Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

There are few operations I respect more than Growing Power, which pioneered impressive not-for-profit urban gardens in Milwaukee and Chicago. So it’s alarming to see Erika Allen, one of Growing Power’s principals quoted in the Tribune saying that if Chicago’s proposed urban farming ordinance goes into effect, it’ll stunt the growth of her organization andContinue reading “New Urban Farming Ordinance Creating Controversy Among Active Farmers”

No doubt it’s unusual to have thousands of birds fall dead from the sky. But what about 80,000 to 100,000 fish suddenly washing ashore? That’s what Arkansas residents and wildlife officials are dealing with – two mass deaths of two separate species within a week. So far, the sudden deaths (they literally fell dead fromContinue reading “Mass Die-Offs of Fish & Fowl: What's Next Arkansas?”

I swear I don’t get a kickback for pushing sales of Anupy Singla’s Indian Slow Cooker book. But when I make her recipes and share, I get a lot of questions about the book. I think the biggest hurdle is getting the spices organized in advance. No matter how good the ethnic section of myContinue reading “The Essential 7: Stocking Your Indian Spice Cabinet”

Google Map: Beebe, Ark. Wildlife officials in Arkansas are stymied as to why thousands of blackbirds have fallen from the sky near the small town of Beebe. Theories so far as as wild as they are mysterious: New Year’s Eve revelers shooting off fireworks may have literally scared the birds to death. A large flockContinue reading “Mystery: Thousands of Blackbirds Fall from Arkansas Sky”

When my daughter first opened a gift of several Scratch and Sketch art activity books, I thought, how perfect. She loves to draw, color and otherwise create. And she just loved these books. My Future Farmgirl/Artist opened them right up and started scratching and sketching away. The Garden Fairies book captivated her. So what’s theContinue reading “Messy Toy Alert: 'Scratch and Sketch' Activity Books”

My family woke to an earthquake this morning. The 4.2 magnitude quake is being reported as centering about 13 miles southeast of Kokomo at about 7:55 a.m. ET. The U.S. Geological Survey’s map shows it about halfway between Kokomo and Fairmount.  So anyone in northcentral Indiana is likely to have felt the tremor. Hoosier OutsiderContinue reading “4.2 Earthquake Rocks The Farm”

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that it’s tough to feel like I’m on vacation when I’m at home. It doesn’t help that I spent the morning working and that I’m on call more than I’d like to be. It’s also just hard for me to be home and not do things like tackle the laundryContinue reading “Building a Giant Snowman Beats Doing Laundry By a Longshot”

If I had it to do over again, I might have pleaded with my kids to wait until Yogi Bear 3D became available for rental.That way at least I wouldn’t have had to sit through it. But I figured, we’re all on vacation, they really want to see it, so why not? Well, I canContinue reading “Thinking of Seeing Yogi Bear 3D With Your Kids? Think Twice”

On our way back to Chicagoland, we started talking about the highlights of our trip. I initially asked the kids and Sim to pick their favorite part of the trip. Turns out that was just too tough. Between Christmas morning at The Farm and Christmas evening in Columbus, there were too many happy moments toContinue reading “These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things…The Christmas Top 10”