Lessons from the Zoo

Most people go to the Zoo when they are a small child, me that wasn’t the case. The only Zoo I got to see was the one running around on my farm! I know some of you are are shaking your head right now and thinking-no Disney movies, no vacations and now no Zoo! What kind of childhood did you have?!? I had a great one and wouldn’t change it for anything. It was spent mostly outdoors with some PBS mixed in rollie pollies and mud pies.

Elephants love plaing in the mud just like I do!

Not long ago, I went to the Nashville Zoo with Jeremy. The funny part about this is I acted like a little kid! My favorite parts were watching the elephants and giraffes. The elephants had the biggest and floppiest ears ever! They liked to play in the water to cool off and one really like playing with a log. The elephant playing with the log reminded me of a dog palying with a stick. The giraffes just fascinated me. They were beautiful in a unique way. Maybe it was their spots and the color of the spots. Their long necks reminded me so much of the plant eating dinosaurs! If you combined an elephant and a giraffe you would have a dinosaur or just something out of a scary movie.

How's the weather up there?

What made me laugh, then sad was the farm animals at the zoo. I laughed cause farm animals are just ordinary, every day animals to me and why would they be at the zoo? Then I realized that the little kids around me and their parents had never seen farm animals in person before. They (kids and parents) were calling a cow a horse and a sheep was a goat and a goat was a sheep! This really made me see that we need to better educate public (not just kids) about where their food comes from.

A cow is not a horse......

One of my favorite things about the Nashville Zoo everything reminded me of the animals natural habitat. When I was walking, sometimes I would forget that I was in a zoo! All of the animals were fun to watch. When it stops raining you should take a day and enjoy the jungle...zoo!

How many birds can you count?

Next time you go to the Zoo make sure to stop by the farm animals section and listen to what people say and don't wait 20-something yrs to go see all the wonderful animals!

Life is Just Peachy!

This blog is coming to you a little late, but it’s too sweet not to write about. When I was a little girl my Pa’s favorite snack seemed to be peaches. So, I was looking forward to visiting a few peach orchards and then I got sick. Luckily, the Friday before I got sick I went out to Pratt’s Orchard. It’s located right off the interstate. You can actually see the peach trees driving down I 65!

Farmer Jack Pratt weighing freshly picked peaches.

Peach trees surround their farm. If one wanted I am sure they could get lost in the trees (note to self peach orchards could be the new cornmaze lol!). The peaches were huge and looked perfect. It was hot, but people were coming out by the carloads to pick peaches. After I tasted one I knew why-JUICY. All the rain this summer made these peaches have the sweetest and juiciest taste ever! Good thing no one took my picture because I had it dripping down my chin!

Picture Perfect Peaches!

Seeing that I was going home to West TN, I decided to get a basket full of ripe peaches from the Peach House. The Peach House is where you can buy pre picked peaches. After talking to my mom we decided to make Peach Preserves. Canning is one of those little things I was very fortunate to have grown up around. Making peach preserves is very easy. The hardest part was keeping my dad from eating all peaches! My dad said it was the best peaches he had eaten in a loooong time, basically since the orchard on our farm got bad disease and the trees died.

Try these on a biscuit! Yum!

It’s too late for you to go out and get peaches from TN. Peach season starts June 1st, make sure to write it down on your calendar! To get more info on Pratt's go to PickTnProducts.org .

I am back and blue!

I am back!!! Sorry, for being such a blogging slacker! This past month I have been super duper sick and I am just now catching up on "real" work, so I can blog. Even though I have been a sick little girl, somehow I have been able to still have a few adventures......These next few blogs will be a step back in time and I will update you to the present happenings of my crazy life.

First, lets go back before I was sick to a farm visit and photo shoot I did at Blueberries on the Buffalo farm. Left Nashville bright and early to get to Lawencburg around 7:00am. This way we could get some great pics before people started to get there and before it got blazing hot!

Drew getting the "berry" perfect shot!

When we got there we were greeted by the farmers Dan and Debbie in front of their big red barn. They are a Pick Your Own Blueberry patch, which was beatuiful with the dew still on the bushes in the early morning light.

Blueberries still on the bush

Truthfully, I wasn't a big blueberry fan. I love blueberry muffins, but not eatting blueberries by themself. They always had a tart taste that I just didn't like. Oh, how I became a lover of blueberries after this visit. These farm fresh berries tasted soooo good! I was amazed the difference in the taste of these berries straight from the farm and store bought. If you ever have a chance to eat blueberries straight from the farm-do it! yummm!

Dan holding blackberries

Being a farm girl, I have ate and picked my fair share of blackberries. They are everywhere on my farm, so when Farmer Dan asked if I wanted to taste their blackberries-I was like sure. Never did I realize that these blackberries came from a THORNLESS bush and was huge. They were nothing like my little fence row blackberries! Of course they tasted yummy as well.

The BIGGEST blackberries ever!

If you are looking for a nice country drive head down to Lawenceburg and pick you some berries for your trip home!