By Anjali Caligiuri
With Lithia’s bustling community filled with shopping centers and restaurants, it’s easy to forget there’s another way of life. Southern Bay Farm is here to remind locals of the farm-to-fresh wonders that come with living the farm life.
During the summer, Luis and Jennifer Gutierrez invited Lithia locals to tour their dairy farm at their location in Keysville to experience the farmer’s day-to-day life and purchase their own product line of soaps and lotion specially crafted with goat milk.
Developed from their son’s goats in 2018, the Gutierrezes have worked hard to create an animal and child friendly environment on their farm. To ensure everyone’s safety during the coronavirus pandemic, customers were expected to follow some protocols to stay safe.
Families were able to go through the farm one at a time and masks were required for adults and suggested for children. The Gutierrezes guaranteed the safety of the customers and workers while still giving families the most hands on experience.
Families might expect to see goats, cows, chickens and other usual farm animals, but Southern Bay Farm wants the customers to understand the full process of what owning animals on a dairy farm means.
“The tour entails education on what we do here as a dairy farm, education on goats and the breeding of goats. Customers are able to visit with goats in our post-labor and delivery stall and treat the mamas and the babies with snacks,” said Jennifer.
Southern Bay Farm strives to teach its customers about the process dairy products go through to become household staples.
“We enjoy teaching what ‘farmers’ do and how making sure you know what is in the food or beverages you intake are important, including how it’s all raised,” said Jennifer.
The Gutierrezes also incorporate their fresh goat milk into their own line of skin products. Their goat milk lotion and soap makes the farm not just a lifestyle but a business as well.
“Our products on our website are all organic. No chemicals. All made from goat milk,” said Jennifer.
Southern Bay Farm has done a magnificent job teaching the public about dairy production while thoroughly entertaining families looking for some wholesome, goat-filled fun.
Although its summer tours are all booked, to find out more about Southern Bay Farm, visit www.southernbayfarm.com, call 505-9961 or find it on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram @southernbayfarm.
