When life gives you lemons you make lemon aid. But what do you do if life gives you goat’s milk? In the case of Laura Welchel and Lori Widener, they make stuff.

Welchel and Widener began using goat’s milk for their families needs. Widener said her husband, Mel, is lactose intolerant and can consume the goat’s milk without any trouble.

The reason for this is because goat’s milk has a different fat content. Goat’s milk contains 10 grams of fat per eight ounces. Cow’s milk contains eight to nine. The difference is that goat’s milk does not contain agglutinin. As a result, the fat globules in goat’s milk does not cluster together. This allows for easier digestion.

Widener said her grandson Tristan also consumes the goats milk.

The only problem they had, they had too much milk.

“We had freezers full of milk,” Widener said.

Instead of sitting on it, they decided to make stuff out of the milk.

Welchel said she asked Widener one day if she ever considered making soap out of goat’s milk. Welchel had read about it and saw it as a solution to their never ending supply. Widener’s answer? “Why not!”

So they began doing research.

We read books, and researched stuff on the internet, Welchel said.

They discovered that a lot of the ingredients they needed to make soap could be purchased locally. Some of these ingredients include Olive Oil and Coconut Oil. But soap was just a jumping off point.

“We learned that the ingredients used to make soap could be used to make other things,” Welchel said.

The product list grew to include, soap, lotion, body butter, and lip balm.

The goats are milked every morning, said Welchel. They produce anywhere from a pint to a half a gallon of milk. Because some of the goats are still nursing, Welchel said the babies are separated at night so as not to drain the mothers.

When it is time for milking, Welchel leads a goat into the milking room, puts them up on a stand and allows them to eat while she milks. Upon completion, the goat is returned to the herd and another one is brought in. And so it goes until the milking is complete.

It is roughly the same at the Widener home, where Widener keeps more of the herd.

Of the milk that is gather, some is set aside for home consumption and some for commercial use.

To make a batch of soap, Widener said it can take up to six cups of milk. The soap is formed and then set aside to be dried.

The soap made at the Double L Goat Diary comes in eight different scents: lemon grass tea, Little Boy Blue (smells of fresh linens), patchouli, peppermint, Thyme in the Kitchen, lavender, lavender lemon twist, and, oddly enough, oatmeal honey spice.

“We were shocked about the oatmeal honey spice but people really liked it,” Widener said.

Just for reference, the oatmeal honey spice smells like an oatmeal cookie. Just remember it’s soap!

Welchel said all the soaps are as close to being 100 percent organic as possible.

The same is true for the lotions which come in much the same fragrances as the soaps.

Ever the entrepreneurs, and partly to pass the time during the winter, Widener and Welchel began knitting face clothes. To makes a set, they used colors to compliment the soaps.

Adding to the product line, Welchel’s son Ruben custom makes soap dishes. These are sold individually or as part of a trio pack that includes soap, washcloth and soap dish.

Because the soap is a softer constancy than store bought soap, it needs to dry quickly after use. With the soap dish made by Ruben, the water is able to drain off quickly, allowing for longer use.

Also a product of the dairy is goat milk fudge. This is a special order item only.

Welchel also specializes in herbal tinctures. She has made several that are for helping manage things like ADD, gastro intestinal problems, mental clarity, pain relief and more.

Currently, Double L Goat dairy products are on sale at the Colorado Cattle Company, Bemis drugs, TaDa Art Studios, Cottage Gardens, at on Saturday nights at Kissing Kate’s at the High Plains Pro Rodeo events.

Cottage Gardens carries an exclusive type of soap. It was formulated with the gardner is mind. The soap is called Thyme in the Garden. What separates it from Thyme in the Kitchen is a substance that helps remove the dirt and grime from a gardeners hands.

“Thyme in Garden has pumice flakes in it to help with scrubbing,” Widener said.