From our BEST Culture of the decade feature:
Prairie Fruits Farm is my favorite place in all of Champaign-Urbana. There’s a magic to the farm that is especially present if you’re there on a summer evening. (No, that’s not just the smell of goats.) It’s beautiful, and the products the farm makes are so delicious.
Prairie Fruits Farm’s goats are the best goats I’ve ever met in my life, and in my decades I’ve met a decent amount of goats at petting zoos and farms. There are two breeds of goats: Lamancha and Nubian. The Lamancha goats are the ones with the weird, tiny little ears, and the Nubians are the ones with the long, floppy ears. They are equally delightful and hilarious, full of personality and joie de vivre.
Leslie Cooperband and Wes Jarrell, founders and owners of PFF, are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, which makes supporting PFF and their endeavors all that much more satisfying. In the time I’ve lived in C-U, the farm has expanded from being a goat farm and creamery to being a hub for food events and socializing, and buying and supporting locally made products. They offer classes, at affordable prices, so you can learn about their cheeses and other locally made cheeses, and how and when and why and with what to consume them. They regularly collaborate with local makers in the form of classes and workshops, carrying their products in the Real Stand Farm Store, and supporting other local businesses, like Delight Flower Farm, or yogis who lead yoga with baby goats. Have you attended one of the dinners on the farm? They’re expensive, sure, but they are incredible collaborations between the farm and the guest chefs who put together fabulous meals. Is there anything this community looks forward to more than Babies & Brunch? You’ll be hard pressed to find an event in C-U that is more widely appealing and enchanting as this one.
In short: Prairie Fruits Farm has become a destination in our community, a tourist attraction that hasn’t lost sight of the community that regularly supports it. I look forward to eating more cheese, more gelato, and connecting with friends over a cheese board and a glass of wine during a farm open house. (Jess Hammie)
Photo by Stephen Kemp