I saw the Instagram post from Heritage Prairie Farm on Monday and quickly RSVP’d for this bonus Pop-up Pizza Night! The Wednesday night Pizza Night at Heritage Prairie Farm starts in June and ends in August, 
so I thought I would have to wait until 2019 for more beet pesto, lemon and garlic massaged kale, or bbq pork and cole slaw pizza. To my delight, Heritage Prairie was helping local Bridges Academy with a special Pizza Night fundraiser on a Thursday and I was free. I estimated I would need at least 5 pizzas and after I received confirmation that my email RSVP was accepted, I began my mission to gather friends to help me eat those 5 pizzas.
I was excited to recruit some new Pizza Farm enthusiasts for this fairly unplanned adventure. Usually I have my Pizza Farm dates set aside weeks in advance to make sure I can get off of work and arrange for carpools and encourage friends to come along. In an unusual turn of events, my friends received less than 24 hours notice that I wanted to take them to a Pizza Farm 45 miles outside the city. And so Thursday night’s Pizza Farm team came together in record time.
Three members of the team, some of my co-workers at Sugar Beet Food Co-op, were new to Pizza Farms and I was excited to show them one of the Pizza Farms that I had been talking about endlessly since I took
the job almost a year ago. Consistent with the Sugar Beet vegan ratio*, one person out of four was vegan. A quick glance at the menu and the FAQ page gave little information about vegan options. The website addressed vegetarian and Gluten Free, but I had to contact the farm directly to see if it would be worthwhile for my vegan friend to show up. The staff and Pizza Chef Brett were very helpful in answering all my questions and in the end, we were able to order two pizzas without cheese and we added our own somewhat spreadable Miyoko’s vegan mozzarella, some Heritage Prairie Farm microgreens purchased in the Farm Store, and some Nodding Onion Farm basil that I brought from home to the Simpleton and the Wild Mushroom Pizza.
The other Pizza Farm Team member and I had both had some experience and so we took the responsibility to arrive with snacks, chairs, blankets, plates, napkins, table clothes, and desserts. The newbies were quite impressed with our preparedness.
Perhaps the most impressive element of the day was the debut of my new Pizza Pants, gifted to me by my co-worker at The Dill Pickle Food Co-op. My Pizza wardrobe has been increasing ever since I started this blog. I wouldn’t say the articles of clothing necessarily go together, but if they have beautiful images of pizza on them, it doesn’t really matter now does it.
This short-notice Pizza Night Pop-up felt much more laid back than the earlier visit I made this June. In June, the email reservation system had not been initiated and there was quite a bit of anxiety and rushing to make sure that I had the perfect timing to arrive at farm and get in my order. I still felt some rush to get through Chicago rush hour traffic and arrive by 5:30pm, as the RSVP confirmation email indicated was expected, but we made it in time and were greeted with a welcoming smile by Operations Manager, Farmer Nate, and directed to some prime parking! Nathan still remembered me from my original road trip to Heritage Prairie in 2017 when I lived in Minnesota. Although Pizza Night was ultimately canceled that week due to severe weather, Nathan took the time to give me a farm tour. A lot of the information he shared with me, I passed on to the other people I come with. I always tell the story of how Pizza Night started as kickball and pizza night for a small group of family and friends and has now evolved into a huge community event. I also always tell the story of how Pizza Night sold out their 200 pizza limit in 8 minutes one week! And of course, I also share that Heritage Prairie Farm is a certified organic farm and an amazing venue space.
While we waited for our Pizza order, we hung out with the donkey and goats, listened to the live music, and enjoyed some beers, cocktails, and snacks from home. When our pizza arrived, everyone was patient with me while I completed my pizza photo session and then we ate as much as we could! Despite our best efforts, we had quite a few leftovers. It is possible we could have hung around a bit longer and slowly ate a few more slices, but the mosquitos came out as the sun set to make for an uncomfortable and rushed packing up for the car. But everyone knows that pizza makes great breakfast food, so leftovers are never a bad thing.
*made up statistic
