Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

Check out the “Eat Industry” film project started by a food curious family, who took a five-month, 16,000-mile trek across the country to find out the source of their food. The young family’s adventures are chronicled in this story from New York-based Currier Life publication and even more details about their trip can be foundContinue reading “Right to the Source”

I have a friend in New Haven no less who is an absolute devotee of backyard chickens. Year before last her chicken Oshie “The Miracle Chicken” was featured on her Christmas card. After several nudges from her for me to check this out, I started poking around on the Net. Sure enough, there are manyContinue reading “Yard-Fresh Eggs Every Morning”

There’s an absolutely charming series of Geek.Farm.Life podcasts near expertly produced by Farmgirl Misty and her husband Andrew, who own Three Elms Farm in north-central Indiana. Their latest podcast from Jan. 7 covers everything from how to cook a goose (both commercial and small farm bred) to their up and down experiences with rehydration and,Continue reading “Geeky Podcasting On and About the "Simple" Life”

After watching Rachael Ray $40 her way through Slow Food restaurants, I picked up on this piece in the Molokai Island Times about the importance of the Slow Food Movement in Hawaii. While most food travels 1,500 miles from producer to plate, in Hawaii the distance increases to 2,300 miles. Hawaii is making a concertedContinue reading “Slow Food Meets Sustainability”

The Oakland Press insists that a thin metal frame whirling atop the Long Family Farm & Orchard in Michigan is of this world. But the local farmer is hopeful the addition of this new high-tech weather station will make it easier to farm with fewer pesticides, a concept still alien to many. The “enviro-weather” stationContinue reading “Enviro-Weather Station Lands to Help Save Crops from Pesticides”

Buried in this story from the Williamsport Sun-Gazette about the 91st Pennsylvania Farm Show is a lucrative bit of trivia. Who knew that with a bit of agricultural knowhow and fine craftsmanship, these squat squash can bring in from $8 to $10,000 and $30,000 in cash? That’s at least according to a rep quoted inContinue reading “Good Gourd!”

Fourth-generation Farmgirl Bonnie Dehn and her husband Bob have secured a commerical farming niche, offering fresh herbs throughout the year to local markets and restaurants, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. Faced with competition from year-round farmers in warmer climates, the Dehns took on higher heating and infrastructure costs to make their garden business aContinue reading “Herbs Yr-Rd from Calif., I Mean Minnesota”

Farmgirl/teacher/soon-to-be mom Nicki Jones is bringing agriculture to her high school classroom, melding experience from her life growing up on a farm and managing one now with the applied sciences behind farming operations. Jones tells the Cinci Enquirer that one of the challenges she faces is that people think agriculture is only about farming. ButContinue reading “Farmgirl Preps Future Farmers”

A blogger posting on a Seattle Post Intelligencer site makes an argument for urban farming, vertical sky-rise farming methods as one solution for easing food shortages, particularly in large urban areas. The blogger, Danielle Johnson, works for GreenWorks Realty, a real estate firm in the Puget Sound area that specializes in “healthy green homes, community-focusedContinue reading “Strawberries On The 25th Floor, Potatoes On 2”

Identifying the transition between one generation to the next as the most vulnerable time for family farms, Michigan State has begun a program “Farm it Forward” with the goal of smoothing that transition and preserving the family farm. A short story detailing the program appears in the Grand Rapids Press this week. Farmgirl Amy LaperContinue reading “From Mom & Pop to Daughters”