They’ll violate your personal space. They’ll kiss your face. They’ll pull your hair and try to eat it off your head. They’ll walk all over you if you let them.
But like most kids, they are a blissful gift, said self-professed Goat Mom Lani Jones. She and her husband, James, have operated the Goods and Goats Market in San Juan Capistrano for the last five years, where their one-acre farm and yoga studio have become a hit.
A baby goat uses Aurelio Osorio’s back as a springboard during Yin Yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Goat yoga has become popular at the farm. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A goat plants a wet kiss on Annika Nelson’s cheek during Yin Yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Goat yoga is a popular feature at the farm. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Humans participate in Baby Goat Yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Aurelio Osorio strikes the “needle nose” pose as he takes part in Yin Yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Goat yoga has become popular at the farm. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Jennie Rios of Irvine reacts after baby goat Violet had a potty accident on her back and it seeped “to my buttocks,” during Yin Yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Baby goats perch on people during a yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Goods and Goats Market Farm Manager Devyn Homan got a tattoo of her favorite goat, Yucca, pictured, because of his loving, dog-like behavior (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A goat goes head-under heels off Jennie Rios’ back during
Yin Yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Vanesa Gouldburn tries to prevent her hair from becoming goat food during a yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday, August 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Instructor Peter Lin says he stays “open to going with the flow” during Baby Goat Yoga class at Goods and Goats in San Juan Capistrano. It’s one of two classes he taught on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Owner Lani Jones participates at right. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The landscape at Goods and Goats Market in San Juan Capistrano features goat-themed signs and authentic antiques. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Goods and Goats Market in San Juan Capistrano is a wonderland of interesting antiques including a 1948 Diamond T pickup, a 1920s windmill and a 3-foot-tall wooden statue of a Mangbetu fertility goddess. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lani Jones arrives to work at her one-acre farm with her dogs, Indigo, left, and Tuffy. They romp around while goat yoga classes take place in San Juan Capistrano on
Sunday, August 28, 2022. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Jim and Emily Gantes of Ladera Ranch take part in a Goods and Goats activity with their children Benjamin, 10, from left, Madeline, 8, and Evelyn, 4, on Sunday, August 28, 2022 in San Juan Capistrano. “Goat walking is not something you’d think you’d do,” Emily said of the Sunday morning experience. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The landscape at Goods and Goats Market in San Juan Capistrano features goat-themed signs and authentic antiques and calming yoga merchandise for sale. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Goods and Goats Market in San Juan Capistrano is a wonderland of interesting antiques including old pickups, a 1920s windmill and a 3-foot-tall wooden statue of a Mangbetu fertility goddess. It’s also where you go for goat yoga. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
On Sunday, soothing meditation music filled the air as instructor Peter Lin led participants in a series of heart, mind and physical exercises. Unfazed as baby goats jumped on and off his back, knocked over his coffee and nibbled on shoes next to his mat, his calming voice instructed, “Yoga is the act of making the unconscious conscious.”
As the class contorted into the “table top,” “cat” and “cow” poses, a blood-curdling scream sliced through the meditative air.
Jennie Rios of Irvine jumped to her feet. Violet had an “accident” on her back.
“Congratulations,” Jones yelled. “You get a lip balm,” one of several goat’s milk products she makes in her kitchen and sells in the farm’s market.
But the goats provided more than entertainment.
Having a goat “stand on your back and massage it provides physical benefits,” Lin said.
Sahory Aguilar of Santa Ana marveled after class, “The heaviness of the goats helped release tension in my back and neck.”
Taylor Castro of Newport Beach, who participated with two friends, said her stomach got a lot of exercise, “from laughing so hard.”
Before Sunday’s goat yoga session, Jones explained her journey and thanked people for “helping me live my dream.”
Growing up a ranch girl, Jones got used to animals getting auctioned and going away. But when her brother’s cow, Sammy Simmental, ended up as a leather spread on his bed, she was devastated.
“I freaked out so my mom bought me a 2-week-old goat,” for comfort, she said.
Since then she has always had goats.
Tucked beneath a canyon and adjacent to a bike trail in northern San Juan Capistrano, the solar-powered farm is near where she grew up.
The property is now an ever-changing landscape of activities: There’s a zen garden, a fire pit, a paintball area, a worm composting bin, zip lines for children and lots of goat-milk products made in Jones’s kitchen.
And then there are the antiques.
“When we go on vacation we come back looking like the ‘Beverly Hillbillies,’” Jones said of the family’s antique-buying obsession.
A 3-foot-tall wooden statue of a Mangbetu fertility goddess from Congo greets yoga-goers at the open-air studio.
“Everything here is authentic,” Jones said.
Every bit of the farm seems to have a soothing sense of purpose. Including the 42 goats.
“Their darlingness provides joy,” Jones said. She tells the yoga classes, “When you fill up with bliss from the farm, share it with someone who needs it.”
