by MELISSA ROLLOCK

SHE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE your traditional farmer - no straw hats or farmer-browns here.

In fact, with her polished look, long, dangling earrings and manicured nails, June Niles, née Beckles, looks like she belongs on the stage.

She once did. She sang on the local jazz circuit for many years, rubbing shoulders with the likes of saxophonist André Woodvine and other major musicians.

However, the former jazz singer has traded in the glitz and glamour of showbiz for the muck and grind of a farm.

June, now a full-time livestock farmer, runs Crystal Sands Farms in Chancery Lane, Christ Church. But this farm isn't like any other you'll come across. Sure it has the animals - sheep, goats, cows, rabbits and ducks - but there is something unique about it.

For about a year of the three plus years it has been in operation, it has been producing and selling goat's milk, goat cheese, a potent beverage called Goat Moss - a mixture of seamoss, goat's milk, oats, ginseng, bay leaf, sugar and spices - as well as a variation, Almond-Moss. All 100 per cent Bajan.

June's products, the Goat Moss, Almond-Moss and goat cheese, won awards in the NIFCA Culinary Arts competition this year. She was awarded three bronze medals for her regular Goat Moss, sugar-free Goat Moss and Goat Cheese while the Almond-Moss won a silver.

The sugar-free Goat Moss also received a Diabetic Award.

"We are ecstatic, very pleased with the results," a modest June told the WEEKEND NATION during an interview at her farm this week.

The mother of two girls aged 17 and nine, said she started out with two goats. Those two turned into four, then into six - well, you get the idea.

At first, she continued singing jazz and reared the animals as a hobby, but then a friend suggested she get into it full-time.

It was a welcome change of pace for the English-born June whose father is Barbadian.

"I was born in England, lived in a concrete jungle, only ever seeing grey skies, grey buildings, grey people; everything is grey in England.

"I came to Barbados for the first time in 1988, fell in love with the place, stayed here for ten years, then I went back.

"But when I went back, I still had all the yearnings and desires to be way out in the country. I bought this property before I left. I came back in 2005 [to live] and I fell in love all over again," she said.

It wasn't easy moving from entertainment to farming. They were as similar as chalk and cheese. But thanks to the help of some experienced farmers, June, who is registered with the Barbados Agricultural Society and is a member of the Barbados Sheep Farmers' Association, learnt the ropes.

She gets up at the crack of dawn to milk the goats and to make her products, which she delivers to customers on demand.

In addition to her goat's milk products, June sells rabbit meat. She also sells lamb and goat meat, also known as kid, cabrito (Spanish for young goat) or chevon in some parts of the world, to Emerald City supermarket on a monthly basis.

"So when you see local lamb in there, a lot of the time some of it is mine. That's how I started out at first, supplying the meat once a month.

"Then I realised there was so much demand for goat's milk. After we started selling the milk for a few months . . . there was a time when I couldn't get enough milk. I would be squeezing these little goats praying they would give me more milk.

"Then there was a time when I had all this milk on my hands and people kind of slowed down buying. I had loads and loads of milk and I said I had to do something with this milk.

"So being a self-confessed 'cheeseaholic', I decided to try to make goat cheese," June explained.

The process for making goat cheese is simple enough. She brings the goat's milk to a boil and as soon as that happens, she turns off the heat. Then she gives it a good stir and pours in some organic apple cider vinegar, which separates the curds and whey.

She strains it with a cheesecloth to get most of the water out and seasons to taste. She uses herbs from her garden and sea salt to flavour.

Unlike many businesses in Barbados and around the world, June's farm is thriving in the midst of a recession. She believes people do not necessarily want cheap products for their money, but quality.

"We are thriving in the current recession by bringing healthy, quality products to the nation. Our motto is Happy, Healthy, Heavenly and we try to let our products reflect that.

"Times are hard and everybody looks down on agriculture, but you can carve out your own little niche. If we weren't doing this, we would be struggling," she said.

No business is without its ups and downs, as she found out last year when the farm was hit by thieves.

She lost eight pregnant ewes and a goat. June was planning to enter at least two of the animals in Agrofest this year but was fazed by the whole experience.

But the good outweighs the bad by far.

The only real challenge is trying to convince Barbadians of the health benefits of goat's milk and its byproducts.

"There are so many things you can do with goat's milk versus cow's milk. Those people who are lactose intolerant, like myself, can drink a whole glass of goat's milk.

"It has less fat than cow's milk, is very high in calcium and it is very good for you. And the properties of sea moss are so far and wide - it is high in iodine and minerals and because it comes from the sea, it is really, really good for the body."

June said both of her daughters were raised on goat's milk and they didn't have most of the ailments their peers suffered from.

"I had a problem shortly after I had both of them where I couldn't breastfeed them for very long. I didn't want to put them on regular formula because I'd seen children with the whole mucus problem and so on. I went to a herbalist and he suggested goat's milk, so I've been drinking goat's milk and I've been raising my girls on it . . . . They've hardly spent any days from school sick," June explained.

She also has to work on overcoming the prejudices locals have against goat's milk.

"When I used to get goat's milk from somewhere [in St Michael], it used to be very strong in odour, very pungent. The reason for that is what you feed them on. The grass my goats feed on around here is very sweet . . . .

"I was reading an article and it said that goat's milk gets tainted so quickly that if you were to get a clove of garlic in your hand and put it under the goat's nose and then milk it, you would smell the garlic in the goat's milk. It goes straight through their systems.

"So if they are eating something that is very bitter, the milk will reflect that. If you have wet, rank and mucky pens, they are going to inhale it and that will affect the smell and taste of the milk.

"As you can see, we have nice, clean facilities here," she said, showing off the impeccably tidy pens and surroundings.

Usually, Barbadians are reluctant to try any product containing goat's milk, but June is winning them over one sample at a time.

"There were those who said, 'Goat milk? Nah', but when you gave them the Goat Moss they were like, 'Oh yeah, I can drink this,' because they can't taste the goat's milk in it, said June, who added that the demand for her products was growing.

She is looking to expand her product range by adding new creations like her coconut punch made with goat's milk, which she had no problem convincing the WEEKEND NATION team to sample. She's still trying to come up with a name for it. If she hadn't told us, there was no way of knowing it contained goat's milk instead of cow's milk. And the upside is that it's somewhat less fattening than regular coconut punch.

June is also looking at producing goat's milk ice cream, and one of her customers even suggested she make a Goat Moss with brandy, but she is not too sold on the idea, since she is all about promoting healthy lifestyles.

She never gets weary of seeing people's reactions when they hear that she farms for a living.

"They laugh, they don't believe me. But I love what I do; it is immensely rewarding. Having the animals and being able to take care of them, loving them and then they give you something back - that has been really the best part," she said.

*melissawickham @nationnews.com