Turtle Pond RV and Farm

05/15/2026

Had a sweet surprise in the chicken coops this evening.

05/14/2026

Sign up now if you’re interested in Cullman County Master Gardeners! 🧑🏼‍🌾🌺🌻🌱

The Alabama Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program is an educational volunteer-recruitment program offered through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Volunteers work with Extension to bring the latest horticultural information to their communities.

05/11/2026

If you have chickens, or you’re thinking about getting chickens, please remember this very foolish, tragic mistake I made.

Rooster to hen ratio matters. There should be at least 10 hens per rooster.

Last year we hatched 9 eggs in an incubator. When you hatch your own eggs, expect at least half to be male. That means you need a plan for what to do with the excess males. At the time, I had 1 rooster and 40ish hens, so it was fine. But one by one, 4 of those hatchlings turned into roosters. Add in a few hen losses for various reasons, and over time my rooster to hen ratio slipped to 5 roosters, 30 something hens.

It starts small. A few missing feathers on the hens’ backs. Roosters take a little time to settle down and learn to be gentle, so I thought I was being patient. Then spring comes, hormones surge, and suddenly half the flock has bare backs.

A chicken with no feathers on its back is vulnerable to hot/ cold/ sunburn/ bug bites/ bullying/ injuries from being pecked, scratched, etc. Any wounds can become infected, and kill your hen.

So I bought some protective “hen saddles” off the internet, and recruited Shea Quick Vickers and Mindy Wolsifer to help me put them on the hens one night last week. I’m so grateful to these ladies, it was so much easier with extra hands.

For one sweet hen, it was too late. We lifted up her wing to find a gruesome wound that had been hidden from sight. It appears that one of the roosters spurs had sliced open her side, leaving a large hole into her body cavity, and it was badly infected. I made the decision to euthanize.

I knew the hen to rooster ratio mattered, I let it go on for far too long, and my flock suffered and my hen died as a direct result of my delay and inaction.

For the health of our flock, we will be doing a hard cull later this week. I probably won’t post pictures. If you keep chickens, or you’re planning to keep chickens, please learn from my mistakes.

05/08/2026

One of our big goals over the past few weeks has been getting the garden in. We’ve teamed up with some other families this year with the intention of growing plenty for our families, while also being able to offer family friendly U-pick experiences.

Huge thanks to Chauna at Calico Cattle Co. for coming over to help prepare our new garden spot beside the high tunnel!

Also, all the folks that have showed up to volunteer with installing irrigation, burning holes in ground cover, measuring, putting in staples, pounding t-posts and installing cattle panel trellising, and of course, planting, weeding, and babying the little seedlings. We’re only half way done, and we’re going to plant what we’ve started later today hopefully! 🤞

Huge thanks to
Mindy Wolsifer and fam
Shea Quick Vickers and fam
Kyle A. Wasserman and fam
Elaine Edwards and fam
Katy Chauvin
And several more that I can’t tag from a page. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Also, had too much on our plate to get our tomato/ pepper seeds started on time, so thank you Sandlin family farm over in Holly Pond for having such beautiful pepper and tomato starts! 😍

More to come, also you’ll see some new folks helping me keep this page updated soon! ❤️

05/05/2026

Shooting range is OPEN 😎

Did you know we have a shooting range? Check it out and message Kyle A. Wasserman to schedule a visit!

05/01/2026

Goose came to visit for a few days.

04/29/2026

Heads up to our fellow plant-fans! For the month of May, our nursery hours will be

Thursday afternoons 3-6pm
Saturday mornings from 9-11:30
And by appointment*

*This just means call ahead and make sure we’re available before you come.

Come see us if you’re looking for any of these goodies! 😊

04/24/2026

Friends, we’ve got a wonderful problem at Turtle Pond RV and Farm. More strawberries than we can pick!

They are NOT sprayed. Totally Untreated. Better than organic. You can put these directly in your face, straight off the plant.

We’re also a tiny bit behind on weeding. This is NOT a commercial set up (long rows of plastic covered mounds)

We have 2 large patches, mingled with other plants ( yes, including some weeds). The plants are LOADED.

Here’s the deal- $15/ gallon and you pick.
We give you 2 buckets. The lined bucket is for the yummies and the other is for the yuckies. The yummies are for you, the yuckies are for the chickens. You can bring your own gallon bucket if you prefer.

Why pick both? Because strawberry plants stop producing berries if no one is picking them, and this keeps our patches cleaner and healthier, our chickens delighted, and our pricing affordable. You’ll also be the first ones to notice when the blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries are getting ripe. 😋🤤😍 🫐🍓🫐

You want in? Message me. Call me if I don’t respond quickly enough.

Pre-picked ($25/ gallon) is possible if you ask nicely. 😁🍓🧑🏻‍🌾🍓

04/12/2026

Some of you may remember our little farm dog Jax, aka Buddy. He’s incredibly sweet, tough, fast, and many other adjectives, mostly positive. Last August he survived multiple bites from a venomous snake. As of last night, he has survived being run over by a car. My car. With me driving. He wasn’t even chasing it. He’s in a lot of pain, but he’s going to be okay. He could definitely use your prayers.

What happened- I moved my car over to our nursery area so I could clean up and put things away after our sale hours ended. I left the car running while I loaded it. It was hot, and I didn’t realize that Buddy had crawled under the car to rest in the shade. Because the engine was already running, there was no crank up sound to warn him to move. My tire went over the back half of his body. It was awful.

All of our local vets were closed since it was a Friday night. I took him to Huntsville Veterinary Specialists and Emergency, it’s 45 minutes away. They were fantastic. That deserves a separate post.

After X-rays and other diagnostics, Buddy has at least two fractures in his pelvis (left ischium, right p***s, and a suspected fracture on the left Iliad wing). As these are non weight bearing bones, the fractures can be managed conservatively without surgery. Bud will be on strict crate rest for the next 6-8 weeks. He has pain meds and a fentanyl patch, but he’s still in a lot of pain, and currently doesn’t want to eat, drink, or p*e/ p**p. All prayers are appreciated. 🙏