Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

I finally tried the 5-minute artisan bread I was too lazy to make last weekend. Thanks for the encouragement Zoe! [Check out her blog at Zoe Bakes.] I can definitely report that it’s pretty easy to make. In fact, it took less than five minutes to mix it up and let it start rising. IContinue reading “Hot, Fresh Bread in 5 Minutes…Plus 4 Hours”

I have a new music feature to the VFG blog. It’s on the right column under the farmgirl/lavender photo. Hit play and you can listen to my playlist. At this point, I have 46 songs loaded into my finetune widget. It plays in a shuffle format. I’m guessing it’ll be tough to listen to theseContinue reading “Doing the Virtual Farmgirl Shuffle”

The iFarmer is one of those people who can go to a grocery store, focused on his objective, say, buying popcorn. He’ll go straight to the aisle, grab the box on sale and head for the checkout. If he passes something else on sale on the way back, he’ll grab it, pay the two bucksContinue reading “Prepping for the Big Chill”

I finally had a chance to down, I mean try, the Reggae Red from Easley Winery in Indy. The winery advertises itself as the oldest family owned winery in the state. Here’s my verdict. In a word: Sweet. Really, really sweet. The cork wrap that warned that it was sweet should be bright red. IContinue reading “Hoosier Wine Update”

Good news. The mayo worked and a second pesticide hair treatment wasn’t needed. Now I guess I build nit hunting into my regular child-care routine until…well…they can do it themselves. To give you an idea of how thick the mayo was…Even after I removed the shower cap, Future Farmgirl felt like it was still onContinue reading “Triumph of the Home Remedy”

I have a new appreciation for a phrase I use quite a bit: nit picky. That’s what I’ve been today. Literally. Indeed, the horrors, my household was struck with head lice. I haven’t had to deal with this since I was in grade school, so I was hoping there’d be some fancy new cure. SomeContinue reading “A Few Nits To Pick”

This was the weekend I had planned to experiment with bread making. Other than corn bread and sweet breads, I’ve never actually made a loaf of yeast bread, on my own, without a machine. I’m not a big fan of machine bread (those loaves aren’t natural), so I was excited to hear about this book,Continue reading “Bread So Easy, I Skipped it This Weekend”

There’s more evidence in this San Francisco Chronicle story to support ponying up the extra bucks to buy organic. But like the headline suggests, “it depends” a lot on how and where the organic food is produced. That’s one reason I’m starting to focus more on buying local and in season. I think those habitsContinue reading “Want Nutrient-Rich Food? Buy Fresh. Cook it Yourself.”

I finally found the picture I was looking for…three Farmgirls actually dismantling a barn. I know there are more like this, so that’ll keep me motivated as I continue to sort through the bins of family photos. [Just waiting for the iFarmer to hop to it and scan it in for me so I canContinue reading “Striking Farmgirl Photo Gold”

Thanks to the Chicago Trib’s Good Eating section and Universal Press Syndicate writer Sally Schneider, I now have a new favorite dessert. The best part is that it’s an ingredient always easy to find, is simple to make and…depending on the add ins…can be a fairly healthy treat. All I have to do is cutContinue reading “Going Bananas Over This Farmgirl Treat”