I believe it would be ok for you to use the goat manure in the root zone of your plants but I would keep the fresh chicken manure away as it will burn the roots with too much nitrogen. Goat manure doesn't have such a high level of readily accessible nitrogen. I often mix llama manure (similar) right into planting holes when I transplant plants. I would also recommend that you keep fresh animal manures away from the surface of any vegetables, of most concern would be root crops or salad greens. The concern here is with disease pathogens that might be transmited to humans from the manure. By the way, the reason a typical lasagna bed doesn't heat up is that 1) you shouldn't be using high nitrogen manures and 2) it shouldn't be as tall as a compost pile (3+ feet.) The large mass of a compost pile is a part of what helps it heat up. Here is a link that might be useful: Is goat Manure Hot or Cold?

I've read your post & hope I can answer your questions. We've done all the landscaping here, but not all in the same year. It does take time to figure out what you like, so once you do a bed you also might change it, so don't worry about permanent designs so much as just try something. You might find out about free plant swaps in your area to fill your beds with what is prolific in your area, plus if the plants are free you can spend more on tools & gloves. For veg beds prefer 3' between as plants lean out from edge & 2' isn't wide enough unless you only plant down the center of the beds. Wood chips are slow to decompose & ideal for paths, but not vegetable bed mulch. They also work for around shrubs & trees, but not so well around perennials. Too heavy, chunky, harbor slugs, etc. Great that you have access to it for free. I love our wood chip paths over all other paths we have. Will need renewing because they decompose. Keep at least 4" thick to suppress weeds. Compost over your existing soil in fall works great for soil improvement to plant in spring. Use what you can acquire spreading at least 4-6" for the veg. garden. If you improve the soil for perennials & shrubs that way they'll also thrive after planting needing a lot less fuss. Certainly doable for a couple, but also overwhelming if new gardeners. Probably the best thing is to do what you most want to do & keep up with one project at a time. Building a new bed is easy. Planting can go pretty quickly, too. It's the maintaining & moving things around that can be time consuming, so what you plan ahead with spacing, right plant right place, etc. helps ensure success. It's easy to do too much & burn out. Though what you do now in fall will make it much easier to garden in spring! If all you do is spread compost, then top with wood chip mulch you'll be able to move the mulch aside before planting in spring and won't have a weedy space to deal with! If you don't want to have to move the wood chips in spring just cover the compost with shredded fall leaves. Then you can plant right in them in spring. Lighting in winter is different than summer due to the sun's position in the sky, so observing & taking notes is useful. The wood chip mulch will be heavy if wet, so volume depends on what you have to haul it and how well you can lift huge bags. It does make a mess inside vehicles no matter what you try to do with the heavy duty bags, etc. When hauling a lot of it anything you can do to save your back helps. Even empty garbage cans in the back of the truck work well because you can lean & dump in place or on tarps that you'd then drag to where you need them. Kids' plastic sleds also work great for this dragging to spots. Wheelbarrows tip, but heavy duty carts seem easier for me to handle. 5 gallon buckets also work for quick unloading, but are harder to fill. Try a compost calculator to figure out how much you'll need to cover your garden spaces at various depths you decide. Here is a link that might be useful: compost calculator

I've taken the lasagna method and adapted it to my own use. I piled up layers of materials on top of some pretty heavy clay. I put it all right on top of the grass and weeds that were there. I started back in July when I found out that our landfill gives out the previous fall's leaf mulch for free. I piled it as deep as I could with as many loads as I could until I couldn't move anymore. Over the summer and fall, it's sat there. I've planted a few things here and there throughout the fall. What I have noticed is that I have a lot more earthworms and pill bugs. I have also found that I can dig in the soil below my layers a lot easier than I could this past spring. Whenever I plant something, I makes sure to dig the hole down into the original soil, mix in and replace with some of the organic material, and even add a little garden soil from a bag. It might not be the perfect method, but my plants seem happy and that makes me happy. Sure, I have weeds. I have some issues with too much moisture in shadier areas, and the beds that I actually tilled and mixed in the organic stuff seems much happier, but it's also in a different part of the yard. I can't say for sure it is the method or the original dirt. I'm doing what works for me. My plants let me know when they need something. Hopefully, I can get into a cycle that allows ME to know before they tell me. My only concern from here on is how to keep everything working.

You can also cover the garden with 'lumber wrap'. It is the tarp which covers lumber during transport. We get it for free at any building supply store. It comes in various sizes from 8x10 to 16x20 approx. and is stronger than most tarps you can buy. You can cover the garden area...secure corners and centre edges with rocks etc. and within 2 months, earlier if it's hot, most all weeds will be killed or well on their way and then are very easy to remove. Be sure to put the black side up to heat the soil better. Or you can cover the bed and cut holes for planting and remove the plastic after several months. I use if for my paths and it works great. I also covered my vegy garden this year in May as I was unable to plant it. I checked at the end of August and it was still moist underneath, obviously without any watering. But then we are cooler up here. Once you remove the plastic you'll have to keep on top of any weed seeds that sprout. The easiest, quickest way I've found is a 'Hula Hoe'. You can scuff a large area in no time...just make sure you don't let the weeds get very big. Easier to do a light scuffing weekly which will take 5-10 minutes than to fight larger weeds. Or you could then put down your feed bags and cover with mulch. Mushroom manure is the best as it is weed free. With the bags covering the weed seeds presently in your soil and a weed free mulch, your bed will be virtually weed free other than some that may get blown in. Good Luck, Krystyna