After being on hiatus for the month of December... "In Wisconsin" returns tonight at 7:30p right after Wisconsin Foodie.

One of the highlights - the Middleton High School Marching Band's performance in London's New Years Day Parade. More than a half-million spectators on the ground and a worldwide audience. It took a little bit of juggling for us to get the video recorded off a satellite starting at 5:30 a.m. New Year's Day. We hope you enjoy it.

Liz Koerner delivers an all new report as she visits two Manitowoc artists for a look at studio-portrait postcards. They represent a time when few people had cameras. Discover how a current revival of the art merges old with new as people enjoy the fun of being photographed in outlandish dress or by not dressing at all.

In Wisconsin Reporter Frederica Freyberg looks at how local businesses are navigating Chinese business etiquette. Be warned leave the Packers hat at home. Discover why this is an insult in China. And we'll visit a eco-friendly dairy farm near Waterloo.. where nothing is wasted. In Wisconsin Reporter Art Hackett visits the Crave Brother's farm near Waterloo for a look at value-added agriculture

The newsmagazine airs 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6 on WPT and is available in high definition. WPT will broadcast an encore of the program at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 9. The program also will air at 11:30 a.m. on Milwaukee's MPTV and on WDSE-TV in Duluth at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 9.

I'm STILL working on a story about people who've started growing hops in Wisconsin. This is the type of story that begins at the beginning, in spring, when the plants were only a few inches tall, and continues through the hand-harvesting to the brewing of beer.

We're planning to videotape the harvesting in a couple weeks so I've been calling the growers and checking in on how the crops are doing. Those who've seen a hops bine (which is different than a vine) you know how tall they grow. Well, I've been told this summer's heavy rain has made them extra vigorous. I can't wait to see them all grown up.

Look for the story this fall on In Wisconsin.

Well I could detail what I've been working on and other work issues but you know what? Like many in the state I'm thinking vegetables and gardens. For the first time ever, I started some vegetables from seed. I know, I know, many passed this hurdle in fifth grade. But it's a first for me and a delight if also a mixed success. (marigolds from seed? A complete dud.)

My fellow producer, Liz Koerner, is a master gardener. (!) She's also following stories about local agriculture. She produced a story on one of the country's premiere mavens re: local agriculture: Will Allen and the Growing Power movement out of Milwaukee. It's a terrific story and very season appropriate. Give it a look!

And if you have any suggestions re: marigolds from seed, send them along.

OK, I'll admit it. Some of the stories I work on require arduous and onerous research. Imagine the chore of taste testing Wisconsin beer brewed with a new (but old) Wisconsin crop . . . hops. I have to pay for it myself, do it on my own time and I might even have to invite a group of friends to get their opinion on this product. Sigh.

Well, in the interest of accurate reporting I'll take on this exacting task.

An intriguing part of this story is the history of hops in this state.

Look for this story next fall on In Wisconsin.

The University of Wisconsin and Cornell University were sharing a number of headlines last week, as the Badgers and the Big Red met in the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

But in my mind, at least since I started as a graduate student in the UW College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the two campuses have been linked. Cornell, unique among the Ivy League, is a land grant institution that like the UW has a deep commitment to using research to better the lives of its supporting community.

As at the UW, a great deal of groundbreaking work has been done in ag and life sciences at Cornell. As Dwight Shrute learned on "The Office," modern cabbage wouldn't exist without the work done at Cornell. Cole slaw lovers take note.

That accomplishment may not surpass the Babcock butter test or Vitamin D research, but then again, Cornell did win the basketball game.

I feel out of the loop because it's, apparently, all the rage on the book tour circuit. There's a new book coming out (that I just found out about) that looks really fun. It's called, "The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin" by James Norton and Becca Dilley. The pair toured across the state interviewing and profiling 43 of Wisconsin's Master Cheesemakers, taking photographs along the way. The authors will be part of an event that includes cheese sampling at the UW-Madison Memorial Union on November 19 at 5:30 PM. They're also scheduled to be on Joy Cardin's program on Wisconsin Public Radio this coming Friday, November 20 at 6 AM. I'll be interviewing the authors for a post-Thanksgiving "Here & Now" program on Friday, November 27 at 7:30 PM. We think of the interview as an after dinner cheese course...