Hello Reader,

First, I have to thank all of you who read my email two days ago! I was blown away by the responses and helpful suggestions! If you missed it, and want to know what's happening behind the scenes, click here for the story.

One thing that became apparent is that a lot of people don't know about all the things we already have! Several of you emailed to suggest that I start a YouTube channel. And if even a few of you didn't know that, it means that there are a lot more who don't know about it!

The YouTube channel has actually been around for 16 years! My then-teenage daughter created a video about our goat Carmen giving birth. After she spent all afternoon editing the video, she said she'd never do it again -- and had a whole new appreciation for video editors.

I didn't post much for years until 2021 when I hired a video editor. Abby worked full time for three months to edit all of the old raw footage that I had recorded but never had time to edit. Since then, she works five to ten hours a week editing videos for our YouTube channel, social media, and our online courses.

When talking to one of you on Zoom a few weeks ago, I learned that having the YouTube channel under my name -- DeborahNiemann -- was confusing. She had no idea that it was the same source as Thrifty Homesteader. Yikes! That led me to changing the name to @ForTheLoveOfGoats so that it matches the podcast's name, and because the focus really is goats, so hopefully the new name will help YouTube suggest the right viewers for the channel.

Plus, we have also started to do a video version of every podcast episode that includes b-roll while we're talking. Instead of just watching a couple of talking heads forever, you also get to see some of the things we're talking about -- like goat milk soap products, a spreadsheet, or goat video.

I discussed the name change with a YouTube expert, and he said to leave all of the old videos up there, so even if you're not into goats, you can still find videos on the channel about gardening, chickens, sheep, cheese, and soapmaking.

Upcoming on the channel will be videos of our new border collie puppy Meadow as she grows up and learns to herd sheep and goats! We got her in May at 8 weeks of age, but I'm behind on getting raw video footage to Abby the editor to get the videos done.

You'll see Meadow's first video very soon where she meets sheep at only 8 weeks of age and shows fantastic herding instincts -- as her breeder and I talk about what needs to happen for her to become a real herding dog.

​Our YouTube channel is monetized, so we do make money when people watch the videos. We have just under 7,000 subscribers, and finally broke $100 last month! That doesn't help much, but if if we can 10x that, it would be $1000 a month, which could really help with our overhead! If you want to know more about what it costs to keep the lights on and the information flowing, check out the email I sent two days ago.

If you haven't already, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, and when you see our videos, give them a thumbs up or leave a comment. If you have questions, please ask! Abby the video editor keeps an eye on the comment section and lets me know when something needs a response. We want everyone to get the information they need.

And please share our videos with friends! It's horrifying that a video recommending lye -- yes, drain cleaner -- as a "natural" dewormer already has 82,000 views while my videos on proper dewormer dosages each have less than 1,000.

Thank you so much for your support! I'm more excited about the future of Thrifty Homesteader than ever before!

With gratitude,
Deborah

​

​