This Week at the Farmers' Markets

Farm News and Notes
We have a couple of late births this week.  Both Chippewa and Coco Chenel kidded with twin doe kids (thankfully!!). All are healthy.  Since we thought we we were done with kidding season, we had our dry does out in the pasture.  That didn't deter Chippewa; she kidded out in the pasture last Sunday afternoon without any fanfare.  It's amazing how quickly you forget how adorable a little 6 pound kid can be. 

We're finally getting out to tend to the orchard and berries. The wet weather has created a weed extravanganza, but little by little we are beating them back. A number of folks have called inquiring about u-pick fruit. Right now we don't have any berries ready for u-pick. Our strawberry beds are new this year, so we really don't have many strawberries. We should have currants-red, black and white in another 2-3 weeks and rasberries by the end of June.  I will send out a notice about fruit availability and our hours for u-pick as soon as we have ripe fruits. Keep checking the website under fruits or "what's new."

Our vegetable garden is mostly planted, and despite the rain and rabbit tomato and pepper seedling nightly beheadings. The plants are growing, and we are confident we will begin to have some vegetables for our farm dinners. 

Speaking of farm dinners, check out the latest issue of Bon Apetit Magazine (the July 2009 issue). There is a page about farm dinners across the country, and we are IN IT!!  Our first farm dinner "Celebrate Spring" was a huge success.  We dined inside the somewhat refurbished barn (very rustic, but all enjoyed).  The meal was exquisite (as we would expect from Alisa DeMarco and her crew) and folks enjoyed the goats and each other.  The next dinner is a "Vegetarian Feast," and the menu will be posted sometime this weekend.   

Farmers' Market Offerings
This week we will doing three farmers' markets: Urbana, Green City Market and Oak Park.  We will be bringing the following cheeses:
Fresh Chevre (of course): plain, herbs de Provence and cracked black peppercorn
Little Bloom on the Prairie (very limited supply, so come early if you want some)
Krotovina (the lovely little pyramid with half sheep and half goat milk separated by an ash layer)
Roxanne (our raw sheep milk brebis style cheese)

We expect to have Angel Food and Ewe Bloom back in the repertoire in the next week or two.  Expect some other cheese debuts in the coming weeks too.
I have updated the "Available Cheeses" page of our website, so check out the photos of Krotovina, Ewe Bloom and Roxanne.