What's New at Prairie Fruits Farm

This week at the farm and markets

We’re riding on the heels of another successful farm dinner (see the wonderful write up and photos in Lisa Morgan’s Champaign Taste blog): http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/2009/07/prairie-fruits-farm-goes-whole-hog.html
Fertile things happen when Paul Virant (of Vie Restaurant) visits our farm. The last time he was here in late April, three does kidded simultaneously, one with quadruplets.  On this occasion, one of the does that we thought had not been bred kidded with a single little buck kid.  We decided to keep him as a breeding buck and we named him “Paulie” in honor of Paul. 

 
Things were relatively quiet this week on the farm. The garden is growing and we are beginning to harvest its bounty—peas, squash, beets, carrots and our new potatoes of varied shapes and colors.  It’s hard to describe the joy of growing your own food—walking out to the garden pick your dinner becomes a divine experience.  Our blackberries are starting to ripen and the pears on a couple of varieties of pear trees (Harvest Queen and Moonglo) are looking like they will be ready to harvest in a few weeks.

  















This Saturday, July 18^th, we will be attending FOUR farmers’ markets: Urbana, Green City Market, Oak Park and Bloomington.  We have lots of cheese for you this week, but no berries or honey. 
Cheeses include:
Chevre Frais (the usual suspects—plain, herbed and cracked black peppercorn)Mouton Frais—our fresh sheep milk cheese. If you like Mascarpone, you will love this cheese
Little Bloom on the Prairie
Angel Food
Krotovina
Ewe Bloom---on sale this week (we have lots)
Roxanne
Prairie Blazing Star Banon (this week only probably)
For those of you anxiously awaiting the Moonglo, it should be ready for next week’s farmers’ markets.
Farm Dinner Happenings
For those of you attending the farm dinner on July 25^th, Chef Alisa is putting the finishing touches on the menu, and I will have it posted on the website no later than Monday, July 20^th.  We do have waiting lists for the dinners that are sold out, so if you want to get on the list, send me an email with the date(s) and the number in your party. There are still a few spots left for the Illinois Fish Tale dinner. If you’re asking “what kind of fish does Illinois have??,”  you will be pleasantly surprised.