Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

It looks like the recent bird flu outbreak in Kentucky may start to get some American media attention after Mexico and Singapore banned import of all poultry and poultry products from the state. Forbes picked up this brief AP piece on Singapore’s ban, which excluded heat-processed poultry and egg products from the ban. Bloomberg reportedContinue reading “Mexico, Singapore Ban Poultry Imports from Kentucky”

Interesting piece in the New York Times today about a farming stimulus plan meant to put young, underpaid, urbanites back into the fields to get them into productive jobs and to literally rejuvenate the farming community. So where is this happening? Japan, where there remains a reverence for farming and, presumably, where farmers aren’t summarilyContinue reading “A Stimulus Plan that Includes a Boost to Farming”

Looks so far like the backyard chicken flocks in western Kentucky have been spared a recent outbreak of bird flu in that state. I first heard about the outbreak from a friend in Kentucky. We had to dig for some coverage and thanks to the iFarmer, I was led to this story by Channel 13,Continue reading “Bird Flu Outbreak Confined to Factory Farm Chickens”

I couldn’t be happier with the Peeps in Law gallery at ABAJournal.com. So far, most of the dioramas I hoped would be submitted have been, including O.J., Madoff and a We the Peeple Constitution scene. There are also some beautifully photographed and staged scenes that the gallery doesn’t do justice. I haven’t settled on aContinue reading “Peep Watch: Law Favs”

I’m loving news out of Detroit that area farmer John Hantz wants Detroit to let him turn 70 acres of vacant and blighted land into a large vegetable farm with a cider mill and riding trails. Stories at UPI.com and the Detroit News say this would be the largest urban farm in the world. WhatContinue reading “Cool. Motown Could End Up With the Largest Urban Farm in the World”

We did our first round of decorating blown and hard-boiled eggs. The crayons didn’t work as well as hot wax for writing. Next round, we’ll go with wax if I can remember how to do that.Looks like we’ll be eating a lot of eggs this week. Update: Bella cried and cried until we promised notContinue reading “Egg Art, Round 1”

There are some creative dioramas this year on the Trib site, but here’s my latest favorite, Dust Bunnies Bite by Julie Jansen: I also absolutely love this blog: 100 Ways to Kill a Peep Morbid, but brilliant.

All four of us sat down over the weekend to watch my new acquisition: Mad City Chickens. I was excited to see a regionally-produced documentary about the backyard chicken movement. Those familiar with this site know that we now have chickens on The Farm and know that I’ve been designing backyard coops (in my mind)Continue reading “VFG Review: Mad City Chickens”

I’m sad to say that at least so far, my son’s Peep diorama “Jedi Peeps” has not been accepted in the Tribune gallery. I don’t have the heart to tell him, especially since he worked so hard coloring the light saber (Q-tips), constructing the background and putting the Millennium Falcon on the landing pad. SoContinue reading “Latest Peep Favs”

I’ve been entertained this weekend by blog reports of a purported letter sent by a Big Ag advocacy group, the Mid America CropLife Association, to Michelle Obama. The letter, because of a related e-mail that’s being circulated, is being viewed as a protest of the Obamas’ new organic garden at the White House. I’ll beContinue reading “Really? A Group is Protesting the White House's Organic Garden?”