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The First Best Thing Farms

Sustainable suburbs, rethinking urban living.

24/03/2024

It’s spring time on the farm which means the babies are all starting to arrive. This is named Patch, short for Patchtina and she is a first time mom. She gave birth this morning to five healthy and altho she had a hard time finding a safe place to have them, we’ve got them situated now in a cozy kennel with some blankets to keep everyone warm and safe. She had no issues with us handling the kits as we moved them into their temporary home and was eager to feed them once they got settled.

28/05/2022

Time to harvest some 💚 we let our winter grow to seed, only picking off what we need, when we needed it, so it could go to seed. We will be saving some seeds to plant next season as well as drying up the rest for use as

We were able to plant the cilantro in the holes of the cinder blocks so they didn’t even take up any space hardly.

19/03/2022

We had three litters of kits this fall. We’re especially excited for this group as we’ve been working for this for nearly two years now. Our previous litters have all bred sable Rex rabbits. We’ve added some of those sable Rex offspring to our breeding program and added an unrelated buck to mate with them.

For the first time, we finally birthed Californian Rexes on the farm. Breeding sables together can either produce more sable Rex rabbits, Californian Rex, or darker toned Rex such as Seal or Chocolate, depending on their specific bloodline. So it was cool seeing REWs as new borns and watching them grow up with the sables in their same litter.

08/08/2021

The fence for the front yard is coming along nicely. We dug about 75 post holes two weeks ago and have been setting a few posts with concrete each day. It’s been lots of work but we’re excited to be doing this. Once it’s finished, we’ll put in a doggy door for the pups and they will finally have a fenced in yard to play in whenever they want to go outside.

09/07/2021

Our egg rainbow is growing! Many of the 60+ chickens we got in February have started laying now including some Olive Eggers. All in all, we have most every color eggs layers including dark brown, brown, cream, white, blue/green, and now olive as well!

In another month or two we’re going to be overloaded with eggs, getting about 3 dozen per day so let us know if you want any 😁 we will also be going to the again on Sunday, July 18 at the

Please excuse the dirty eggs, they had not been washed yet but they will be sparkly clean once they’re available for sale.

Hope to see you all soon!

04/07/2021

We’re having a great time today out at the at the We will be here until 3PM!

We’ve sold a good amount of produce today but still have some left, along with farm canned salsa, jam, tomatoes, and more!

28/06/2021

Next farmers market will be Sunday, July 4 at in Pearland, TX. This will be the second market by this season and will include lots of great produce, fresh eggs, love plants, and farm foods, along with fun activities for the kids like face painting and yard games. We will be giving a toy to every kid that visits our booth (while supplies last) so come and get some brunch at the then stop by the market for a great time!

27/06/2021

Strange visitors found in the garden the other day! Black swallowtail caterpillars have moved in and destroyed our dill w**d but we certainly aren’t mad about it. Look how pretty they are 😯

26/06/2021

First zinnia flower is coming in by our mail box flower planter. We chose to plant flowers that attract and feed to help keep a healthy garden. It’s finally starting to so hopefully it’ll be looking much more in a few weeks!

25/06/2021

No, those aren’t peppers. They are tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes to be precise. This variety is a type of plum tomato that originated in Italy and has a deep, rich flavor making them great for eating fresh or canned. What’s your favorite variety of tomato?

24/06/2021

Sunflower dump! Our mammoth have gotten so big, some of them over six feet tall. This variety of sunflower puts out a single head, which can be eaten when still immature or allowed to seed and ripen until the seeds are big enough to roast.

23/06/2021

We have some beautiful tomato plants growing in the garden right now, there’s more than 50 plants and a good amount are cherry tomatoes. So delicious to eat straight off the vine, they don’t even really need to be washed because we don’t use chemical pesticides. This garden is going to be very red in the next few weeks as the tomato plants really start hitting the optimal age for production.

22/06/2021

We had a great time at the yesterday! Our first booth of the season was so much fun and it was great getting to see everyone out in public again. Looking forward to seeing you on July 4!

19/06/2021

Heading to the Farmers Market on Sunday, June 20. We will be bringing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and much more. We will have fresh farm laid eggs as well as farm made canned goods including salsa and crushed tomatoes.

This Sunday is Fathers Day and there will be a raffle for fathers and other great giveaways!

18/06/2021

Remember a few weeks back when blew out some eggs for an art project? Well here is the end result! It’s made to sit flat or hang on the wall. Featuring two Phoenix eggs, a cuckoo maran egg, and one Easter egger along with some that grows from the trees in our yard.

We’ll be taking this piece along with the other farm art pieces featured in this post to this Sunday, June 20.

Farm Art by
Pics 1 and 4

Farm Art by
Pics 2, 3, and 5

13/06/2021

Exciting announcement time... we will be coming to the Perfect Pear Market on Sunday, June 20. This is also Father’s Day, so the market is hosting a gift raffle for all dads. Located at the

Come out to say hey and hit the shops! There will be lots of local vendors at the market so there’s sure to be something for everyone.

We will be bringing fresh produce, farm raised eggs, canned goods, farm art, and more.

We haven’t been posting much lately because we’ve been so busy getting ready. We’ll be giving some sneak peeks of our booth soon.

12/06/2021

We Found A Self-Hatching Chick!
A story about why we picked up four chicks today from

This morning, was clearing out the lumber pile by the carport. There was a faint chirping noise all morning and our little named spent a good half hour searching around the carport. We eventually noticed she discovered the source of the chirping and ran over to discover a single baby chick wandering around.

Our free-range and a hen of ours went missing last week after we noticed she was looking a little sick. Apparently, she had made a little nest in the wood pile and had been trying to hatch out some chicks. Unfortunately she’s still missing and near the nest, we found some of her feathers. So we think she might have been attacked one night while hiding outside the coop.

And about a week later after she went missing, one single chick that she was sitting on and made its debut. A little / Phoenix cross went about a week without a broody hen and still hatched out thanks to this hot weather.

Of course, don’t do well on their own so decided to pick up some for this little one while we were at the store getting wood chips. And that’s how we ended up with five new chicks.

06/06/2021

Thanks for the memories Facebook. It’s hard to believe that just one year ago, our first breeder rabbit had her first litter. While we’re still far from perfect, we have learned and grown a lot over the last year and we’re not the only ones... The breeding doe in this photo, Cali, had one kit in her first litter a year ago and now she’s averaging about ten baby bunnies per litter.

09/05/2021

Look at this broody momma! She did an amazing job hatching these chicks out and she’s equally as good of a mother.

The chicks need a heat source for about the first six weeks of their lives. Chicks need to be 100°F the first week then slowly adjusting to outside temperatures over a six week span. This is why people often use brooding lamps on young chicks, it keeps them warm without needing a broody hen.

ABOUT THE TOES PICS
We have one chick with five toes but its color and pattern is barred rock. Our head rooster is a barred rock so the coloring makes sense and the fifth toe came from the hen, either a Black Silkie or a Salmon Faverolles. Either way, the chick has tiny feathers growing out of its five toed foot as expected. We’re excited to see what this farm cross chickens grow up to be!

The broody hen is a Phoenix by the way. She hatched 9 out of 14 eggs that she sat on which were a mix of eggs from the whole flock. We will have to wait a few weeks to see how they grow to figure out who actually crossed with whom.

02/05/2021

A lovely bunch of swamp marsh caterpillars (Estigmene acrea) have been making a buffet of the curled dock we have growing in the backyard. Another fuzzy moth caterpillar, this little one is also harmless (it doesn’t sting humans) and honestly it has just been on the same plant for the past few days, chomping away.

Its peak season is May to August so I’d assume we’ll be seeing quite a few more of these over the summer. It uses part of its hair to make a and pupate, generally through the winter, hatching in the Spring.

30/04/2021

Someone laid an soft shell egg today. Commercial eggs are all screened before going into the carton so you’d never see something like this at the store.

It’s often caused by a simple “hiccup” during the normal egg production cycle and usually it’s a big deal. It can also occur if a chicken doesn’t have enough calcium in its diet, if the chicken is stressed for an array of reason, or even due to old age. We’ll keep an extra eye on our girls this week but this is likely what is sometimes called a glitch egg.

26/04/2021

She did it! One of our Phoenix hens went broody three weeks ago and she 9 of the 14 eggs we placed under her. She’s been doing a good job keeping them warm since they hatched and will need to continue providing warmth for the next 6 weeks or so until the baby have fully feathered out and can care for themselves.

24/04/2021

We are so delighted to receive this handmade jar that we bought from at the The quality of his work is stunning and the paint and are both beautiful and flawless.

We are super excited to improve our game and have seen the artist use these for his own ferments, which largely encouraged us to make this purchase. We know that the and functionality are way beyond what the cost was and of course enjoyed supporting another

19/04/2021

The fir tussock caterpillar moth (Orgyia pseudotsugata) has made its way onto the farm. While it has lots of hairs, this caterpillar does not sting.
**yia **y

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(812) 565-8362

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http://www.tfbtfarms.com/

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Peeked my head in to check on the hens, thought this sebright had just laid given her funny little stance so I took a picture. Luckily, I was taking a Live Photo because she laid an egg in that moment. So I converted the photo to video for your viewing pleasure. It’s better with sound on. #henslayingeggs #layingeggs #sebright #silversebright #sebrighteggs #hens #laidanegg #justlaid #laid #lay #proudmomma #stretch #dailyhabits #fresh #fresheggs #straightfromthesource #cream #coloredeggs

Our girl Bleue had been “going down” over the last week, refusing to eat her protein pellets for three days. It’s not uncommon for #pigs to feel a little #sad sometimes and need some extra #motivation to get up and running again. Refusing to eat, she was only taking watermelon and spinach with pedialyte, #smoothie style. Last night we poured her smoothie over her pellets and she chomped down. This morning, we blended the pellets directly with the smoothie and she really went for it. We are #sohappy to see her coming back up; pigs are highly intelligent and #emotional animals and need lots of love and care. #bleue #rescue #slushie #proteinfix #breakfast #potbellypig #houston #suburbanfarm #pets #watermelon #electrolytes #hydrate #feelbetter #goingdown

Decided to pull out the big #brush for Bleue today. She certainly didn’t seem to mind. Pigs have really tough #skin so the tough #bristles offer the #pig a good #scratch without damaging their skin. #pigsofinstagram #bleue #petsofinstagram #treatyoself #brush*toff #broom #houston #suburbs #potbelly #mud #backyard #prettygirl #attitude #piggy #pets #lawn #pen #keepoffthegrass #hygiene #skincare

Our very pregnant #californian rabbit named Cali is enjoying a little afternoon snack of watermelon. Not only is watermelon hydrating, it also helps cool off the #rabbits which are prone to overheating. #fruit #melon #afternoonsnack #snack #rexrabbit #bunniesofinstagram #prettybunny #pregnant #momma #mother #munchies #nomnom #juicy #sweet #beattheheat #spoiledrotten #hoppy #fluffy #velvet #blackandwhite #cali #expecting #duesoon #babycomingsoon #litter #whiskers #paws #nibbles

Rachel the rescue is really starting to warm up to the world. We provide her with a number of different #enrichment activities throughout the day to help her open up and want to #play a bit more. She’s loving her @kongcompany toys that we put peanut butter in. #tfbtrescue #rescuedogsofinstagram #boxer #pitbull #muttsofinstagram #pitbullsofinstagram #boxersofinstagram #canine #kongdogtoys #peanutbutter #dogtoys #dogsplaying #dogenrichment #healthypets

Ever see a pig jump? She chooses not to use the box as a step anymore. Lucy’s new sheets arrived and her new bed is finally all together. We found a memory foam mattress that doesn’t need a box spring for $60 and the basic metal bed frame was $40 so we were able to provide her a lower to the ground, twin size bed for the price of a large dog bed from the pet store. We expect she could get up to 250 pounds so we wanted a bed that would actually provide her comfort and no pet store dog bed would match this any way. #spoiledpig #queenpiggy #potbellypig #jumpingpig #pigtricks #pigbed #spoiledpets #spoiledpet #cutestpic #cuteanimals #adorableanimals #bestpets #indoorpig #indoorpets #memoryfoam #memoryfoammattress #petbeds #petsofinstagram #petbed #petsinbed #comfortable #bedtime

We’ve started adding water to Lucy’s pellets during breakfast and dinner. It seems to make her overly thirsty and she enjoys the slop just the same! #potbelly #pigsofinstagram #slop #dinnertime #homefarm #sustainablelife #suburbanhomestead #houstontx

We are quickly leaning what Lucy likes and does not like. The grass under the oak trees have been her favorite since the trees are dropping acorns right now. We trying different foods to see what she likes and slowly introducing her to the dog we’re dogsitting, under close supervision. #homesteading #backyardfarm #farmpets #exoticpets #pigsofinstagram Safety Note: 1) dogs and pigs should be closely supervised as one is a predator while the other is prey 2) part of our decision to adopt Lucy is because we don’t own a dog, we were dog sitting the chihuahua-dachshund in the photo at the time #dachshund #chihuahua #animalsafety

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