Current status of the decorative nectarine tree: 75% of the fruits have been knocked off the tree, 25% are waiting to be knocked off. As you can see from the assortment I picked up off of the ground, the squirrels nibble about half of the fruits and knock the rest loose while running around in the tree. It’s super helpful and not at all infuriating.
#squirrelfood #nectarinetree #nectarines #zone7b #gardeningfail #tinyfarm
Vi is updating her headshots. You may vote on your favorites. They are all excellent but you might prefer one angle over another. My favourite is the transition from picture 2 to picture 3.
#VioletZindars #petchicken #chickenportrait #Cochin #silverlacedcochin #herringbone #beautyqueen #beautygirl #pinup #beak #chickenselfie #headshots #eagle
Showoff.
#lily #callalily #zone7b #verigated #shadetolerant #lilies #gardeningingeorgia #flourish
Kahlo doesn’t want to seem #thirsty by posting a full body shot by the pool but she does want to update you on her food boob situation. After her last stay at the spa for #IntermittentFasting, she adopted a regimen of increased grit availability and nightly crop massages. This seems to have done the trick! Her #foodboob is much more proportional and empties fully at night. She is now #bodygoals and ready for summer. Also, she is actually thirsty which is why she’s drinking out of the mud puddle.
#petchicken #Kahlo #fridakahlo #whitecrestedblackpolish #PolishChicken #crop #chickenportrait #myflock #hairgoals #violetZ #cochin #instagrammodel
No wonder I can’t stay ahead of the pine cones. This one little branch had six on it!
#gardencart #workgloves #forest #pinecones #pinetrees #georgiaonmymind #tidying #burnpile
I like to think of my cheese wheel as half full rather than half empty.
#freecheese #sweetgrassdairy #thomasvilletomme #thomasvillega #cheesewheel #cheeseboard #grilledcheese #eggandcheese #rind
Gretchen is on my last nerve. Let’s list the things in just this one picture that are a problem. First, she is in the garden. She’s supposed to be in the chicken area but she can fly. Second, can you see all of the damage she has done to the lettuce and broccoli? I share with her! I bring them tons of snacks but she wants to destroy the plants herself. Finally, she is blissfully taking a dustbath in the midst of her destruction. She doesn’t even have the courtesy to act ashamed or worried about the consequences. Last. Nerve. Chicken.
#Gretchen #SicilianButtercup #dustbath #petchicken #gardeningwithchickens #badchicken #troublemaker #crazythingschickenpeopledo #backyardpoultry #tinyfarmer
Watering in the new garden bed. We received quite a few leftover ferns and hellebores from the #GwinnettCounty #MasterGardener plant sale so I mixed them in with my split hostas and we have a whole bed of free plants!
#zone7b #hostas #ferns #lentenrose #hellebore #shadegarden #gardentour2020 #manuallabor #gardeningingeorgia #wooded
Just trying to get a picture of a gorgeous #PolishChicken and I get not one, but two #Silkie photobombers! Sonia the #EvilRoo is always around when I get close to a hen but Donna was an unexpected surprise!
#beckywiththegoodhair #SoniaSotomayor #donnamartin #BuffLacedPolish #silkierooster #petchickens #chickenportrait #myflock #silkies #squad
We employed the “one-for-you, one-for-me” method of hosta splitting and now we have a whole bed full of deer lettuce, I mean hostas! The yard is about 85% fenced now so perhaps we have a chance. Welcome to #zone7b hostas! I hope you like it here.
#hosta #hostas #splittinghostas #sharingiscaring #freeplants #travellinghostas #GwinnettCounty #zone7 #shadegarden #shadetolerant
Not yet little pepper! First, grow your leaves and stems. Then you can grow your flowers and fruits.
#plucked #bellpepper #pepperflowers #gardening #zone7b #gardeningingeorgia #springisintheair #rainbowbellpeppers
Evil monsters. I’m definitely not getting any broccoli this year since it is hard to grow without ANY leaves. Can you see that Glo is actually standing on top of the red leaf lettuce? She also kicks it to shred it up for easier eating. Very helpful, you jerk.
#jerks #gardenpests #oliveegger #EasterEgger #tinyfarmer #redleaflettuce #Broccoli #collardgreens #petchicken #crazythingschickenpeopledo #broodychicken
The oldest #rhodadendron on our property is heaving an excellent year!
#zone7b #lovelawrenceville #perennials #lowmaintenance #blooming #pollinators
The Broody Bunch is recruiting new members. I now have three furious floofs: Ruthie the #Silkie, Glo the #oliveegger and Bryce the #velociraptor. Let’s see who’s next!
#BroodyBunch #broodybesties #broodychicken #chickencoop #petchicken #brycedallashoward #ruthbaderginsburg #gloriavanderbuilt #noeggs
Tiptoe through the tulips…
#earthday #tulips #zone5 #champaignillinois #mastergardener #gardening
It’s an Easter miracle! This wild bunny let me get incredibly close. She must know it is her special day. What a cutie!
#bunny #Easterbunny #gardenpests #gardenfriend #browneyes #tamebunny
Fancy new addition to the front flower bed. We picked it for the pretty foliage but then it went and created this amazing lily! Nice work!
#callalily #zone7b #gardening #partshade #verigatedleaf #orangelily #zone7 #Lawrenceville #GwinnettCounty
It has begun! I managed to separate this attractive wedge from the giant wheel and will be taking it to work to “share.” I also had my first taste of the #thomasvilletomme and it is delightful! Firm, but not hard. Tangy, sharp, creamy…I didn’t know what I’m saying. It’s delicious! Thank you @sweetgrassdairy!
#iwonthis #cheesewheel #eatlocal #rawmilk #rawmilkcheese #madeingeorgia. #happycows #staycheesy #sweetgrassdairy
Gather ’round people and let me tell you a tale of great victory and kindness from the internet. This is a 6 pound wheel of cheese. I won it on Instagram. Yes, Instagram has helped me secure a wheel of cheese so large I can barely heft it for a photo! In the days to come I will show you the many ways I can use 6 pounds of cheese. I will be thankful every day to @sweetgrassdairy for choosing me for this great honor and to @instagram for connecting us in cheese fandom.
#sweetgrassdairy #thomasvilletomme #thomasvillega #eatlocal #GwinnettCounty #GeorgiaGrown #cheese #lovelawrenceville #artisanalcheese #rawmilk #goodthings
Today I picked 6 gallons of strawberries and this bowl of tops is all that is left! I made jam, muffins, macerated some for shortcake and froze enough for the rest of the year. I find that strawberries are more trouble than they are worth to grow when I can pick high quality berries just a few miles away. Also, #WashingtonFarms has excellent strawberry ice cream! Now to give the chickens a gift…tops!
#strawberries #strawberryseason #zone7b #locallygrown #eatlocal #growningeorgia #homegrown #homemade #strawberryjam #canning #futuresmoothies
I removed Bryce from her zero eggs and set her down to remove Glo from her zero eggs and Bryce remained frozen in place, exactly as I set her down. Completely frozen, wing dangling, puffy and furious. What a drama queen! Broody idiot.
#brycedallashoward #whitelacedredcornish #Cornish #cornishhen #stocky #redhen #petchicken #backyardpoultry #myflock #broodychicken #broodyrage
Hell hath no fury like a broody moved. Look at the crazy eyes on these two! Glo and Bryce are absolutely ridiculous about their broodiness. When I take them out they walk around for a while, muttering the whole time about how much they hate me, then they have a complete freak out with screeching and flapping and then sprint back into the coop. Rinse and repeat.
#broodies #broodychicken #gloriavanderbuilt #brycedallashoward #petchicken #oliveegger #whitelacedredcornish #Cornish #tinyfarmer #GwinnettCounty
Tater tots!
#zone7b #redpontiac #yukongold #sprouts #gardening #tinyfarm #yardtotable #eatlocal #hilled
Weed Flowers for you! I hope you’re having a great day.
#weedflower #igrewit #mastergardener #marigolds #companionplanting #zone7b #freeflowers #GwinnettCounty #lovelawrenceville
Kahlo needs to tell you about her new diet plan. She’s been having some trouble with her food boob. It’s…big. Like BIG. And it stays that way. So, we discussed #weightwatchers but who has time for points? She’s just not into #southbeach or #keto. #PlantBased is her go-to but we aren’t getting results. So, she knows it’s a little #basic, but she been trying #IntermittentFasting. Every week or two she takes two days off food to fully empty her crop. It’s two days at the spa (garage), away from her sisters, but it’s worth it if we can keep the #foodboob in check. We’re also looking into #cropbras of anyone has suggestions. Word of advice: Googling “crop bra” gets you very short shirts. Googling “chicken crop bra” gets you very short shirts with chickens on them. Not what we need. While we work on this issue Kahlo will only be posting her headshots from her modeling portfolio. She doesn’t want a bunch of followers who are only here for her boob. #instafamous
#influencer #model #fridakahlo #Poof #cropbra #petchicken #PolishChicken #whitecrestedblackpolish #topheavy #specialneedschicken #chickenportrait. #chickenselfiesunday @pagepardo
Broody rage!
Bryce is a little intimidating when she is in a good mood. Her broody mood is somewhere between maim and murder. Total eggs she is actually sitting on in the nesting box? Zero. Amount of blood I’ve lost trying to remove her from said box? More than zero.
#broodychicken #broody #angrybirds #whitelacedredcornish #Cornish #brycedallashoward #velociraptor #petchicken #spoiledchickens #backyardpoultry #tinyfarmer
I don’t want to brag BUT I grew this onion in my kitchen, totally organically and free of substrate. It looks fantastic and I am going to plant it in the garden with the other onions right now!
But Jesse, you say, didn’t you really just leave a store bought onion in a bowl on the counter for two months and finally decide you had to do something about it and are planting it outside because you feel guilty about food waste?
Both are possible ways to look at this situation. You say tomato, I say tah-mah-to, either way it’s a pretty onion.
#onion #sweetonion #farming #gardening #organicgardening #greenthumb #zone7b #gwinnett #mastergardener #farmtotable #eatlocal
When I pulled out the remnants of the winter garden I gave it to the chickens all at once. It was pretty much a forest of snacks. I would like a forest of snacks. (And kale is not a snack for me!)
#spoiledchickens #snackforest #Chickenfood #collards #kale #cabbage #petchicken #backyardgarden #tinyfarm #whitecrestedblackpolish #silkies #cochin
I finally captured a perfect portrait of Bryce! She’s super broody so I caught her off guard, in the middle of some indignant squawking. If you didn’t know, Bryce Dallas Howard here is a White Laced Red Cornish and appears in the current @mcmurray_hatchery catalogue as well as on the website. She has a blocky shape, thicc legs and a neck for days! According to the breed standard she is “slow to mature” so she might still get bigger or grow into her weirdly akimbo wings.
#cornish #cornishhen #brycedallashoward #petchicken #chickenportrait #thicc #supermodel #whitelacedredcornish #backyardpoultry
I have no idea what the rules are for asparagus. I planted them last year and picked none. So far about 10 have come up and I’ve let them grow. One broke, so I ate it and it was delicious! Now what?
#asparagus #purpleasparagus #homegrown #gardenfresh #eatlocal #greenthumb #zone7b #gardentips #mastergardener
The yard is bursting with spring color! The blueberry bushes are full of bees. There are many colors of #camellias blooming. The yellow flowers are #jessamine (I think) and they are shade flowers!
#flowergarden #zone7 #zone7b #mastergardener #GwinnettCounty #lovelawrenceville #springtime #busybees #blueberrybush #pollinators
Oh happy day! My old garden cart rotted to pieces and couldn’t be repaired. My new garden cart is so snazzy. Now I have to do all the chores I said I couldn’t do because my garden cart was broken.
#gardening #gardengloves #potatoes #seedpotatoes #chickenfood #chickenfeed #layena #planting #zone7b
Violet Zindars: Supermodel.
#silverlacedcochin #petchicken #backyardpoultry #Cochin #violet #springisintheair #equinox #backyardchickens #redwattlewednesday #foodboob #chickenportrait
Portrait in Broodiness. Ruthie is 2 years old and has been broody for about 18 months. She might take a few days off here and there but the vast majority of the time she is sitting on eggs (Or no eggs. Or wooden eggs. Or another chicken. Whatever.) Silkies. What can you do?
#Silkie #petchicken #backyardpoultry #angrybird #ruthbaderginsburg #RBG #silkies #silkiechicken
Collard trees! I planted these back in October and they grew really well all winter. In the last few weeks they have bolted and are about five feet tall. I’m slowly feeding them to the chickens but I need to get them out soon to ready the garden for summer crops. Ruthie is screaming in the back because I removed her from her brooding to take a walk. It’s torture.
#gardenvisit #collardgreens #zone7b #mastergardener #petchicken #backyardgarden #tinyfarmer #tinyfarm #bonnieplants #wintergarden
I found one small and one large brown egg in the rooster-free coop today. That means both Violet and Donna laid eggs today! They are eight years old. I’m pretty impressed. Neither of those eggs are pictured because they both had muddy fur-feet and those eggs need a rinse!
#seniorchicks #seniorchicken #silverlacedcochin #partridgesilkie #roosterfreezone #VioletZindars #donnamartin #silkies #petchicken #myflockrocks
Layered snacking is the key to good flock dynamics. The more agile girls can attack from the top while the, ahem, bigger girls can stay in the ground. Sorry Wilga but you’re looking mighty round these days! I’m sure it’s just the plumage.
#salmonfaverolle #SicilianButtercup #EasterEgger #oliveegger #petchicken #chickensnacks #foraging #sisters #GwinnettCounty
Is there a place is your garden you don’t want chickens? Have you fenced it off? Blocked it with additional fencing? Chased them out multiple times? Offered them awesome treats in another part of the yard? None of that matters. They will always be in the one place you really don’t want them to be. They are smarter and more determined than you could ever hope to be. Chickens win.
#petchickens #oliveegger #gloriavanderbuilt #tomatocage #intruder #gardenpests #backyardchickens #fresheggs #attitude #igiveup #bossypants #Gloria
New flower bed! This is the entirety of the sun it receives. It’s about an hour a day. What are some shade tolerant pretties I can plant in here? Zone 7b and I would prefer perennials or evergreens.
#shadegarden #zone7 #mastergardener #gardenbed #flowergarden #rockcollection #rockwall #gardenwalk2020
Happy girls (and Sonia)! #foraging #petchicken #oliveegger #SicilianButtercup #EasterEgger #silverlacedcochin #silkies #silkierooster #mixedflock #tailsup
This salad bar is dangerous. The velociraptors are serving up some serious glare. Bryce and Vi are currently enjoying a nice long dirt bath together but snack time was serious! If you love a long-legged, strangely solid, awkward red chicken then the White Laced Red Cornish is for you! Bryce is featured in page 10 of the @mcmurray_hatchery catalog this year. She’s pretty much a super model.
#petchicken #cornish #brycedallashoward #silverlacedcochin #furfeet #VioletZindars #redwattlewednesday #freerangechickens #newfriends #velociraptor
The nectarine tree is about to be happening! I once chewed on an unripe, very small fruit from this tree. The rest of the fruit from all 10 years has been lost to squirrels, bugs, birds and disease. I now choose to think of it as an Ornamental Nectarine. I free you from the expectation of fruit! Go ahead and flower! Be a home for bugs and bees! Anchor the orchard with your height! You are free! You are ornamental! (Aka, I give up.)
#nectarinetree #zone7b #flowers #gardeningfail #nectarine #fruittree #tinyfarmer
Hawk is sporting a lovely blue chicken saddle to protect herself from Wilga, the infamous feather plucker. Hawk barely noticed when I put it on and hasn’t acted bothered for a second. Once the feathers at the base of her tail recover I’ll try removing it and see if Wilga can exhibit some self control. Or maybe Hawk can learn to defend herself. Or maybe someone will be wearing the saddle forever.
#petchicken #chickensaddle #EasterEgger #backyardchickens #misshawkins #hawkthechicken #beardedlady #sisterfight #bokchoy #crazythingschickenpeopledo #crazychickenlady
Three eggs is one nesting box is not a big deal (they all want to use the same box because they know it’s annoying that I built seven and they only use one) but this is in my rooster-free coop where only four chickens reside. This means one of my 8 year old chickens laid an egg today! Either Vi, the giant Cochin or Donna, the brown Silkie came out of retirement after close to a year! I’m impressed, ladies. Thank you for participating!
#freeloaders #petchickens #backyardpoultry #Silkie #cochin #fresheggs #geriatricpregnancy #payingtherent #nestingboxes #eggs #eggvignette
Do I get double credit for growing broccoli flowers? That is both a vegetable and a flower. It’s multitasking.
#mastergardener #zone7b #brocoli #growingseason #goingtoseed #gardeningingeorgia
All you need is…
#PVR #palmtrees #valentinesday #beach #vacation #bigwords #bigletters
I declare it Spring! No yard hamster or calendar number can tell me otherwise. It sunny and I have a daffodil. That means it’s Spring in Georgia!
#daffodil #zone7b #gardeningingeorgia #springisintheair #daffodils #nature #perennials #bulbs
Thank You to the one or two chickens who bother to lay eggs these days. The rest of you freeloaders know who you are!
#petchickens #greeneggs #blueeggs #oliveegger #EasterEgger #petchicken #backyardchickens #homegrown #eatlocal #freerangechickens
Side shoots! I think I cut the main head in January and a month later I have a full helping of side shoots to harvest! After I pick these I will give the rest of the plant to the chickens to snack on and if there is anything left after that it goes into the compost pile. It’s the circle of liiiife!
#gardener #gardeningingeorgia #zone7b #Broccoli #harvestingbroccoli #sideshoots #gotdip #homegrown #farmtotable #tinyfarmer
Glo, you’ve got a little crazy eye going on.
#petchicken #gloriavanderbuilt #oliveegger #backyardchickens #GwinnettCounty #redwattlewednesday #happychickens