Cooper has a shop on Redbubble. She donates a percentage of her sales to her favorite bird rescues. Last year Cooper decided to adopt a turkey through Farm Sanctuary. This year she decided to adopt again.
You can read more about Farm Sanctuary here.
Cooper recommends skipping the turkey this Thanksgiving. It’s all about the sides anyway.
This month’s book is Illumination in the Flatwoods by Joe Hutto.
Naturalist and wildlife artist Joe Hutto expresses an interest in in raising a couple of wild turkeys. He is given two clutches of eggs a tractor driver has come across. He carefully incubates the eggs. When they hatch, Hutto imprints on the birds, raising them and living amongst them as they grow from tiny poults to fully grown adults.
Cooper loved this book. She learned a lot about turkeys from the author’s in-depth study of his days with the flock. From the joys of days spent foraging, to the tragedies of the birds who succumbed to illness or predators, Cooper felt she was on the journey along with Hutto and his turkey family.
Illustrations by the author of the turkeys and the various wildlife they come across are peppered throughout the book.
Illumination in the Flatwoods is a beautiful, entertaining and thoughtful recounting of a man’s oneness with nature. Once you have finished the last page, you will never look at a turkey the same way again.
A wagon load of plumpkins.
LOTS of photos. Because Cooper’s friend Shivangi sent the flock LOTS of toys. These spoiled birds have been having so much fun playing with all their gifts that it was difficult to get photos that weren’t big blurs of motion. It’s hard to pose when you’re in destructo mode!
Shivangi – thank you so, so much for all the wonderful gifts! The flock sends you love and birdie kisses. xoxo
Time to set the table.
Tablecloth – Etsy
Napkins – Rice by Rice
Pot holder – Dawn Chorus
Apron – Ruby Lane
Trivet – Pete Cromer
Wine glasses – Nodzomi hand painted glassware
Platter – Dennis East
Dishes – Maxwell and Williams
Budgie bowl – Clarice Cliff
Salt and Pepper Shakers – Kootenay Designs/Etsy
Budgie candlestick – ebay
Millet centerpiece – Rustic Reach
Dessert plate – lelabodecorinne on Etsy
Espresso cup and saucer – Nadja Wedin
And for washing up:
Tea towels – helloshanstudio on Etsy
The budgie aviary at the Turtle Back Zoo in Essex County New Jersey.
The aviary houses approximately 500 budgies.
Visitors can feed the birds with seed sticks.
Love and thanks to our friend Adam Sullens for the photographs. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit the birds (and Adam) in the future.
Some photos of Riley out and about and with the flock.
Sunny, Felix, Ozzie, Riley and Emmy (Sunny is in the condo).
Riley is Emmy’s shadow.
Hanging out in the flight cage.
Riley seems to be doing well with the flock. We still need work with moving her around. She has no problem stepping up, but she steps right back down when you try to move her. We’ll get there…
Today we are celebrating Riley’s 1st hatchday with us. We don’t really know how old she is, so we’re starting her at 1.
Here she is next to her present. She actually took a little nibble. Yay!
She took more than a nibble of her hatchday millet.
(Like Mariah Carey, Riley likes to be photographed from her right side.)
Happy Hatchday Riley! We hope to enjoy many, many more with you. xoxo
