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 quiet, demur and all about producing milk. She passed her traits onto the many daughters who took their prominent places as top milkers in our herd over the years.
Liberty was not flashy. She did not have the big personalities of her flamboyant and demanding herd mates like Chippewa (Chippy), Huckleberry and most recently Lapiz and Sabrina. She shunned excessive attention but would quietly approach for a head scratch or a cheek massage. A bit of a loner, she was empathic in her deep and concerning stares.
In her twilight retirement years, she kept up with the much younger milkers on pasture walks. She was spoiled by the staff who would let her into the parlor during milking so she could bury her head in the grain bin. Although she didn’t have many teeth left and she was deaf and nearly blind, she had spring in her step and an attitude of perseverance. These past few winters, we were sure she wouldn’t make it to spring. She proved us wrong and chose her time on a gloriously sunny fall day. We buried her in the prairie alongside her original herd mates- Chippy, Chocolate and Hershey (our first-born goat). She will nourish the deep roots of our prairie, while her legacy lives on in the multi-generations of daughters, grand-daughters and great-great granddaughters.
Support your artisan and farmstead cheese makers #chooseitorloseit
GIRLS AND THE GOATS TO VICTORY CHEESE BOX
Our latest Victory Cheese Box collaboration with grass-fed, raw cows’ milk cheeses from Jacobs & Brichford, bloomy rind cheeses from Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery and accompaniments by Chef Stephanie Izard and her “Girl & the Goat-ceries” team. This DELUXE box features two cheeses from each farmstead creamery, house-made crackers, several kinds of pickles, jam and mixed nuts. It is the ONLY box that features accompaniments made by a Celebrity Chef. You can get your box through our online store. You can either pick up your box at the farm on Saturdays OR Sundays, 1-4 pm OR you can have it shipped.
We still have a few more of the Rick Bayless Victory Cheese Boxes available if you want to order one of those as well, both with and without the signed cookbook. You can start a collection of Victory Cheese Boxes from PFFC!
Urbana’s Market at the Square-Come early, shop often
September is still the BEST month to shop the farmers’ market. The transition from summer to fall means that you get the best of BOTH seasons-summer fruits and veggies abound and fall crops (apples, pears, broccoli, carrots) begin to make their appearances. So many of these veggies and fruits, either sliced raw or simply roasted pair well with ALL of our cheeses. Just ask us for a few simple recommendations when selecting your cheeses this week. We can have you putting together a show-stopping cheese board in no time!
The Urbana Market has COVID-19 related restrictions. They require social distancing, and both patrons and farmers must wear masks at all times. We have a Square card reader set up for you to swipe your card for payment. If you bring cash, we will give you change (and sanitize our hands between transactions). Gelato pints are ONLY available through online farm store sales/farm pick up.
Here’s the cheese line up for this weekend:
Fresh Chevre $8/each
--plain
--herbs de Provence
--cracked peppercorn
TWO Seasonal chevre flavors of the week:
Dried tomato chevre. It’s that time of year again—dried Juliette and Roma tomatoes from our garden (and sometimes from Blue Moon Farm), chopped up and blended into our chevre. This is my FAVORITE flavor. Limited offering this weekend.
Roasted garlic chevre: We are so excited to offer our newest chevre flavor in partnership with our goat friends Sirocco Ridge Farm in southern Indiana. Not only do they raise some gorgeous La Mancha goats (several of whom now reside at Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery), but they also raise garlic. Since we have shared goat genetics, we thought it would be fun (and fitting to do a chevre flavor with one of their other farm products). We slow roasted two varieties of garlic (Vietnamese and Spanish Rioja) and then blended the garlic paste into fresh chevre. The marriage of the slightly spicy and nutty garlic with the creamy-milky and slightly tangy chevre is perfect. Limited availability, so come early to the market if you want some.