offer. Here is a recap on my day spent there.

But first, let me turn on my HAUTE of office alert. ;)

The Shmurgle

The first activity of the day was the goat ‘shmurgle’. Haute Goat describes the ‘shmurgle’ as “the snuggling, smooching or cuddling of ANY animal, particularly (and with emphasis), a Nigerian Dwarf Goat" (Source). I couldn’t think of a more fitting name because that’s exactly what it is. My heart was doing backflips and trapeezing in the air. We waited patiently outside the goat enclosure and watched about 50 - 60 curious goats waiting to be let out. There were mommas, babies, and goats of all shapes and sizes. After observing the goats for a few minutes, the gates were opened and the goats immediately rushed out (in an unusually organized fashion), heading for the soybean field alongside a hill. From here, you get to shmurgle to your heart’s content. We were able to walk to a few different locations with the goats and ended up in their playground where we could further interact and enjoy their company.

How can it get better than this? It does.

Hand-milking a goat & making goat cheese

The next activity on the agenda was hand-milking goats followed by making our own goat cheese. At this point, you might as well call me farmer Lou because I was definitely in my element. I didn’t grow up on a farm, and neither did most of my colleagues so it took a little bit of practice to get a hang of milking a goat.

This experience was very cool because I don’t often get to experience ‘farm to table’ and how our food actually comes to fruition. Watching it all happen really allows you to appreciate the process. The cheese making experience is super fun, and we were divided in pairs which really allows you to immerse yourself in the experience.

At the end of the day, we were able to take our goat mozzarella cheese home. I added my goat mozzarella to a charcuterie board the following day and it was a very proud ‘farm-to-living-room-table’ moment. It’s the white cheese shaved in slices on the bottom right-hand corner of the image below.

Lunch

There is no better way to experience ‘farm-to-table’ than a 3-course lunch with fresh, locally sourced ingredients while overlooking the beautiful Ontario countryside. Leading the kitchen were resident chefs Alicia and Rob, from “Nosh + Nourish”. To be completely transparent, I was expecting something mediocre at best, but this was far from it. The kitchen is large and open concept, super modern and very farm chic. Haute Goat Couture. During lunch, our table had two moods: Complete silence because we were so entranced by the delicious food or ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhhing’ about how delicious it was.

Lunch started with the most delicious white pumpkin and apple soup. The apples were honey crisp apples from Burnham Farms. The soup was garnished with sage and nasturtium leaves and drizzled with paprika oil.

NOBODY talk to me.

I need to savour this.

Nothing. Else. Matters.

The soup was followed by a chicken and heirloom tomato salad. The base of the salad was a delicious herbed hummus with heirloom tomatoes. This was topped with baby greens from Turtleback Hollow Farm and tossed in a honey and sumac vinaigrette. The star of the show was the juicy chicken breast served alongside shaved cucumber from the garden and sprinkled with goat feta from Cross Wind Farm.

Chicken and heirloom tomato salad (photo c/o my amazing colleague, Carrie who has a great eye for food snaps)

To finish it off, we were served a delicious maple and rosemary crème brûlée with the maple sourced from Dare2Dream Farm.

Maple and rosemary crème brûlée (another one from Carrie)

To. Die. For.

Alpaca Walk

We were pleasantly full and now it was time for the final activity of the day: The Alpaca walk. I’ve actually experienced an Alpaca walk before. This was different. For one, when I experienced an alpaca walk it was with two alpacas during the winter. Here, the entire group had alpacas therefore they were everywhere. It was also a beautiful summer day, which made it even more enjoyable. In addition to this, the walk included a local nature guide that talked us through interesting facts about the land surrounding us.

Alpacas are not as warm and cuddly as goats but they’re definitely friendly animals. They are a little more on the skittish side. My Alpaca’s name was Feather, and she was the alpha female.

I experienced my first (and I hope last) Alpaca ‘spit in the face’ during the walk and here’s a quick recap:

With short, tousled auburn hair and a doe-eyed stare, I was enamoured with Feather so I leaned in and we locked eyes. I thought I had her smitten. I was wrong. Before I knew it, I was spit on, smack in the face with what must have been 50 Alpaca G-Forces. Things got a little blurry after that. You know that feeling when everything goes really silent after something shocking happens or you get hurt really bad? I could hear colleagues in the background asking if I was ok but the sound was muffled because I wasn’t entirely there. It took a few seconds to gain consciousness of what had just happened. The smell was horrid. Because we were out in the bush, there was nothing to wipe my face with. The nature guide pointed out some shrubs of leaves and said they were safe to rub on my face. Awesome.

Although the incident is something I can do without for the rest of my life, it did not ruin the experience for me. It’s not at all a common occurrence and in Feather’s defense, I was all up in her face. What’s worse is that they say female alpacas spit at male alpacas when they’re not interested. I was rejected by an alpaca.

Lesson learned, Feather. Lesson learned. Not your type. That’s cool. I’m fine. No really, I’m FINE.

Overall, it was an incredible experience. My colleagues all felt the same way. We didn’t really know what to expect and the entire experience really surpassed our expectations. If you’re ever looking for a fun activity in Southern Ontario, this will not disappoint.