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PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM & CREAMERY

"THE HERD" BLOG

Embracing the wind down, Final outdoor market and "Goaty Halloween"

prairiefruits

Oct 30, 2020
5 min

Embracing the wind down, Final outdoor market and "Goaty Halloween"

Farm News The sun is shining, and the opportunistic flies are buzzing about, taking advantage of the pockets of warm air inside the barns. The farm is a flutter of activity: we’re digging trenches to install water lines; we’re scooping manure and waste hay into compost piles and we’re moving goats into freshly bedded barns. The second round of breeding has begun, with relief breeders coming in from the “bull pen.” Today’s flurry belies the inevitable slow down as the cold win

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Bring in the cow milk, market offerings and farm happenings

prairiefruits

Oct 22, 2020
6 min

Bring in the cow milk, market offerings and farm happenings

Farm News There’s a finiteness to a goat’s lactation. Our girls have been putting it out twice a day since early March and based on the yawning bucks in the doe barn, most of the older does must be bred. As their bodies translocate resources to growing babies, their milk production takes a hit. To pick up the slack in the creamery, we have started to bring in jersey cow milk from our friends at Kilgus Farmstead in Fairbury. Today we made our first mixed milk bloomy rind chees

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When the trees lose their leaves, Market offerings, Farm happenings

prairiefruits

Oct 15, 2020
6 min

When the trees lose their leaves, Market offerings, Farm happenings

Farm News There has been an abruptness to the onset of color in the tree leaves this year. The greens faded to 70’s era golden yellow and burnt orange without much announcement. Some just skipped the color, browned on the edges and then fell to the ground in shriveled embarrassment. The stress of our summer drought has taken away the vibrancy of fall. The maple at the end of our driveway, normally ablaze in reds that start at the peak and work their way down the canopy, is du

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Harvest time in flatland, market offerings and farm happenings

prairiefruits

Oct 8, 2020
7 min

Harvest time in flatland, market offerings and farm happenings

Farm News The combines have been rolling over the wide-open fields, gobbling up dangling soybean pods and leaving behind a fine stubble that coats the thin topsoil. The desiccated stalks of corn with one or two ears of yellow dent corn await the giant monster that will suck them in, shell the corn off the ear and spit out the chopped stalk Large semis filled with grain whiz by on rural roads, passing each other on their way to competing grain elevators. For two to three wee

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Full moon over fecundity, Market offerings, Farm Happenings

prairiefruits

Oct 2, 2020
7 min

Full moon over fecundity, Market offerings, Farm Happenings

Full moon over fecundity, market offerings and farm happenings Farm News The bucks’ raisôn d’ètre has finally arrived, coinciding with the rise of the full harvest moon. After weeks of fencing and barn clean outs, the boys (Lentil, Rik and Zircon are in the lucky first tier of breeding bucks) made the trek from their summer palace (aka barn) on our “South Farm” to meet their betrothed. There was a determined spring in their steps as they set out on the path to the north. Guid

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Amish envy, Market offerings, Farm happenings

prairiefruits

Sep 25, 2020
6 min

Amish envy, Market offerings, Farm happenings

Farm News We live less than 50 miles from the Illinois Amish community in Arthur. Over the years, we have collaborated with members of the community from hay makers to dairy sheep producers. We have patronized their feed mills and their amazing hardware stores; we have sold them goats and bought their dairy products. While their community has undergone a gradual transformation from mostly agrarian to manufacturing and agri-tourism, they still maintain an amazing work ethic,

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Liberty: a goat life well lived, market & farm offerings

prairiefruits

Sep 17, 2020
6 min

Liberty: a goat life well lived, market & farm offerings

Farm News This week we lost our beloved Liberty, our senior citizen goat. She was the longest-lived goat on the farm. At the astonishing age of 16 ½ years old (surely this must be over 100 in human years), she spent her final day doing what she loved the most-following the herd out to the pasture to enjoy the sun and the cool season grasses. Liberty came to us from Kansas in 2005 as a shy one-year old milker. Her petite frame held an enormous and well-attached udder. She was

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Preparing for breeding, Market Offerings, Farm Happenings

prairiefruits

Sep 11, 2020
6 min

Preparing for breeding, Market Offerings, Farm Happenings

Farm News The heat and the drought finally gave way to some much needed rain this past week. While our fiery red sunsets bear witness to the raging hot winds, wildfires and smoky skies out west, the scents of fall predominate. The breeding bucks are idling away in their summer pasture on the new farm, but their hormones are telling them (and us when we visit them) that their time to shine is not too far off. The rains have spurred new growth in our pastures, and we have begun

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Finding beauty in the minutiae, Get Your Victory Cheese On, Farm & Market Offerings

prairiefruits

Aug 27, 2020
5 min

Finding beauty in the minutiae, Get Your Victory Cheese On, Farm & Market Offerings

Farm News There’s an upside to our inevitable late-summer declines in milk production: I can slow my pace and take time to observe. I can actually spend some time with the doelings and be amazed how big (and demanding) they have become (‘they grow up so fast, don’ they?’). I can finally wander into the garden and harvest a few tomatoes, eggplants and herbs for dinner. I can pull some weeds in the herb garden and take notice of the insect orgies in full shameless display on t

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The ambivalence of august, Victory Cheese in the news, Farm & Market Offerings

prairiefruits

Aug 20, 2020
5 min

The ambivalence of august, Victory Cheese in the news, Farm & Market Offerings

Farm News The endless sun-drenched days and the shag carpet of green blanketing the landscape seduce. The perfection of red ripe tomatoes finally dangling from their vines entice. The swollen monarch caterpillars, enjoying their final meal of milkweed leaves before pupating, confirm impending change. The farm windmill, normally spinning, is becalmed. The apex of august ushers in an undeniable progression. August brings me feelings of ambivalence. Do I battle the weeds in the

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prairiefruits

Jul 24, 2020
5 min

A world apart, Market & Farm Offerings

Farm News My days are tightly programed. From the moment I open my eyes in the early morning to the time I drag myself to bed, my movements are metered from house to creamery to goats and back. The summer seems to be whizzing past me. I have yet to enjoy a prairie walk with the goats. I haven’t even ventured into the orchard to check for the meager crop of peaches we might get. I glimpse the vegetable garden from afar during forays between the barn and the house; I can see i

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NEW CHEESES & RAW GOAT MILK AVAILABLE IN OUR ONLINE STORE

PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM & CREAMERY

PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM & CREAMERY

"THE HERD" BLOG

PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM & CREAMERY
4410 N. Lincoln Ave. Champaign, IL 61822

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