Articles written by Leslie Cooperband
For nearly 20 years, Leslie Cooperband and her husband Wes Jarrell owned and operated Illinois’ first farmstead dairy-creamery, Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery LLC (Champaign, Illinois). Both soil scientists and academics by trade, they left behind their professorial lives to become goat dairy farmers and farmstead cheese-makers. They transformed a 7-acre cash grain farm into an orchard and goat dairy in 2003 and opened their doors in 2005. They milked 80 goats seasonally and made 8-10 styles of artisan cheese, many of which won national awards, including the American Cheese Society and the Good Food Awards. Their pasture-based goat herd was certified “Animal Welfare Approved” for 14 years. Although the dairy-creamery was the main enterprise, the farm had a farm store, hosted farm to table meals, and offered tours, classes and other agri-tourism events. Leslie and Wes sold their farm business in February 2024, and it is thriving. They currently live on the neighboring farm, which they are restoring and rewilding. Leslie writes a weekly Substack post and is working on a book about her experiences as a dairy farmer and cheese maker.
The Soundtrack of the Creamery: How Stevie Wonder and Alex Cuba Saved Me
When we built our farmstead creamery back in 2005, it had no windows. It was a large make room with a 52-gallon vat pasteurizer, a three-bin sink, a hand sink and moveable stainless steel work tables and shelving. The spartan white washable walls, the harsh fluorescent lights, and the mud-gray concrete floors evoked sterility (a […]
Making Chèvre on a Seasonal Farmstead Dairy
As a seasonal, pasture-based and farmstead cheese maker, mid-March is historically the time that there is enough fresh goat’s milk in bulk tanks to resume cheese production. This post is an amalgamation of several blog posts from years past when I owned Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery and managed the creamery and cheesemaking. (Subscribe to […]
