Farm News
The ground is starting to thaw. There are only a few patches of snow remaining on the north sides of our barns, hidden from the sun’s warming rays. The deep winter slumbers are over, and there’s a flurry of hustle and bustle about the farm. New barns are going up, old compost is being spread and lots and lots of babies are growing inside the wombs of over 100 pregnant does. Soon, the pace will quicken to the typical frenzy of kidding season; the time of year when the coveralls barely come off and interrupted sleep becomes the norm.
Farm Happenings
2020 brings a lot of changes to the farm. We are in the process of expanding our milking herd and our infrastructure to meet the growing demands for our cheese. As such, we will be offering fewer special events this year. The farm store “The Real Stand” will have regular hours that will change by the seasons (we’re still working out the details for those hours). We will continue to offer our summer “Behind the Scenes” farm tours. We’ll also be offering some monthly special cheese and beverage tastings. Our farm dinner series “Dinners on the Farm” will be quite abbreviated this year, with Sunday Dinner Club chefs hosting some dinners and maybe a few other guest chefs as well.
We’ll continue to attend the Urbana Farmers’ Market, and we hope to offer some special cheeses and packaging formats that are more eco-friendly. We’re excited for the season to begin.
Dote on the Does
Sunday March 8th and March 22nd 12-4 pm
Visit with the pregnant does
Groom them and give them a little extra TLC as they prepare for their impending kid deliveries
Try a cheese board sampler with a taste of wine or beer
Enjoy a cup of coffee, espresso, affogato (scoop of gelato in a shot of espresso) or some goat milk hot chocolate!
Peruse the farm store-we’ve got an amazing line up of jams, pickles and preserves made from last year’s harvest. We also have frozen meats, poultry and sausages from Bane Family Meats, D&M Farms and Piemonte Sausage Co.
More details on our Facebook Events Page
Babies & Brunch
We’ll be offering a limited run of this beloved event this year with a few significant changes. Save the dates: April 18/19 and April 25/26—Hours 10 am to 2 pm for all dates.
We’re welcoming a new chef to town—Alicia Hinze of “The Buttered Tin” restaurant, St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN. Chef Alicia was a contestant and winner of the Food Network show “Cupcake Wars,” and is a renowned pastry chef. She’ll be crafting both sweet and savory baked goods for this year’s Babies & Brunch. We’ll be offering special drinks (hot and cold, alcoholic and non) too.
For the first time EVER, we will be charging an admission fee: $5/adult and $3/child (12 and younger; infants under 1 yr. old are free). This nominal charge will help us cover expenses for staffing this very popular seasonal event. We will have special pens set up so that folks will have a chance to pet the goat kids and watch them do their typical baby goat antics (running, jumping, sleeping in a big pile of cuteness).
Dinners on the Farm
As mentioned, our farm dinner season will be abbreviated this year. We will host at least three farm dinners this year with the help of our long-time chef friends from Sunday Dinner Club Chicago. Dates and themes, along with ticket reservation instructions should be posted by the end of March or mid-April. We hope to add a few more dinners with other guest chefs as well. Stay tuned for details.