Arrival of our Guard Donkey, Last Farm Dinner of the Season and Cheese News

The highlight of the week was the arrival our first farm guard animal, a lovely female donkey (aka a jenny) named Jemimah.  She is 12 years old (on the young side of middle aged for a donkey) and was the guardian of a flock of sheep for many years. Her owner sold the sheep flock, Jemimah became very lonely and in a need of another flock, so we gladly welcomed her into our herd.  We set up a separate pen for her inside the adult goat barn so she could check out the goats, and probably more importantly, so the goats could check her out safely. 

She being the greater in size eyed them calmly and without much fanfare--no usual vocalizations (braying is what they call the loud call from the donkey), just slight bewilderment about her new surroundings. The goats, on the other hand, were EXTREMELY curious about their new barn mate:

The long line of heads focused in Jemimah's direction, all ears pointed towards her, was classic goat intrigue (sadly, we didn't get that image on film). They ran back and forth from each end of the barn every time Jemimah took a step towards them. Within a few minutes, they had calmed down some, and a few of the goats--Ritchie and Larissa in particular (both La Mancha, mind you) cautiously approached their adjoining fence.  Jemimah got distracted by her first carrot and some delicious alfalfa hay, and soon the goats were going about their usual business--eating their own hay, ruminating, taking a little nap.  As Jemimah settles into her new home, we'll gradually give her supervised contact visits with the goats so she bonds with them. I am very optimistic that she will win the goats over with her calming, sweet and mellow personality. Her real job begins in the spring when we will have her on night patrol to protect our newborn goat kids from unwanted predators.

Last Farm Dinner of the Season

In our now traditional fashion, we'll close out the farm dinner season with a beer & cheese dinner in partnership with our friends at the Blind Pig Microbrewery.  This dinner is sold out, but I will post the menu on our website: www.prairiefruits.com (under the "Dinners on the Farm"heading, followed by "Dinner Descriptions and Make Reservations" and then under the heading of the December 3rd Beer and Cheese Fete).  We'll be serving some beers especially made for the meal along with others that our chef Alisa and Brew Meister, Bill Morgan have selected to accompany each course. It should be lots of fun--a great way to close out a wonderful dinner season--Thank You to all of our dinner guests. Stay tuned for notices about the 2012 dinner season in the early new year. 

Farmers Markets and Cheese

We're attending TWO farmers' markets this Saturday, December 3rd: Urbana's Holiday Market and Chicago's Green City Market. Both run from 8AM to 1PM and both are indoors--warm and civilized.  Our repertoire is limited, but the cheeses are rich and creamy.

• Fresh chevre--plentiful--plain, herbs de Provence, cracked peppercorn
• Angel Food--goat milk brie
• Little Bloom on the Prairie-goat milk camembert (limited quanities)

All of these cheeses would be wonderful additions to all those holiday parties you'll be attending. Don't forget to stock up on chevre for the winter.  We will have more cheeses available as the holidays approach, so stay posted. As always, thank you for your patronage.