Farm offers unique goat milk products

A journey toward self-sufficiency has turned into a business for a Sanders County duo. Rogue Hen Camp Farms, located on Blue Slide Road in Thompson Falls, has a herd of goats, chickens, turkeys, and Guinea fowl. Quinn and Court Roggenkamp are co-owners and business partners who decided to change the spelling of the farm as a play on words and to help people pronounce their name correctly, Quinn explained. She and Court are animal people.

The business of raw milk, cheeses and other goat products started in 2022. They have expanded to include eggs, soaps, and salves. The back pasture currently holds the billy goats that are eating down the weeds where fruit trees will soon be planted. There are gardens on the farm where herbs, flowers and vegetables are grown to complete the farm's circle of productivity. "We plan to make goat milk lotions in the near future," they said.

Quinn is originally from Whitefish. "I grew up showing animals in 4-H," she said. Her background is in banking regulatory analysis. Her experience also includes restaurant work. Quinn is currently employed by the state in regulatory enforcement for food safety. She went to Oregon in 2020 where she met Court during the pandemic. Court, originally from Kansas, went to college to become a veterinary technician.

"We experienced food insecurity and realized it was more important now than ever to use our skills to be self-sufficient. I wanted to move home to Montana, and Court agreed to come with me. We both love animals and with my history in food service, it made sense to raise animals as part of our journey to self sufficiency," Quinn said. The couple started with raw milk and cheese for their own consumption and as gifts. "We were told our cheese is the best and we should start selling it," she said. State law allows them to sell their raw milk as long as proper testing is done. The goat herd has increased from a few to 25 as the demand has gone up. "Now we breed standard and mini nubians and sell extra kids to help pay our feed bill," Court said.

Some of their cheese flavors include garlic and herb, chive, jalapeno popper, Sweet Heat (also known as Cowboy Candy) pesto and holiday flavors of coco berry, pumpkin and apple pie. Soaps are made with a variety of herbs, flowers and essential oils for healing the skin as well as cleansing. The salves, known as Green Goo, contain plants for different healing purposes, such as bug bites and itching.

The farm also has new members, Guinea fowl, that are great tick eaters, according to Court. The newest member of the farm family is a Great Pyrenees puppy named Boon, who will be in guard dog training soon. Turkeys roam the grounds to help with the insect population. "We are incubating some eggs to hatch and sell," Court said. All the animals know their names. The tom turkey, Lurch, has a sense of humor. He laughs along with his owners.

Rogue Hen Camp Farms has a Facebook page where people can place their orders, Quinn said. "I don't expect people to drive all the way up here for cheese and milk," she said. The business does weekly deliveries to Thompson Falls and Trout Creek. For more information, visit facebook.com/roguehencampfarms.