Deep Fried Kudzu

It’s hungry.
Birmingham AL, 2009.

Quite possibly the most famous rest area in all of Alabama; people love to have their pictures taken here in Townley.

2009:

By 2018, many additions:

including a privacy partition:

Welcome you’ll! 

2022, nature is threatening to take over:

A little more about this later, but I’ve promised pics of our chicken coop for a while now — this is the run being built, where the girls spend most of their day when they’re not sleeping or laying. We have a (metal) screen door at the end so it’s easy for us to enter. The slope of the tin roof keeps water away

It’s surrounded by concrete patio stones so predators can’t dig underneath to get in.

Their “house” is a play-pretend house like one would have in a backyard. We outfitted it with nests for egg-laying and dowels running the length for them to sleep on.

et viola! This was built in 2014 and has done so, so, so well. This year, we reinforced the bottom of the playhouse with plywood for protection against coyotes and raccoons, which we have since there are woods behind our home.

This is the late, great Nelle Harper Lee, who I named because she really did enjoy her privacy. She was an Americauna and layed beautiful blue/green eggs.

Her sisters are Tallulah and Zelda, who are 8 years old now, old for a bantam hen (their life expectancy is 4-8 years). Many sources will discuss how bantams only lay for 2-3 years, but our girls layed for over six years. Even now, Zelda will lay the occasional egg! I know it’s her because everyone else either lays brown, peach, or blue/green eggs, and hers are beautiful white and more oblong.

We use sand as the floor media as it dries so quickly and we almost never have to do anything to it. No smell. It’s great. Any questions, just email me!

Mary shrine
Chilton County AL, 2009.

We had a fun time at our visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden — they’re hosting Origami in the Garden, an exhibit of 18 installations of ~70 sculptures. I was glad we were able to use our reciprocal priveliges (we’re members at the Huntsville Botanical Garden) as tickets for entry at Atlanta are almost $25pp on weekdays.  Our family membership in H’ville costs $125/year so it’s easy for us to have the membership pay for itself multiple times over the course of a year.

If you’re interested in membership at a botanical garden, the reciprocals are through the American Horticultural Society, with relationships at 345+ gardens in the US and Canada.

The gardens here were established in the 1970s and are on 30+ acres.

It’s really a lovely site, and was terrific to see an outdoor demo kitchen in their edible garden area.

My favorite area was the greenhouse featuring all kinds of orchids

Apostolic Faith Churco of Jesus Christ Temple
Sawyerville AL, 2009.

Roadside preaching
Attalla AL, 2009.

North Meats South
Birmingham AL, 2009.

Walker-Klinner Farm
Maplesville AL, 2009.

In the Amish community
Outside Ethridge TN, 2009.