Agri-Drama and On Farm Sales
Spring Drama of the week
We tilled up our vegetable beds last weekend, inspired by the dry warm weather and anxious to plant some early season crops for our first farm dinners, only to be plunged back into another round of cold, wet, slap-in-the-face days. This weekend, we will approach summer temperatures. I have come to expect this weather rollercoaster here in central Illinois in the spring. We plan to plant strawberries and spring greens this weekend if the weather holds.
Kidding season is still upon us, and this week we experienced the highs and lows of birthing. On Tuesday afternoon, Larrissa, one of our independent minded La Mancha does, kidded two beautiful cross bred doe kids. True to her spirit, she had a kid’s hooves hanging out her backside while head butting one of her compatriots. At the same time, Peppermint Pattie, one of our smaller unassuming and gentle Nubian does, looked liked she was going into labor. We kept observing her and she wasn’t acting too out of sorts. We continued about our chores—milking, feeding the kids, checking on cheese and came back a couple of hours later to find her water had broken and she was trying to push but nothing was coming out. We have seen this scenario a lot—it usually means that the kid is breach or positioned in such a way that it needs some human assistance to be delivered. I put on the OB gloves, doused my hands with betadine solution and lubricant and slowly tried to work my hand inside Peppermint. She was barely dilated, and I could only get a few fingers in there initially. I felt a little tail, and knew for sure that the kid was breach. I massaged her cervix and finally I was able to get my whole hand inside her uterus. I could feel a hip, but not much else. It seemed like the kid was both upside down and breach or on its side. I tried to manipulate the kid inside the womb, but it became clear it was huge. Aaron, our herdsman, tried to go in there and help get a leg out. No luck.
After trying to get this kid out of her for over an hour, we finally called the University of Illinois Vet Clinic. They told us to bring her in if we could. Amazingly, she was able to walk to the truck, and Wes and Aaron hoisted her onto the back of the truck, quickly covered in a bed of straw. She stood the whole ride down Lincoln Avenue to clinic. Thankfully, it is only about 10-15 minutes drive. Upon arrival, the vet residents tried to remove the kid without having to do the emergency cesarean section they had planned. Miraculously, the doctor was able to get two feet out and began to pull. No movement. At that point, it was clear that the kid was already dead and apparently had been dead for a long time (over 12 hours). After another 30 minutes of trying to remove the kid and Peppermint Pattie getting weaker by the minute, we decided to go forward with the C-section. I couldn’t watch the procedure, but once they opened her up, they found a gigantic male kid that probably weighed over nine pounds. It didn’t look normal either—head and shoulders were proportionally much larger than the back half of his body. There were some complications with her uterus, but they stitched her back up about 11PM and she started to come out of the anesthesia shortly thereafter. I am happy to report that she is recovering well, and we to plan to bring her home from the vet school this afternoon. You can visit her this Saturday in the little “recovery” ward we will create for her.
Farm Open House Sales and Breakfast Menu
This Saturday (April 25th), we will be hosting our FINAL spring open house, on-farm sale and farm breakfast. Weather is expected to be sunny and 80 degrees!! As usual, we will open from 9AM to 12 noon. We will have the following cheeses for you to taste and purchase:
- Fresh Chevre-plain, herbs de Provence and cracked black peppercorn
- Ewe Bloom (soft ripened sheep milk cheese)
- Angel Food (our goat milk brie style cheese-its 2009 debut)
- Moonglo (our raw goat milk, washed rind tomme—the last batch until June)
- Huckleberry’s Blue (our raw goat milk blue cheese-sweet and mild blue flavor)
The other farmers will be here as well including Blue Moon Farm, Tomahnous Farm, Seven Sisters Farm hand spun wool and Stewart’s Artisan Breads and Pastries. We will also have ramps for sale from Spence Farm-the last of the season.
Blue Moon Farm will have limited spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard and kale.
Tomahnous Farm will have eggs, lots of shitake mushrooms, herbs, flour, very limited asparagus and hand crafted goat milk soap.
Stewart’s Artisan Breads and Pastries will be bringing his usual assortment of breads, bagels, bagel bites, granola and granola bars along with his delicious potato dinner rolls.
Farm Fresh Breakfast will be served from 9AM to 12 noon as well. This week’s menu pulls out all the stops and includes:
- French Toast Bread Pudding with Maple and Illinois Pecan Glaze
- Spence Farm Ramps and Three Sisters Farm Grits “Cake” with Tomahnous Farm Poached Egg and Hollandaise Sauce
- Triple S Farms Mini-link Sausages
- Alisa DeMarco’s Red Pepper Jelly, Prairie Fruits Farm Moonglo and Herb SconeS
- Jarrell Family Plum and Walnut Scones
- Goat Milk Masala Chai
- Fair Trade Coffee
We look forward to seeing you here this Saturday. This is the last Saturday that we will be hosting farm open house, farm breakfasts and on farm sales since the Urbana Farmers’ Market season starts next Saturday May 2nd. If you haven’t had a chance to come out to visit the farm and enjoy a delicious local breakfast, now is the time. As always, thank you for your support and patronage.
