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This week on the farm and at the markets
6/11/2009 5:12pm by Leslie Cooperband or Wes Jarrell
Everett Lee with Hershey, his first born offspring and Leslie, November 2004
A tribute to Everett Lee
Everett Lee, our first buck and one of the first four goats we purchased to start our herd back in 2004, passed away today. He was peacefully put to sleep following a long and mysterious illness. Everett ("Evy" as we called him affectionately), was one of the sweetest bucks you can imagine. Extremely affectionate, always hankering for a head scratch and a neck rub, he did not live up to the stereotype of an ornery & cantankerous buck (except in breeding season when he took on his male goat "aroma" and procreation single-mindedness). He produced some very fine offspring indeed, and his heritage lives on in our herd, despite our sadness over his loss.
On a happier note, Dawn, the matriarch of our herd (a spry nine years old and counting) kidded last night with a beautiful little doe. She is the last doe to kid this year (FINALLY and THANKFULLY). The doeling looks exactly like her momma--reddish brown with a white saddle. Mother and baby are doing very well.
Other Farm News: Fruits, Farm Dinners, Cheese Happenings
The raspberries and currants are starting to ripen, and as soon as we can get the weeds under control, we will begin to offer U-pick. Stay tuned for notices.
Our next farm dinner "A Vegetarian Feast" will be held this Saturday. You can view the menu on our website under "Dinners on the Farm" "Buy Dinners." We are defying the weather forcast, and setting up for outdoor dining. Let's hope the weathermen will be as wrong as they have been these past fews days at predicting rain storms in Champaign County.
The menu for the "Meditteranean Feast on the Farm Dinner" scheduled for Sunday, June28th is now on the website as well.
You can now find our cheeses at a number of Whole Foods Stores in the greater Chicagoland area, thanks to Natural Direct. They are helping us get our cheeses into a wider geographical area.
What we're bringing to the farmers' markets this week
This week we will be attending four farmers' markets: Urbana, Green City Market, Oak Park and 61st Street Market.
We'll be bringing the following cheeses:
Fresh Chevre--plain, herbs de Provence and cracked black peppercorn
Mouton Frais (this is fresh sheep milk cheese, similar in texture to our fresh chevre but with a bit more tang and creamy mouthfeel)
Little Bloom on the Prairie--we will be running a special on this cheese over the next couple of weeks. The rind of the most recent batches of this cheese has some wild blue molds on it, so it does not have the snow white appearance you have come to expect with this cheese. Rest assured, the taste is NOT compromised; just the aesthetics.
Ewe Bloom--our lucious soft-ripened sheep milk cheese
Roxanne--our raw sheep milk brebis style cheese; it has developed quite a following
Caprino Romano--NEW THIS WEEK, LIMITED AVAILABILITY ; this raw goat milk cheese has been aging patiently for over six months and it is finally ready for primetime; sharp with finish that bites you back, it is really delicious. Wonderful for shaving or grating over some fresh pasta. We only made one batch last fall; so when it's gone, it probably won't be back until next year. We will have Pecorino Romano (sheep's milk romano) available in August, so stay tuned for that one.
We expect to have Angel Food and Krotovina back in the line up in another couple of weeks.
As always, thank you for your patronage.
A tribute to Everett Lee
Everett Lee, our first buck and one of the first four goats we purchased to start our herd back in 2004, passed away today. He was peacefully put to sleep following a long and mysterious illness. Everett ("Evy" as we called him affectionately), was one of the sweetest bucks you can imagine. Extremely affectionate, always hankering for a head scratch and a neck rub, he did not live up to the stereotype of an ornery & cantankerous buck (except in breeding season when he took on his male goat "aroma" and procreation single-mindedness). He produced some very fine offspring indeed, and his heritage lives on in our herd, despite our sadness over his loss.
On a happier note, Dawn, the matriarch of our herd (a spry nine years old and counting) kidded last night with a beautiful little doe. She is the last doe to kid this year (FINALLY and THANKFULLY). The doeling looks exactly like her momma--reddish brown with a white saddle. Mother and baby are doing very well.
Other Farm News: Fruits, Farm Dinners, Cheese Happenings
The raspberries and currants are starting to ripen, and as soon as we can get the weeds under control, we will begin to offer U-pick. Stay tuned for notices.
Our next farm dinner "A Vegetarian Feast" will be held this Saturday. You can view the menu on our website under "Dinners on the Farm" "Buy Dinners." We are defying the weather forcast, and setting up for outdoor dining. Let's hope the weathermen will be as wrong as they have been these past fews days at predicting rain storms in Champaign County.
The menu for the "Meditteranean Feast on the Farm Dinner" scheduled for Sunday, June28th is now on the website as well.
You can now find our cheeses at a number of Whole Foods Stores in the greater Chicagoland area, thanks to Natural Direct. They are helping us get our cheeses into a wider geographical area.
What we're bringing to the farmers' markets this week
This week we will be attending four farmers' markets: Urbana, Green City Market, Oak Park and 61st Street Market.
We'll be bringing the following cheeses:
Fresh Chevre--plain, herbs de Provence and cracked black peppercorn
Mouton Frais (this is fresh sheep milk cheese, similar in texture to our fresh chevre but with a bit more tang and creamy mouthfeel)
Little Bloom on the Prairie--we will be running a special on this cheese over the next couple of weeks. The rind of the most recent batches of this cheese has some wild blue molds on it, so it does not have the snow white appearance you have come to expect with this cheese. Rest assured, the taste is NOT compromised; just the aesthetics.
Ewe Bloom--our lucious soft-ripened sheep milk cheese
Roxanne--our raw sheep milk brebis style cheese; it has developed quite a following
Caprino Romano--NEW THIS WEEK, LIMITED AVAILABILITY ; this raw goat milk cheese has been aging patiently for over six months and it is finally ready for primetime; sharp with finish that bites you back, it is really delicious. Wonderful for shaving or grating over some fresh pasta. We only made one batch last fall; so when it's gone, it probably won't be back until next year. We will have Pecorino Romano (sheep's milk romano) available in August, so stay tuned for that one.
We expect to have Angel Food and Krotovina back in the line up in another couple of weeks.
As always, thank you for your patronage.
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