Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

The Irving Garden is just sick with cucumbers. I picked a few last week and whipped up some cool cucumber soup. Then the head of our garden project went back and pulled another 13! On my last day of weekly garden duty, I went by to check on the 20 classroom grow boxesand lo andContinue reading “Cukes a Plenty. Time to Try Pickling?”

My oregano is about to become an invasive plant in my backyard garden and I successfully harvested shallots this weekend. But for whatever reason, I absolutely cannot keep baskets or pots of outdoor flowers alive, at least not for long. It’s the same story for my indoor plants. I manage to keep them going forContinue reading “One (of Many) Reasons I'm Still a Virtual Farmgirl”

Judging from the bags of sopping carpet and soggy upholstered furniture in our alley, we can count ourselves among the very fortunate following Saturday’s near record rainfall. Our sump pump worked overtime and we only got a little seepage in our laundry room and what appears to be some roof damage that is causing aContinue reading “Historic Flood Soaks Basements, Creates Traffic Headaches for Our Farmers”

If you watched CBS, Channel 2, news tonight in the Chicago area, you would have likely seen weatherman Steve Baskerville broadcasting live from Whiting, Ind. We didn’t watch him on the news. But we saw him dancing the polka and signing autographs at the 16th Annual Pierogi Fest, the year of the Jello Mold. WeContinue reading “Celebrity, Carbs and Sweat – First Day of Pierogi Fest”

This is about a VFG Test Kitchen failure that turned around, at least this once. Here’s my takeaway: Don’t be too quick to give up on your baking efforts, no matter how much you smoke up the kitchen. Here’s what happened: I had a beautiful bunch of Sandhill Organic carrots in my share last week,Continue reading “Dessert Saved: Carrot Cake Crumbles w/ Drizzle Icing”

One of my coworkers makes a fantastic, garlic lovers chilled cucumber soup. After she shared once, I’ve craved it ever since. I even got the recipe. But when it came time for me to whip up a batch for supper last night, I couldn’t find the recipe. So I quit digging and threw together whatContinue reading “Chilled Cucumber Soup”

It’s our off week for our CSA share, but here’s what our partner family is getting in the Sandhill box tonight: Sweet Corn (though not from Sandhill) Green Curly Kale Broccoli Green & Gold Zucchini Parsley Green Beans Red & Gold Cipollini Onions Garlic Bulb We’re still doing just fine with veggies in the fridgeContinue reading “In This Week's Box: Sweet Corn, Broccoli & Curly Kale”

I’ve been spending some time at the Irving Garden this week. It’s my turn to weed, water and harvest to help keep the grow boxes thriving. All looks really good, so much better than my own backyard raised bed. I wasn’t expecting to do too much other than basic tending. But it was obvious whenContinue reading “Green Beans Galore at Irving Garden”

Here’s what we get to pick up tonight: Green Beans New Red Potatoes Cucumbers Walla Walla Onions Carrots Leeks Fresh Thyme & Oregano Basil  Arugula or Tokyo Bekana Salad Greens (Hmmm. This is new to me and should be interesting.)

Strawberry season is over at The Farm. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any berries. Just starting to come in are some of the best red raspberries I’ve ever had. We only got a couple dozen out of our morning visit to the fence-row berry patch. Looks like the birds got to a few ofContinue reading “Slim Pickings”