Darrron Joffe is a different sort of farmer. For example, he flies a lot. He is a consultant for individuals and groups interested in biodynamic agriculture, a somewhat metaphysical approach to organic farming that treats the entire farm as a holistic entity, and plants crops according to an astronomical calendar.

Joffe maintains a dairy farm near Atlanta, and has founded a business, Farm D Organics, based on his concepts about composting, planting, pest control and other issues all farmers have to deal with.

He has some interesting conversations with his airline seatmates. One gardener wanted to know why her compost pile wasn't generating any usable material.

Could it have been the plastic bags she was throwing into the pile along with her kitchen scraps, Joffe wondered?

The Farmer D website is here: http://www.farmerd.com/meet_farmerd

To read more about the biodynamic movement, click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture

In case you haven't heard, 16-year-old Krystal Wasson of Centre County was

crowned the new Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Dairy Princess at the annual pageant

in Camp Hill. Anne Harnish, Lancaster Farming food and family features editor

was there to capture the thrills and the drama for a story which appears in our

current edition.

Revenge of the school answering machine. Oh, them Aussies. http://www.break.com/index/hilarious-answering-machine-message.html