Farms

It's not easy creating mythical creatures on an indie-movie budget. But if you're a savvy director, there's always a way. Benh Zeitlin, the New Orleans-based filmmaker behind “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” was facing just that problem for his Bayou-set drama. He needed to create the aurochs, ancient beats that exist in the mind of the 6-year-old protagonist. But he didn't have the money to construct them digitally. How did he get around it? “We raised five potbelly pigs and taught them how to wear costumes,” Zeitlin told the audience at the Envelope Screening Series.

NAQI KHAIL, Afghanistan - The minivan taxi crossed a river, then jostled and bumped on an unpaved road. The border policeman sat with the ordinary passengers; his buddy lay in a coffin fastened to the roof, "Praised be God for Zabiulla" written on the wood. The others got off at a bus station, and the taxi, the policeman and the coffin continued along the main road in northeastern Afghanistan's Kapisa province. In each village they stopped at, nobody knew the dead man. It was 4 p.m. when the taxi pulled up next to the Naqi Khail primary school and a store with a rusty metal machine that churned out vanilla soft-serve ice cream.

Restaurants, seafood bars and even other shellfish providers are bemoaning the imminent demise of Drakes Bay Oyster Co., a Northern California business said to be responsible for nearly 40% of the state's oyster production. With “demand for good quality shellfish just going through the roof,” the company's shutdown “is going to squeeze some pricing up,” said John Finger, co-owner of nearby Hog Island Oyster Farm in Tomales Bay. “They were a big chunk of the local market for sure,” Finger said.

The federal government cleared the way Thursday for waters off the Northern California coast to become the first marine wilderness in the continental United States, ending a contentious political battle that pitted a powerful U.S. senator against the National Park Service. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar settled the dispute by refusing to extend a permit for a commercial oyster farm operating in Point Reyes National Seashore. Congress designated the area as potential wilderness in 1976 but put that on hold until the farm's 40-year federal permit ended.

Tara Kolla was born in Inglewood but grew up in Europe. She came back to Los Angeles, to a half-acre Silver Lake plot, where she decided to try her hand at "urban farming. " Her neighbors objected, so now she mostly works other people's land, and works to further the cause. We met in Hidden Canyon, the aptly named acres in Glassell Park whose owners invited Kolla to cultivate and grow market flowers. Here are rows and beds of hyssop, black-eyed Susans, honeywort, zinnias, mums and ornamental cotton flowers.

  Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes, plus cooling time Servings: 10 Note: Adapted from Quinn and Karen Hatfield. In downsizing this dish for the home kitchen, the recipe calls for a single type of squash. If increasing or doubling the recipe, the Hatfields recommend using a variety of squash, of various sizes and colors, to arrange on a large platter. 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup sherry vinegar 1 kabocha or butternut squash (about 3 pounds)

The starring attractions will be pretty evident at the Celebration for the Turkeys on Sunday in Acton. The event, held at the animal rescue organization Farm Sanctuary's 26-acre site just south of Palmdale, aims to get the classic holiday bird into the hearts, not the stomachs, of children and adults. This is the first year that the New York-based Farm Sanctuary, the country's largest farm animal rescue and protection organization, will hold the pre-holiday event in Southern California.

“Feed the world you want to live in” is the theme for the upcoming EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove, Calif. The Ecological Farming Assn. will be hosting the 33rd annual gathering - what might be the largest agricultural meet-up in the West - on Jan. 23 to 26. Farmers, ranchers, activists, students and educators, among others, convene at the conference held once a year to learn about manifesting and maintaining a sustainable and just food...

Thrill seekers will have to wait a little longer for a big new ride as Knott's Berry Farm unveiled plans for a trio of family attractions in 2013 aimed at bridging the gap in the Buena Park theme park's collection of kiddie and extreme rides. > Photos: A trio of family rides coming to Knott's in 2013 Knott's plans to add a wild mouse coaster, a flying scooter and a classic scrambler ride in summer 2013 to the Boardwalk section of the park, reusing a man-made lake left over from a water ride removed to make room for the new additions.

This post has been updated. See below for details. Hershey Co. is being sued by an investor group accusing the giant confectionery brand of overlooking the African child labor allegedly used to produce the cocoa in its candy. The Louisiana Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System, a public pension fund and Hershey shareholder, filed suit this week against the company in Delaware Chancery Court. The suit, filed the day after Halloween's trick-or-treat gluttony, seeks to force Hershey to open its corporate records for investors, divulging which cocoa suppliers it uses.