The Green Fork is the official blog of the Eat Well Guide. Click here to Find Good Food.

No H1N1 here, but who would know? The Washington Post reports that pork producers are testing less for swine flu (as well as other infectious ailments, like MRSA) than they were before the virus made its global debut last spring. Hat tip to Tom Philpott @ Grist.

Welcome to Farmville, Pop: 62 million If your experience with the Facebook sensation is anything like mine, it’s been limited to “hiding” notices about friends’ wandering cows, and apparently, we’re missing out on something. Takeaway: Online faux farmers outnumber actual farmers 60 to 1.

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When I got there, I took a “field trip” out of Des Moines to a number of farms and I was struck by the conflicting feelings that the visual of miles upon miles of corn evoked in me. On the one hand, a pastoral wholesomeness that rang with my heart, though not with my head. On the other, the cliche: Children of the Corn. To be sure, while the Midwestern landscape is bereft of the overstimulation of the city and full of some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, there is also some creepy stuff going on there, namely an unhealthy amount of genetically modified corn and soy, a staggering number of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and a lot of industry influence.

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Those are just two of the diabolically delicious recipes I found in Ghoulish Goodies, a clever collection of Halloween-themed concoctions. Some are sweet, others savory, but they all sound eerily tasty. I spotted this book at a friend’s house last weekend and essentially stole it after leafing through its pages and finding such ingenious Halloween snacks as Cheddar Eyeballs, Candy Corn Pizza, and Bandaged Fingers, to name just a few of the more than seventy inventive recipes featured in Ghoulish Goodies. The recipes have simple ingredients, easy-to-follow instructions and plenty of photos to inspire you.

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You may be surprised to learn the culinary potential of the pumpkin goes way beyond a can of pumpkin pie mix. Underused in American cooking, this nutritional powerhouse is revered for its leaves, seeds and roasted flesh in other countries.A member of the gourd family, pumpkins are packed with dietary fiber, potassium and vitamins A, B and C. With so many nutrients and very few calories, it’s no wonder Jack O’ Lantern can’t stop grinning!

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Can Local Food Fix the Economy? Wayne Roberts makes a strong case in the affirmative at Alternatives.

A COOL Introduction for US Dairy Farmers Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), along with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have introduced the Dairy COOL Act, which would add dairy products to the list of foods required to display Country of Origin Labeling. As the dairy industry has struggled to survive this year, signs point to a surge in imported dairy as one culprit in flagging prices.

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