April 4th On Farm and Green City Market Sales
Greetings from Prairie Fruits Farm
Spring is forcing its way upon us, in spite of roller coaster temperatures and last Sunday’s surprise snow. Flaming red early tulips have opened as have the daffodils. At last, the ravishingly hungry bees have something to forage on. Our alfalfa field is beginning to green up and the fruit tree buds are swollen with the hope of future fruits. We now have 24 does freshened (delivered their babies and started producing milk) which means that at last we have enough goat milk to start making goat cheese.
We made our first batch of fresh chevre this week, and it is as rich and creamy as I remember early lactation milk chevre tasting. We will have fresh chevre for sale this Saturday as well as our sheep milk equivalent: “mouton frais.” The repertoire of cheeses is beginning to build with the addition of “Ewe Bloom”, a soft-ripened sheep milk cheese, Huckleberry’s Blue (our goat milk blue) and Moonglo (that wonderfully pungent washed rind goat tomme). We will have all of these cheeses for sampling and for purchase.
Last Sunday, we ventured north to Fairbury to participate in Spence Farm’s annual “ramp dig.” Every year, they invite chefs from Chicago and Champaign-Urbana to come dig ramps (wild leeks native to their woodland) and then donate the ramps to The Land Connection’s Ramp Fest—a fundraiser for this wonderful non-profit organization (www.thelandconnection.org). We went to help dig ramps and partake of the fantastic local food meal prepared by the chefs and fellow ramp diggers. The snow covered trees and woodland floor did not deter the ramps from pushing their heads towards the sky. Among about 30 diggers, we harvested several hundred pounds. We were able to take some of those ramps back to our farm and wash them so that we could offer them to our farm customers this Saturday. As far as we know, we are the only retail outlet for Spence Farm’s ramps in Champaign Urbana. We will continue to offer them to you from now until the season ends (probably the end of April).
In addition to our cheese and Spence Farm Ramps,
Tomahnous Farm will be bringing a very limited amount of shiitake mushrooms, fresh herbs (lovage, chives, mint, oregano), organic swiss chard, organic whole wheat pastry & bread flours, pastured chicken eggs.
Blue Moon Farm will have organic kale, spinach, and some mixed greens that have arugula, tatsoi, kale, mizuna and red mustard in it.
Stewart’s Artisan Breads and Pastries will be bringing: Sourdough breads: Craisin/pecan, Potato, Cinnamon Swirl, Rye, Honey Wheat, Olive/Rosemary, Whole Wheat Multigrain, Raisin w/ Cinnamon Swirl, Walnut/Fig, and Tomato; Bagels: Plain, Sesame, Poppy Seed, Cinnamon/Raisin, Honey wheat, Salt, and Egg; Bagel Bites: Plain, Blueberry, Craisin; Biscotti, Granola and Granola Bars.
Seven Sisters Farm will continue to offer their beautiful, hand-spun natural yarn for sale.
AND YES, we will be offering our down on the farm breakfast again featuring all local foods:
- Triple S Farms Ham and Tomahnous Farm Eggs on a Goat Buttermilk Biscuit with Blue Moon Farm Hash Browns
- Spence Farm Ramps, Prairie Fruits Farm Chevre and Sundried Tomato Quiche
- Jarrell Family Dried Plum and Walnut Coffee Cake
- Prairie Fruits Farm Peach Lassi (a sweet-tart yogurt beverage)
- Fair Trade Coffee and Mint Tea will also be available
For those of you who came out last Saturday to our first attempt at serving breakfast to order, we thank you for your patience as we scrambled to get the orders out. We were truly overwhelmed by the number of people who came out to the farm on such a cold blustery March day. We learned a lot from this experience, and I am happy to report that we will be much better organized for this Saturday’s breakfast sales, and guarantee that you won’t have to wait very long (or at all) to be served. Bring on the crowds!! The weather is supposed to be gorgeous.
As always, there are baby goats to adore and pregnant does to console.
We look forward to seeing you here on Saturday, April 4th from 9AM to 12 noon.
Again, for those of you who haven’t been here before, you can find directions to the farm on our website under “Interact” tab.
Chicago residents who won’t be able to come down to the farm this Saturday; no worries. We will be attending the Green City Market in the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum on Saturday, April 4th from 8AM to 1PM. We will be bringing our fresh chevre (plain, herbed and cracked pepper), mouton frais, Ewe Bloom, Moonglo and Huckleberry Blue. We look forward to seeing our Chicago customers. As always, thanks for your patronage.
Finally, reservations for our Dinners on the Farm are filling up fast, so if there's one that caught your fancy, I recommend you go ahead and make your reservation now. If you encounter any problems, don't hesitate to email me and I can try to help.
