CANFIELD, Ohio – Marsha Coakley grew up next door to her uncle’s farm. She remembers being chased around by the goats and thinking they were mean.

Today, Marsha and her husband, David, are proud owners of 40 Alpine and Nubian goats. And what started out as two goats for eating grass and personal milk use has evolved into Frog Pond Farm & Dairy, located just outside of Canfield.

“We had talked about being a little more self-sufficient on things,” David said. “It just kind of morphed into this.”

It all began with a trip to the Columbiana County Fair, where the couple fell in love with a pair of friendly kids. Soon after, they obtained a seller’s phone number from a 4-H member.

“It just kind of spiraled out of control after that,” Marsha said. “In 2015, we got our first two goats and it snowballed from there.”

The Mahoning County Farm Bureau members purchased their property in 2011, naming their site Frog Pond Farm in 2013. That same year they added a few ducks and two horses. Soon after they added a few chickens for some farm-fresh eggs and organic meat. In 2014, a beehive was added. Finally, in 2015, they welcomed their first two goats to the farm.

“That was when everything changed,” Marsha said. “Our lives changed in ways we could never have imagined when we purchased our first two dairy goats. We never had intentions for it to become the goat farm it is today.”

Their first experience with goat milk began in 2015 when Isabelle, one of their first two does on the farm, unexpectedly developed an udder full of milk. A precocious udder to be exact. They had no milking equipment, so Isabelle was milked into a stainless bucket by hand. Not wanting to waste the milk, Marsha started soap making for the first time. That began the soap business. After the soap business took off, fudge was added.

As their product line evolved, so did their plans for the farm. They acquired better equipment for milking. They built up the barn that was just as shell when they bought the place.

They started looking for equipment, most of which they got used from other farms or processors. They drove seven hours to Michigan to get a bulk tank. Their pasteurizer came from an ice cream shop in Cleveland. The milking stand came from another goat dairy in Ravenna.

What was an 11-by-15 screened-in porch at the back of their house was transformed into a modern cheese plant. It might be one of the smallest creameries in the state.

After a couple years of work, the dairy and cheese plant received a Grade-A license in July 2020. This required them to build a separate milk parlor with food-grade equipment and materials, and construct a separate milk room, among other requirements. Today it is a full-service processing plant that can produce liquid milk, seven flavors of chevre cheese and 20 flavors of fudge.

In addition, requests for soap are through the roof. Each batch of soap is made of 25 percent whole milk, made from scratch and scented with essential oils, something not guaranteed by all homemade soaps on the market.

“I began making a batch of soap when we first got the milk and I started making more of it,” Marsha said. “Somehow, the district manager of the Hallmark chain wanted the bars in 13 stores a few months later. That instantly gave us recognition and made us legitimate. I think that was our first huge win to get in a national chain like that. It helped so much with our brand.

“This was all by complete accident. We had purchased two goats just to eat down the pastures and maybe get milk from them for our personal use.”

Dave is a retired U.S. Air Force veteran who works as an environmental health and safety director in a local food manufacturing company. Marsha quit her administrative job in 2020 to run the farm business fulltime.

“It was a great job,” Marsha said. “I loved the company, loved my co-workers. I walked away from it all to become a goat farmer.”

And there’s more. The couple also offers a selection of lip and body balms, as well as goat milk lotion. “If you would’ve asked either of us 10 years ago if we’d be goat farmers, we would’ve laughed uncontrollably in your face,” Marsha said.