Found this a teeny little gray tree frog sitting in the birdbath last night, eyeballing a potential snack... Usually there's at least one or two of these guys hanging around the porch light, hanging out and hunting bugs with five or six geckos. #nature #frog #grownostr

Duke has become obsessed with the wool dryer balls we use instead of fabric softener. He stole this one out of the laundry, and loves it so much he's falling asleep with it in his mouth... #grownostr #dogstr

I recently built a mobile chicken coop for my neighbors. They're an older couple with some health issues, so I needed a way to make the coop easy to move without bending down. I came up with this system. The white board is the handle, about 4' long so it's easy to grab while standing. Rotate it forward until the locking bar drops into place, then repeat on the opposite side, grab the handles at the front of the coop, and away you go. The wheels are placed very close to the balance point of the structure, so one only has to lift a couple pounds of weight at the front end to move it. Not shown in these photos is that, once the hardware cloth covers the coop, a rope runs over the top between the two locking bars. Then you just tug the rope to lift the locking bar out of the way and rotate the wheel back into the raised position. I also built a shelf on the inside of the door, for the food and water to sit on. They can just swing open the door and have easy access to that. I'm hoping that maintaining the chickens every day gives them a little sorely-needed exercise and outdoor activity. I built garden beds for them last year, and that's helped a lot to get them on the path to healthier living. #grownostr #chickens #coop #homesteading

Six weeks ago, Duke got mauled by another dog. He ended up with 40 staples and who knows how many internal stitches. We thought the little turd was gonna die. Today, he's back to normal and even the scar is fading. Animals are tougher than people, y'all. This little guy is indestructible. The only lasting effect appears to be that his nipples are now crooked. That doesn't seem to be hurting his self-esteem.

It's June, ya'll, and the garden is poppin' off. Time to start getting stuff into jars! #grownostr #garden

My mom had this huge rose bush growing in her backyard for years. After she passed, my dad took good care of it and was quite proud that the thing often grew as tall as the house and would have hundreds of blooms on it. It was a magnificent plant. After Dad died, we sold the house and I took some cuttings from the rose and grew my own clone. For years, it languished in our backyard, clearly unhappy and struggling. I thought perhaps it just didn't like the move from Illinois to Texas. Last fall, I dug it up and moved it to the orchard where it gets more sun and has better soil, figuring it was time for the thing to either thrive or die. I'm happy to report that the plant isn't suicidal after all, and has come out of its long depression and appears ready to do some serious blooming. I wish I knew what variety this thing is - anybody out there a rose specialist? #grownostr #flowers #gardening

My neighbors have a kid who just turned 5 yesterday. He likes to come over to my house and "help" with projects. He really likes to work with woodworking tools, though at 5, there's still a lot of supervision necessary. He has a two-year-old little brother, so I think he really likes having something he can do that the little guy can't. I built him his own workbench for his birthday yesterday. It was a big hit. Toughest part was deciding how tall to build it. It's about an inch or two higher than ideal right now, but he'll grow faster than the bench will... 😉 #grownostr #woodworking

This is Duke and his best cat friend, Bob. Bob is being comforting and Duke is wearing a toddler's shirt because exactly one week ago, Duke was attacked by a much bigger dog. We got him to the emergency vet as quickly as possible (a nerve-wracking 45 minute drive), but even so, the poor little guy spent several hours with some of his insides on the outside. He was a mess. Fortunately, the surgeon was able to reassemble him with all the parts put back in place (minus an inch or so of intestine). This little bastard is tougher than a dollar-store steak, but take this advice: if you have pets and don't know where the nearest 24-hour emergency vet is, find out right now and make a note of it. Put their number and address in your phone. When your best friend is gushing blood or full of snake venom (that was our first visit to the emergency vet, about three years ago at 1 AM) isn't the time to be doing Google searches or looking up Yelp. #dogstr #dogs #pets #grownostr

Pipe Frog would like to remind you not to glue any PVC pipes together until you check to make sure they're clear of any amphibians or reptiles. #grownostr #frogs

The black dog in this photo is my boy Duke. The other fella is his best friend, Buddy. Buddy lives across the road from our farm. Every morning, Duke wakes up and has to go see Buddy. He runs out to the front gate and jumps up and down until I let him out, and runs over to Buddy's house. I got tired of having to text or call them to let them know Duke was coming over (and cell phone coverage is terrible anyway), so I got a cheap wireless doorbell and they put it in their living room. I kept the transmitter, so I just hit the button and they know Duke's on his way over. The most adorable thing is that Buddy has figured out what the doorbell sound (it's set to the sound of a rooster crowing) means. When I hit the button, I can hear him barking inside their house from a hundred yards away. When they open the door, he busts out and runs to meet Duke, both tails furiously wagging. Usually I don't see Duke again until I go get him to bring him home.

In a previous note, I referred to this cat as the least helpful helper I've ever had. I would like to submit additional evidence to reinforce this claim: #cats #grownostr

We took a stroll through the pasture today to collect some Bluebonnet seeds. The Indian Blanket (aka firewheels) and Horsemint are really going insane this year! This field was literally humming with bees today. The buzzing was surprisingly loud - so many bees in the flowers, it sounded like it does when you're standing right next to the hive. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. #grownostr #farm #flowers #texas

If you live near a Northern Tool store and are looking for some raised garden beds, they've got 3x6 raised bed kits on sale for $42 now: https://www.northerntool.com/products/galvanized-steel-raised-garden-planter-bed-6ft-x-3ft-model-2811s533-60605 We put several of these in this year to expand the garden area, and were pleased with them even at full price. They're fairly sturdy once filled with soil, and have folded edges on the top and bottom so they're not razor sharp like the cheap ones you can get from Amazon. Given the cost of building materials, you probably can't even make one this size out of wood for this price, and galvanized steel should last much longer. #grownostr #growfood #gardening #garden

Buenos dias! Duke would like to wish everyone a happy Cinco de Mayo! He also would like someone to take this stupid sombrero off of him and throw it into a fire so he doesn't have to pose for a picture in it every year like an idiot. #grownostr #dogstr

When we first got the farm, we were advised to start small with livestock before jumping in big with with cattle and sheep and herding dogs. It's possible that we started *too* small, though. Realizing we had made an error, we decided to upscale the operation. #grownostr #cats

Last week, I got a call out of the blue from a neighbor (out here, ten miles away is still considered a neighbor) who drove by our place and saw the huge pile of wood chips out front that the tree trimming guy brought by. Seems this fellow has several large piles (I'd guess maybe 8-10 cubic yards each) of old rotting hay. It's the leftovers after the cows trample a round bale to death, which he scoops up into piles and lets it compost naturally. I guess the pile of woodchips marked us as people who might be interested in accumulating organic material, so he called to see if we wanted to haul it away for him. I was expecting it to just be moldy hay, but it's mostly beautiful finished #compost! I dragged this trailer full to my place yesterday, and if it passes the bean test for persistent herbicides, I'll go back for more. They moral of the story is, it pays to advertise. A pile of mulch is as good as a billboard if what you're wanting to communicate is "fertility welcome here"... #grownostr #growfood #growsomething

If you're in the Austin or San Antonio areas and are looking for somewhere to buy bulk livestock feed, try Freewing Farms in Gonzales. I picked up 400 lbs of NON-GMO, soy-free #chicken feed from them last week for 53¢ per pound, and the chickens love it. You have to bring your own containers, but I store the feed in barrels anyway, so it's no problem to just take the barrels down and fill them up. Their website doesn't appear to be functional, but their Facebook page has all the contact info:

Free Wing Farms - Organic Feed Mill | Gonzales TX

‏‎Free Wing Farms - Organic Feed Mill‎‏, ‏غونزاليس‏. &#x2...

I have no affiliation, just a satisfied customer wanting to help promote a local business run by good people. #grownostr #livestock #Texas