The Willow Farmyard

I take a lot of pictures here at the farmyard. I’m no photographer by trade, but I am a graphic designer and have a pretty good eye for photos when I try. The tricky part is getting animals to cooperate! I thought I’d take a moment and share a few of my favorites from last year.

Chicken pictures can turn out great. Sometimes. Chickens tend to turn their heads way too much for a clear photo. Catching them on the roosting bar is a good option. And sometimes you just get lucky when they’re roaming around.

Here’s a definite favorite from the roosting bar. This gal looks like she is seriously evil! But she’s not. I’m pretty sure…

This is Dixie May. This photo turned out pretty good because she was near my feet, waiting to peck me. She does like pecking toes!

I caught this photo of Pearl in the yard. She’s such a pretty bird and reminds me of a snow owl.

Here i Becky as a chick. Turns out Becky was not a girl. But we still called him Becky. We did have to remove Becky from the farmyard because he got super-aggressive after his Polish brother, Dudley, got injured and had to be put down. But he was SO fun to watch. Not a bright star, this one.

Haddie was the sweetest chicken ever. She could have been an emotional support bird, because she was so happy to be picked up and cuddled! We lost her this past year, but she brought us much joy while she lived at the farmyard.

And the last chicken photo. What is probably one of my favorites of all time. My gossip girls!

Another favorite from 2025 is this one of the tiny little fairy egg we got. I swear, for some reason ther eis nothing cuter than a miniscule little egg!

Of course, I can’t forget my little Lulu-Belle. As you may know, we lost her this last month. But she did enjoy some time here at the farmyard after our move. Here she is, looking at me adoringly like she always did. She made me feel like one fo the best humans on earth!

In 2025, we also welcomed Bella to the farmyard. As I was growing up, we had dogs. But, as an adult, I never had a dog to raise as my own. Until now!

I love the following photos because I would have never thought I’d become pretty darn good at growing things and keeping them alive. I grew up a bonafide city girl. But here I am, starting seeds, growing beautiful flowers, and even harvesting the rewards!

Those seeds up there are cucumbers. We had a huge crop this year. SO I even made some refrigerator pickles. Maybe next time I actually try some canning from my garden. Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks??

And here are some lovely flowers from this past summer. They hang outside the door of my coop, in this fantastic vintage scale. I love being able to use vintage pieces as decoration but it’s even more fun to give them a new purpose.

And speaking of things around my coop, one of my favorite things here at the farmyard, is having an area to get fun with during the holidays. Here’s a shot of the coop at Halloween time.

I think the thing that made me the most proud during 2025 is my cottage garden. I got it in my head around this time last year that I wanted to start a cottage garden. I talked with the Mister about where I could put it and then I made a plan. It took a lot of hard work just getting the fence in and digging soil out, not to mention all of the planting, But I stuck to it and it really looked great by the end of the season. Here’s a before, beginning and an after.

Even our little willow got excited and grew along with the garden!

I get all kinds of birds and frogs in the garden, too. I like to think I’ve provided a nice home for some critters in there!

And I enjoy the sunsets from the garden. It butts up to an empty farmer’s field that is too wet to plant or harvest. Here’s on of those sunsets.

Another first in 2025 was my very first live Christmas tree. I’ve always had an artificial, but was thrilled to be able to get a real one finally!

Finally, one of my favorite photos from 2025 was taken not long after my kids and I moved all of our belongings from our rented house to our new home with the Mister. Now I get to enjoy my WHOLE Life here. Not just half of it. And I couldn’t be happier about looking forward to what 2026 brings us at The Willow Farmyard!