'UnforGOATable experience' at Legacy Lane Farm: Where goats eat poison ivy and do yoga
STRATHAM — As Dotty Thompson walked out to her backyard turned farm, a herd of guinea fowls followed her – all nine of them.
“They’re protectors of the coop,” she said. “They ward off foxes, anything like that… they make this horrific sound whenever they’re scared… they’re like watchdogs.”
Thompson is the owner of Legacy Lane Farm at 217 Portsmouth Avenue, where two horses, six pigs and roughly 30 chickens, 60 goats and more roam free.
Thompson started Legacy Lane about six years ago. Then, it was only a shop that sold soaps and lotions made from goat milk. That quickly changed, she said.
“People would come and say, ‘Where do you get your milk?’ and I would tell them from my herd,” she said. “So, they started coming to visit, and they’re like, ‘Can I bring my kids, can I bring my mom, can I bring my grandparents…’ One day I was cleaning a couple of stalls, and when I turned around, the parking lot was full.”
That was when Thompson decided to put out a bucket and make the farm a “donation-only petting zoo.”
“I’m adamant that I will never charge someone for coming and visiting animals,” she said. “I was the kid who could never afford the petting zoo. We’d sit there and watch other kids go in – I didn’t want that.”
Over the years, Thompson has expanded the farm's offerings advertising it as an "UnforGOATable experience." From farm camp for kids to goat yoga, the 2-acre space is now more than just a petting zoo for visitors.
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Will work for food: Poison ivy-eating goats
One of the new offerings at the farm is renting out goats for yard work.
“They do great at brush control, invasive weeds, and any kind of vine – Bittersweet (vine) is big around here,” she said.
Thompson said a “crew” of six to 10 goats go out on each job. She transports them via a trailer and sets up a solar-powered electric fence around the desired area to keep the goats in place. The goats stay there for the whole duration of each project, she added.
“When goats eat something that is seed based – like poison ivy – they poop it, and the seed is dead,” she said. "After I suggest to people to take some vinegar, dish soap, and hot water, and then you kill the root of the poison ivy, and hopefully it won’t come back.”
Thompson said she breeds two types of goats at Legacy Lane, Nigerian Dwarfs and Nubians.
She said Nubians are used as poison ivy control.
While any goats would eat poison ivy, she said Nigerian Dwarf goats are shorter, making it harder for them to reach taller plants. Nubians on the other hand, could grow up to 35 inches and weigh around 200 pounds, she added.
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Lainey Morse started goat yoga classes in August 2016 in Willamette Valley, Oregon, and it quickly spread across the country, according to ABC News.
Legacy Lane Farm began offering goat yoga classes in 2019. Thompson described it as 70% goats and 30% yoga.
“(Goat yoga) has become so popular because people don’t interact with goats on a daily basis, and they find out they have these personalities and they love them,” she said. “I stand in the back of the class while the goats are wandering around, by the end of the class my cheeks hurt because I’ve been smiling so much watching everyone interact with the goats.”
Goat yoga is offered on Sundays.
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Experience life on the farm
Legacy Lane Farm also offers farm camp for kids aged 6 to 16 that is available during any school break – summer, Christmas, etc.
Kids learn all about goat farming and animal care in a fun outdoor environment.
“Whatever I do, they do,” she said, referring to the camp. “It’s very hands-on. They get to enjoy animals and see what they’re about… This past summer I birthed two baby goats, and they got to see that.”
The cost is $65 for a full day, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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What is the future of Legacy Lane Farm?
Thompson said she traded her career as the owner of a paint company for farm life after a life-changing incident.
“At 43, I had a heart attack (from stress), and that’s when I sold everything and I started this,” she said. “If somebody needs 15 minutes to just come out here and (decompress), this is the place to be… Maybe if I had taken those 15 to 30 minutes, maybe I wouldn’t have had a heart attack.”
But it hasn't always been easy.
Thompson said this summer was difficult for the farm with all the rain. It was the wettest on record in New Hampshire, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“The rain has really been a mess,” she said. “We’ve literally been wet since November because it was a warm winter.”
The rain and the mud, she said, took a toll on the farm’s revenue from events such as goat yoga, birthday parties and private functions.
Thompson said at one point she was concerned they wouldn’t have enough money to take care of all the animals this winter and would have to give a few away. When Thompson first started the farm, she had six goats. Within six years, that number multiplied to 60, and she knows all their names.
“Everyone’s saying you gotta get rid of them (give it away to other farms), but who do I pick?” she said. “Do I pick Sylvia? She was my fifth goat. Sofia talks to me all the time and she had two of my best bucks – Montana and Dakota. Lucy was a gift from my breeder. Linda was named after my aunt… They’re all family.”
On average, it takes about $800 weekly to feed all the animals. That number does not include maintenance, medicine and additional supplies needed.
She said she received a boost this fall thanks to donations from the public.
In early September, Erin Baker, a friend of Thompson who also runs the day camp at Legacy Lane, set up a GoFundMe because they have been “struggling to feed our animals this year as well as the upkeep of the farm due to all of the rain, poor weather and a neighbor that continues to call authorities when a goat or even a chicken finds their way into their yard.”
Within a week, the page received over $2,000 from 55 people, double its $1,000 goal.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Legacy Lane Farm Stratham NH: Where goats eat poison ivy and do yoga
