For a second Sunday in a row, the Chicago Tribune has a Farmgirl featured on the front of one of its print news sections. This week it’s the Q Section’s tug-at-the-heartstrings story of Farmgirl Terry Starks, who coped with the death of her 21-year-old son by nurturing a fledgling organic farm she named after him just south of Williamsville, Ill.
Beauregards Farm has been in operation, mainly to feed Terry’s family since 1993. But she began sharing with the community last year after taking classes with Farm Beginnings. [Farm Beginnings is part of The Land Connection, a farm advocacy organization based in Evanston.
Terry cultivates heirloom veggies and ornamentals on her sustainable operation. And she keeps guineas, like our friends do, to keep the bug count low. [My question is how do you protect the guineas from the coyotes?]
The story doesn’t mention it, but at Local Harvest, Terry notes that we may see a Harvest Festival at her place this fall. Sounds like fun for folks in Central Illinois.
And that reminds me that my husband’s family had a traditional harvest celebration every year. But with family dispersing [because of moves and the death of my mother-in-lawd], I wonder if that will continue. Maybe we’ll have to resurrect the harvest celebration at our Farm…or even more intriguing…in Chicagoland. That would be another chance for VF to bring a little rural to the city.
Virtual Farmgirl 
Guineas are smart and sleep up high in the trees, or on top of the coop if the weather is fair. They make an awful racket and tend to deter the coyotes from hanging around….I guess.The thing about guineas and turkeys (which mine all got eaten by coyotes in about 10 days, not the smartest birds) is that they are good bug eaters, chickens are too, but they get bored and frustrated hunting for the bugs, that keep moving. So Chickens give up and decide that it is easier, faster and the bugs plumper if they just scratch the hell out of the garden, flower beds, etc… to dig out the bugs. guineas and turkeys, rather never seem to tire of the chase and have no interest in scratching. They will peck at the garden greens, but not with the relentlessness of the chicken. I am getting more turkeys and a few guineas next year.My gander is laying and they are getting very big. I am hoping that since she wants to lay now and it is cold, and snowing that come spring, she will really be in the mood and the goose will have perfected the art of breeding and then we will have our own goslings.
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Guineas are smart and sleep up high in the trees, or on top of the coop if the weather is fair. They make an awful racket and tend to deter the coyotes from hanging around….I guess.The thing about guineas and turkeys (which mine all got eaten by coyotes in about 10 days, not the smartest birds) is that they are good bug eaters, chickens are too, but they get bored and frustrated hunting for the bugs, that keep moving. So Chickens give up and decide that it is easier, faster and the bugs plumper if they just scratch the hell out of the garden, flower beds, etc… to dig out the bugs. guineas and turkeys, rather never seem to tire of the chase and have no interest in scratching. They will peck at the garden greens, but not with the relentlessness of the chicken. I am getting more turkeys and a few guineas next year.My gander is laying and they are getting very big. I am hoping that since she wants to lay now and it is cold, and snowing that come spring, she will really be in the mood and the goose will have perfected the art of breeding and then we will have our own goslings.
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