there’s lots of fun wildlife to be seen at the atlanta botanical gardens. between birds, frogs, fish and more, you are bound to bump into something crawling around.

the botanical gardens also have various day-plans on their website to keep your visits new and interesting, which is really cool. they range from whether you are visiting with kids, a family, or a date, to whether you want to see birds, crawling critters or carnivorous plants. they even have plans for checking out the gardens at night, in an hour, or via scavenger hunt. they sure went all out to ensure you have fun!

check out our recent post on their spring orchids.

– ryan & gub

atlanta botanical gardens

1345 piedmont avenue northeast
atlanta, ga 30309
404-876-5859

we just became members at the atlanta botanical gardens and totally love it! there’s lots to do and see, especially with this beautiful spring weather. it’s the perfect place to go on walks with clementine, including on the new canopy walk.

the orchid house is really amazing, you should check it out while everything is still in bloom! there are way more varieties than i expected, including lots of exotic colors and sizes. the misty, tropical atmosphere in the orchid house made you forget you were in middle of the city. i kept thinking of the movie adaptation while walking through the rare display of orchids.

last month was my first time ever to the gardens, i’m not sure why it took so many years to check it out. if you’ve never been, you should definitely make a trip before it gets too hot.

– ryan

atlanta botanical gardens

1345 piedmont avenue northeast
atlanta, ga 30309
404-876-5859

today is the first day of the east lake farmers market, which runs on saturdays from 9am to 1pm. it’s open through october and can be found at the corner of 2nd avenue and hosea williams drive in the east lake/kirkwood area. the market features lots of local farmers selling fruit, vegetables, eggs, salsas and all sorts of other stuff.

to kick off the season, today is the third annual collard greens cook-off! you can sample great collards from both top local chefs and amateur neighborhood cooks.

see you there!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

gub planted some daffodil bulbs right before clementine was born. she acquired a bucket full of them from a pottery student at the art center, so she planted them in our backyard.

this spring they finally bloomed when clementine was 9 months old!

– ryan & gub

i tried filming time lapse of one of those mystical gardens earlier this week. it looked pretty cool, although it took way longer than expected. the box claims everything would finish within 10 hours, however after 24+ hours, 10,000+ photos and 3 camera battery changes, the mystical garden was still growing and we had to leave for the holidays. maybe it was too cold in our house or something, but it sure took forever.

– ryan

we picked all of the green tomatoes from our garden this year before the first big freeze and they finally ripened. now we have a bowl full of nice red tomatoes to enjoy!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market offers a cooperative csa program you can join to help support your local farmers. they also sell extra csa shares at their saturday market for only $15, which is a super deal! we picked up an extra share last weekend that had basil, rosemary, greens, kale, egg plant, bell peppers, various hot peppers, radishes and more. it was a great assortment for the money!

we also bought some fresh local eggs at the market. it’s interesting how different the sizes and colors of local eggs are from the ones you get at a grocery store. ours were shades of green and brown, a little smaller and had more texture then you are used to.

we’ve had lots of fun coming up with meals incorporating our fresh, tasty ingredients!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
may – october

we had a very nice red tomato from our garden! i’m glad the weather and squirrels are finally cooperating with us.

– ryan & gub

our bell peppers and tomatoes are going crazy right now! between the squirrels and crazy summer heat, we haven’t had a very productive garden this year. however, recent rains have brought new life and we have a ton of peppers and tomatoes growing!

– ryan & gub

our green peppers are finally ready! we have a ton currently growing in our garden, but these are the first ones big enough to eat. they are quite tasty!

– ryan & gub