Evan West

Whenever I took walks in the park with my own dog, Puppy would run out of an alley or from between two houses to meet us. I liked to believe that when it got dark and the night turned cold, he went back to wherever he was supposed to be, and someone there let him inside.

After a doctor says he risks “instant insanity” if he takes another kick to the head, Navy player Joseph “Bull” Reeves dons a leather cap (crafted by a cobbler) that is believed to be football’s first headgear.

From Big Ag to organic, rural to urban, and scientist to traditionalist, the following profiles highlight the diverse attitudes and approaches of Indiana’s current agrarian class.

Having a 20,000-acre spread, one of the largest farms in one of the nation’s most productive farm states, buys some clout.

First planted in 2010, The Feel Good Farm is a 60-acre, certified-organic growing operation near Sheridan, where the suburban sprawl of Hamilton County gives way to a flat landscape of fields, fencerows, and barns.

If you believe that Indiana farmers are weather-hardened old men who grow corn and soybeans, you might look at these tidy patches of naturally raised produce and see a garden—and, in the pretty thirtysomething who tends them, a gardener.

In simpler times, Bowman’s plan might have passed for good old Hoosier ingenuity. Unfortunately, Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company—and a notorious ball-buster—doesn’t see it that way. And neither did the highest court in the land.

This encounter with Bing grew from—ahem—the kernel of an idea: Challenge the traditional definition of “farmer” by highlighting the more contemporary elements in Indiana agriculture.

Reading Michael Rubino’s Sun King feature in the October issue made us thirsty—so we took our growlers to the brewery and got fill-ups of all the current offerings. And we asked Dave Colt, Sun King’s head brewer, to lead the tasting.

An inside look at the early years of the beloved mascot, from the IM archives.

Earlier this month, IM reported that the Indiana State Fair—that bastion of deep-fried butter—was taking baby steps toward appealing to a more refined class of locavores and epicureans, primarily at the DuPont Food Pavilion.

If the Fair is for eaters, Dig IN is for foodies.

Dawson’s on Main has only been open for a few years, but it feels like an old town favorite.

The Spierers’ lawsuit contradicts some information included in IM’s report from June 2011, printed one year after Lauren went missing.

Your best buddy can party in Broad Ripple, too: The deck and patio at Plump’s Last Shot is a happening scene for sociable dogs, with water bowls and servers who’ve been known to bring biscuits.