Lancaster Farming contributor Troy Bishopp, "The Grass Whisperer," was out and about on a recent wintry morn in New York, took this photo and sent it in to grace the front page of our North edition.

     The Hendricks family could buy flowers from anywhere in the world, but they prefer to pick them in their own backyard. Their backyard is a 26-acre tract of land surrounded by the town of Lititz, Pa. Their fourth-generation retail florist business thrives with attention to detail, creative arrangements, science (Sue Ellen, one of the Hendricks family owners, has a masters degree in soil chemistry), and an excellent reputation for quality and service.  Lancaster Farming reporter Lou Ann Good toured the business, talked to the people who make it work and wrote a story for our current edition.     


     EPA inspections of farms in Lancaster County, the Delmarva Peninsula and the Shenandoah Valley began last week to determine if those farms have drawn up conservation and manure management plans. The inspections are part of a push by the Obama administration aimed at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Lancaster Farming reporter Chris Torres looked into the issue and found out that the EPA was sticking to its guns with respect to a December 31, 2010, deadline for farms to have conservation and manure managment plans in place. His story is in our current edition, which you can see at lancasterfarming.com.


     In another TMDL story, Torres reports on a recent teleconference by ag industry groups who want the EPA to delay their TMDL requirements. In part, it's because the two lead agencies in the watershed cleanup effort - the USDA and EPA - use significantly different numbers in their calculations of just how much sediment and nutrients are carried into the Chesapeake from farmland.

What the real Farmville looks like.

     Will the real Farmville please stand out? The Facebook version was created in 2007 and has a gazillion visitors/players every day. A real live Farmville has existed in Prince Edward County, Va., since 1798. It has actual people, streets, businesses and buildings, and if you want a cup of coffee and a piece of pie you pay with actual money. Denise Watson Batts and Jim Hall, reporters for The Virginian-Pilot, recently visited the physical Farmville and noted their impressions of the differences between the real and the virtual town. The AP picked up their story and it is reprinted in our current southern edition. One gets the idea that the Hall and Batts team preferred the real to the imaginary.  A hearty second to that notion.