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

there is a great non-profit organization in atlanta called living walls that brings artists from around the world to create murals throughout the city. it started out as just an annual conference but has transitioned into a year-round endeavor. they “seek to promote, educate, and change perspectives toward public space in our communities via street art.” over the last few years living walls has brought some amazing street art to atlanta and also gotten local communities involved.

we are going to try and cover the various murals living walls atlanta has produced. our first selection is a recent contribution by local atlanta artist trek matthews. you can find this piece in cabbage town, at carroll street and tennelle street near the back side of the cotton mill lofts. it’s a really amazing fox covered in various native american patterns. you should go check it out!

for an article on the production of the mural, head to brooklyn street art or the young blood blog.

check back for more living walls updates!

– ryan & gub

living walls: trek matthews

141 carroll st se
atlanta, ga 30312

clementine likes playing with one of our old typewriters. i guess she prefers vintage items like her folks!

– ryan & gub

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

we recently went to a birthday party at a gymboree in atlanta and clementine had lots of fun! she was too small for many of the games, but she did enjoy crawling around. our friend miguel took some great photos of her!

– ryan & gub

the third annual collard greens cook-off was a blast! it was $10 to participate and you were given a piece of cornbread and a spork and were off and tasting. after trying all of the various greens, there were 15 participants in all, you voted by throwing your spork in the bucket of your favorite booth. we had a beautiful cool spring day, so it was perfect for such a cook-off!

participants included farm burger, no246, bone lick bbq (the bbq guy from p’cheen), home grown, ray’s in the city, the pullman, whole foods, as well as various neighborhood participants, including momma margaret ‘the collard green lady.’

there were lots of tasty greens and some interesting styles we didn’t expect to like. home grown’s was a little sweet and had sun dried tomatoes in it. although i didn’t like it much, gub was a big fan of this one. another booth had cold greens with a basalmic base. it wasn’t our favorite, but it was quite interesting to try. momma margaret’s were hot and spicy and quite good as well.

when all was said and done, we put our spork in bone lick bbq’s bucket. their greens were tasty with a nice kick, mainly from the home-cured jalapeño bacon added. we also tried pulled pork sandwiches from them, which were awesome! these guys have been doing bbq at p’cheen on monday nights for a couple of years and are opening up a restaurant on the west side in june.

we also caught a tomato growing workshop at the market. gub found it quite informative.

one quick note, the east lake farmers market has moved from the concrete parking lot at 2nd and hosea williams to the nice shaded area right next door. the natural environment is much more fitting for the farmer’s market, and is also a heck of a lot cooler from the shade.

we can’t wait for peachapalooza this summer!

– ryan & gub

east lake farmers market

2nd avenue and hosea williams drive
atlanta, ga 30317

saturdays
9am – 1pm
april – october

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

our japanese magnolia had some amazing blooms this spring, although a late freeze shortened their visit.

– ryan & gub

clementine recently sampled her first grits and waffle from the waffle house! it wasn’t her first trip to the wahoo, but now that she’s eating everything in sight, we thought she’d like some southern diner food. clementine totally loved watching the wait staff call out the orders to the cooks as well!

– ryan & gub

clementine had a lot of fun digging around in this basket!

– ryan & gub