Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

Word from The Farm is that the chickens are laying up to a dozen eggs a day! Great news. Now if we can just figure out a good delivery mechanism to Chicagoland. I just had to buy a crappy dozen from the store. I’m becoming an egg snob. Once you’ve had those farm-fresh eggs, it’sContinue reading “Farm Fresh Eggs…Only 390 Miles Round Trip”

I’ve started my winter project…going through several bins. Yes, bins, of photos from my mother-in-law’s estate. Here’s some advice. Label your photos. Even a note on the pack of negatives. A year on the back of the photo. Something to date it, place it. I’m doing a presort first…quickly going through each bin and separatingContinue reading “Sorting Through Family History”

Jan. 3 is the anniversary of my first post on Virtual Farmgirl. I can hardly believe I stuck with it this long. But I feel like I’m just getting my sea legs here, so I’ll keep at it for a while longer. Thanks to all those who send me suggestions for posts, invitations to farmsContinue reading “VFG Turns One!”

Over the holidays, in between our family binges, we did our best to explore. Thanks to a very lovely woman who admitted she had nothing better to do, we got into an art gallery — the Brown County Artists Guild — in downtown Nashville, Ind., just after closing.There we had the pleasure of learning aboutContinue reading “Prettier Than a Picture: Late Bloomer Painter Captures Essence of Rural Life”

Connectagons from the 4-H Champ get the distinction of being the most engaging child gift this Christmas. By engaging, I mean it kept the Future Farmkids happily creating structures, without parental participation. The wooden connectors come boxed in a set of 240 colorful, eight-slotted disks that are really stable once the kids know how toContinue reading “Toy Review: Connecting with a Child's Unlimited Creativity”

Looks like more than 11,000 people took the Handmade Pledge. I’m No. 4,423. The idea was to buy handmade for the holidays and to encourage others to buy handmade for me. I’d say the results this year were mixed. I made more things than I purchased, in terms of handmade. That includes hot chocolate andContinue reading “Handmade Pledge, an Update”

On the sweets front during our trip to So. Indiana, there was no beating the Caramel Delite’s from the Caramel Corn Cottage in Nashville. Owners & operators Jim and Angie Rispoli like to share corn history tidbits when they market their corn concoctions. We got a “Did You Know” card inside our family pack ofContinue reading “Delightful Treats”

While the Future Farmkids were swimming with cousins, we took a whirlwind shopping tour of the artist enclave in Nashville, Ind. [Our supposed free wifi at the dated (real keys, no key cards), but comfortable Brown County Inn was limited to the pool area. And since computers and pools don’t mix, I didn’t get onContinue reading “Did Someone Accuse Me of Turning This into a Food Blog?”

Today I got this gem of a question: “Momma. Do you know how to get to the North Pole?” That was Future Farmgirl asking. If I knew how to get there, she asked me to take back her Jumbo Lounging Elmo she had gotten the day before from Santa. [I had asked them to roundContinue reading “Anyone Know How to Find Santa's Returns Counter?”

In a moment of insanity, I took both Future Farmkids to the mall on the day after Christmas. To my surprise, we had a great time. It helped that the mall had indoor play areas and 50 cent rides. I managed to hit some after-Christmas sales and let my kids run off some steam onContinue reading “Home for the Holidays”