Last Farmers' Markets of the Season & Happy Holidays

We've been having way too much fun this past week getting the goats in the mood for the holidays and keeping them enthused about being milked a little while longer. A few days ago, Nat and Alison adorned the stantion in the milking parlor with evergreen garland boughs, hoping to get a great photo shot of all the goat girls' heads enveloped in evergreens for a holiday card. Well, the first set of milkers came onto the stantion and within minutes, one of the does got wise to the edible delights above her head and reached up for a nibble.  As Alison tells the tale, what happened next was nothing short of shear goat pandemonium--they all started tugging on the garland, pulled it off the stantion and started eating it! 

Clearly, Chippewa (aka Chippy) is enjoying her evergreen treat--notice her eyes are closed to fully savor the douglas fir flavor.   Roxanne, below, framed in green garland deliciousness, glows with the joy of the season:

In keeping with the spirit of green, Wes and I attempted to crown Jemimah, the donkey with a wreath of fir boughs, but she, who is NOT a goat, would have nothing of it. Here's Wes trying to convince her that evergreens are good but she wasn't buying it:

Little Ritchie, our once fertile La Mancha buck (now a docile wether with a full rabbinic beard), was much more cooperative:

He did want to eat his head wreath, but he cooperated for the sake of a photo opp. Yes, sometimes we just have too much fun! 

This Saturday, December 17th, we attend our last farmers' markets of the season: Urbana's Holiday Market inside Lincoln Square Mall and Chicago's Green City Market inside the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum.  Both run from 8AM to 1PM.  It feels like only yesterday we were setting up outside for the first markets of the season.  The last one is always bittersweet.  While we pine for our winter break from milking and cheesemaking, we'll miss all of the great customers we've come to know this year and from years' past.  To ring out the 2011 season with full regalia, we're bringing LOTS of cheese for you to enjoy with friends and family over the holidays:

• Fresh chevre (of course): plain, herbs de Provence, cracked black peppercorn
• Little Bloom on the Prairie--the last batch of the season, made with our wonderfully rich milk, is sure to be a crowd pleaser at any holiday gathering
• Black goat-the delicate little discs of slightly aged goat cheese dusted in vegetable ash--perfect for the holiday cheese plate or even with a salad of fresh winter greens
• Moonglo--take a wedge of our raw goat milk tomme to your friend's party and watch the guests sink their teeth into a slice along with a hearty glass of red wine!!
• Kaskaskia--this hard raw sheep milk cheese made in the early summer is the perfect garnish for a hearty winter stew or some roasted brussel sprouts

Lastly, we will be selling our silky sweet goat milk cajeta (Mexican style caramel sauce): $12 for an 8 ounce jar. It goes wonderfully with ice cream (sorry we don't have gelato to sell you, but you can buy another premium frozen dessert and not hurt our feelings), but it is also sublime with sliced fresh apples (still widely available at the farmers' markets). 

At this time of holiday celebrations, we take stock of all the wonderful things that have happened to us this year: our top notch employees, our prolific and loving goats, the arrival of our new guard donkey, a fantastic season of farm dinners and other on-farm events and YOU our patrons.   We thank you!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND AN EASY WINTER TO YOU ALL!!