by Enrico Villamaino

They say necessity is the mother of invention. For Paula Voglino, the needs she developed from one job led her to create her very next one.

“I worked in the healthcare industry for 32 years,” she explained. “And as anyone who’s worked in that field can tell you, it does a number on your hands.” Frequent exposure to plastic gloves, cleansers and disinfectants, along with constant washings, left Paula battling severe bouts of eczema. “I didn’t want to put just anything on my hands. I wanted something healing, something all-natural.”

It doesn’t get much more all-natural than a tribe of Nigerian Dwarf goats.

Along with her husband Victor, Paula founded Misty Hill Farm. They’ve been farming for more than a decade. Situated on 11 acres in Temple, NH, Misty Hill Farm, along with some help from its trip of 15 goats, produces milk as well as yogurt, cheese and butter. They also sell the very salve that Paula uses to help those healing but hurting hands.

“We handcraft a line of creams, lotions and balms,” she said. Paula credits Misty Hill’s “Got Your Goat” pure goat milk lotion for her relief from her eczema. She emphasized that a great deal of work went into the development of these products, having invested over three years of research to develop a lotion that is more than simply soothing and satisfyingly unscented. “They have both anti-inflammatory and antifungal properties,” she noted.

In addition to pure goat milk, the lotion contains aloe vera liquid, sweet almond oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, meadowfoam oil and shea butter. “Got Your Goat” also comes in bar soap form, featuring unscented, oatmeal milk and honey, lavender, lavender gardenia, lemongrass and New Hampshire forest varieties.

Those looking to further indulge their damaged epidermis can benefit from Misty Hill’s body butter. A selection of bath bombs, available in lavender, mulberry, lemongrass, lavender champagne, green tea and grapefruit, has also proven to be very popular with Misty Hill’s customers.

While its focus is on serving the local community – Paula said the vast majority of her customers live within 10 miles of her property – the Misty Hill Farm online shop has seen a considerable uptick in its traffic. Recent exhibitions at fairs like the Big E in West Springfield, MA, have only raised Paula’s profile further. “I got to meet a lot of people at the fair. It’s been great,” she said.

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