February is National Bird Feeding Month, and though we’ve had a fairly mild winter, here in zone 7, our feathered friends still need your attention. No matter where you reside, the birds in your area could use a helping hand during these cold, dreary months where weather may be harsh or unpredictable and food can be scarce. Here are a few tips to ensure that your bird buddies are well fed and warm until springtime arrives:

Water Through The Winter. Birds need a fresh source of water, so make sure to break and remove any ice that may accumulate in your bird baths, and replenish the water regularly. Our Bamboo themed Mini Oriental Bird Bath makes the perfect compact addition to your garden and gives birds plenty of fresh water to drink and play!

Cleaning is Key. Routinely clean debris from bird baths and old seed from bird feeders to prevent fungus and disease from developing and making the birds sick.

Home Tweet Home. Give your birds plenty of dry, protected places to nest for the winter. Hang birdhouses in areas that are out of the wind and weather to provide a great winter home for birds that don’t migrate. Looking for a cozy country-inspired home for your birds? Our Red Wooden Birdhouse compliments your country garden with a rustic look to give your birds the best place to nest year round!

Treats For Tweets. I have vivid memories of my mother placing halves of too-far gone oranges, apples and pears; mushy bananas, dried nuts and other edible compost out along the snow covered railings of our porch, for the mockingbirds. Songbirds LOVE fruit! Giving your birds additional nutrition keeps their diet balanced while giving them something new to instigate, while giving you a great natural show to watch from indoors.

Feed the Flock. Don’t forget to regularly refill your bird feeders and inspect them for winter damage. Replace cracked or broken feeders as needed with new ones.Our Glass Bamboo Feeder is made of thick, hand-blown  glass and brass so it’s sturdy enough to withstand winter’s worst!

Out Smart the Squirrels. Other critters may be competing for food sources during this time of the year. Try to hang your feeders in areas that squirrels can’t get to, or attach guards or cages to keep them from stealing all of your birdseed.

Select The Right Seed. Suet cakes are a great “hodge podge” of high calorie seeds that come in different varieties to attract specific types of winter birds. Peanuts and Nyger seeds are other high calorie nuts and seeds that will ensure your birds stay plump and warm this winter.

Thyme, Patchouli, Rosemary, Lavender and more! Here’s an inside look at some of our herbs that are big enough to be repotted into their new homes! We’ve been growing our crops for months now, starting from seeds that sprout in our germination chamber, and eventually grow big enough to replant into larger pots. ( If you read our previous blog, “Tis The Season To Plant Seedlings“, you’ll enjoy the before and after pictures of some of our plants! )

They’ll continue growing in our approximately four inch pots until they ship directly to your door! Do you see any plants that you’ve ordered for your spring garden in these pictures? We’ll begin shipping in Mid March, starting with  zones 8-11, so they’ll be arriving before you know it! Wondering when your plants will ship? Click here!

Here’s a close up of our little Patchouli plants. At about two inches tall, they’re ready for to be repotted this week. Such beautiful, green growth! The process of growing plants is still an amazing experience to me. It’s truly a proud moment when you see your finished product, a lush, healthy herb plant, that you’ve known since it was a tiny seed, and you know that it will really make a difference in someone’s home or garden because of the care you’ve given it. We feel like proud papas down in the greenhouse when we begin to ship these little guys!

To keep our test garden growing strong through the winter, we’ve moved some of our favorite herbs indoors. Our sun porch has become a haven for potted herbs and one of our favorite places to take a break or eat our lunches. Receiving lots of sunlight, our potted garden has been thriving throughout this mild winter here in zone 7. Watering about once a week, our plants are showing lots of healthy new growth and it’s not even spring!

What started as a project to see what temperature and lighting worked best for these potted herbs, has now developed into a lovely place to relax and find a moment of peace during the day. Having these plants close at hand makes cooking and crafting even more enjoyable. Bring natural beauty and energy to your home with two of our favorite fragrant and functional potted herbs!

Beautiful Bays bring savory flavor to your favorite hearty dishes. Well suited for an indoor garden, Potted Bays are slow growers but well worth the wait. These herbaceous trees can even be pruned into bonsai-like topiaries and make wonderfully useful centerpieces. A widely loved culinary herb, but sometimes hard to find due to high demand, Bays are drought tolerant, and benefit from full sun and well draining soil. Make sure to repot your Bay every two to three years to allow your herb to get bigger and prevent it from becoming root bound.

Lemon Verbena is one of our favorite aromatic herbs for its delicate citrus scent. Also a lovely culinary herb, you can try adding fresh Lemon Verbena to your tuna salad, favorite summer drink, hot tea or any dish that may be complimented by a touch of lemon for a subtle, natural flavor without the tartness of using lemon peel or juice. A beautiful indoor herb, Potted Lemon Verbenas need lots of sunlight and well draining soil. Great for potpourri and herbal crafts, Lemon Verbena is an herb that gardeners and cooks have grown and loved for centuries. Pot some for your kitchen or sun room and enjoy its naturally fresh scent all year long!

When our Co Owner, Kenan White, recently found an opportunity to see James Farmer speak, she immediately booked her flight to the AmericasMart show in Atlanta, Ga. Meeting him after his talk was an exciting added bonus! Read on to see why we are so impressed  with this brilliant Southern gentleman.

James Farmer’s lecture on “Herban Gardening” at the Atlanta Mart was the highlight of my buying trip!

This true Southern gentleman would make his mama proud!  Handsome, polite, self-effacing, and oh so talented.  Since I have been following James’ work for some time, I didn’t quite know what to expect, but this one is the ‘real deal’!  I’ve been in this business for over a decade, seen them come and go, but my guess is that James is here to stay.  Talented for sure, but authenticity counts almost as much.

I’ve tried to recreate his gorgeous arrangements and delicious recipes at home, but after spending an hour watching him arrange and cook and entertain, I realized I have a lot to learn.  His seamless and gracious presentation had me imagining myself on his front porch, a late afternoon summer breeze making it all bearable, sipping on his mint infused tea and taking a bite of Mimi’s Apple Cake.

For anyone who’s unfamiliar James, check out his website … and go out and get his book – A Time to Plant: Southern Style Garden Living.   For all of us below the Mason Dixon, he reads like a well known novel.  For those of you outside of the real South, get ready to experience ‘our’ way of life!

Bless him for sharing.

On her way home, our Marketing Director, Caroline, encountered a pretty tough bird. It’s a good thing it didn’t have a flock, or this might have gotten ugly…

There’s one house on the way to the farm, that I always slow to a crawl when I past. The Raniers. In the mornings, their motley crew of dogs, comprised of two labs, one black and one yellow; a stout little beagle, and a bug eyed chihuahua bask in the warm sun in the middle of the one lane country road, or explore the ditches and field adjoining the road’s worn pavement. They’ve become kind of like friends, as I pass them each morning and think “good dogs” to myself and while struggling to get that last drop of coffee out of my travel mug.

The afternoons are a bit of a different story. Replacing my familiar furry friends is a flock of nervous barnyard fowl, ranging from roosters to chickens in various and sundry breeds, and a wild turkey. Yes, I said wild. Apparently, Jamie and Lori, the owners of this tiny ranch, raised this turkey from an egg their son Hunter found. The turkey has grown to assimilate to its  much smaller family of chickens without even noticing that its giant stature makes it so different.

On my way home, like any other day, I slowed as I approached the birds while they meandered across the road, scratching and pecking in the dirt that surrounds the blacktop. The only thing different about this encounter was that the turkey stood firmly in the middle of the road, refusing to budge. As I nudged my car closer, it began walking toward me, never breaking its defiant gaze. I finally put the car in park when I realized that I wasn’t going to win this game of “chicken” (pun intended), and stared back. It looked at me as if to say “this is my turf” without caring in the least that I was in a Jeep, and that it was outweighed and out horse powered. I jumped out and shooed it out of the road, and to my surprise as it slightly side stepped my path, it pecked at me! I jumped into my car and looked in the rear view as I began to pull away: the turkey was there. As if from some nightmarish Hitchcock movie, I was now being stalked mercilessly…by an evil turkey. I sped up, and he sped up. It wasn’t until I’d hit almost 25 MPH that he gave up his chase for an easier pursuit.

I got a good laugh from my friends when I told them about my day and my face off with the ornery bird, and still cautiously drive past the Ranier’s in the afternoon, always looking back for fear of that crazy turkey!