My dear friend Nikki has started her own garden store in Portland! I couldn’t be more excited or proud. She is incredibly passionate about plants and has worked with them for as long as I can remember (and we’ve known each other since high school!). Her knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants astounds me and she always knows which types of plants to get me…mostly ones that I don’t have to take care of (I have a lot of succulents).

She messaged me today “We have baby chicks!”. Hmm…Workout or see adorable baby animals? No-brainer! Of course, Mo and I dropped what we were doing and headed straight over.

I love the way they dog pile on top of each other. I probably would scramble too if some giant being 100 times bigger than me was hovering and poking and picking me up. The orange glow is from the heat lamp. With today’s beautiful sunny weather I wasn’t the least bit tempted to crawl into the crate and bask under the lamp with them…okay, maybe I was a little bit… but I just really, really love being warm. And I love soft, fuzzy baby things…

Mo was delighted (and doesn’t Nikki look so happy? That’s called the Mo Effect!).

Softly! Gentle. Be soft Mo.  Actually she did a great job being very careful with the chicks. I wonder if she was surprised by the softness and warmth? All her other soft things are stuffed animals, minus our cat of course. However, she doesn’t often tolerate Mo’s poking.

Mmmm, I can already taste the fresh eggs. If everything goes well with the home purchase, we hope to have some of these little ladies running around (part of) our backyard soon!

Sticking with the sustainable-hippie theme of Portland, City Farm plans on specializing in medicinal, edible and local plants. Actually, Nikki wouldn’t have it any other way. Sustainable, organic, medicinal…those aren’t just buzz words to Nikki. They’re her passion. If you happen to live in the Portland/Vancouver area, or know someone who does, definitely send them over this weekend. City Farm is having a great sale on veggie starters and berries! (7636 N. Lombard St., Portland, OR)

And, as if that weren’t enough, they sell coffee too! An adorable coffee trailer-shop named The Garden Well is parked right out front. Nikki’s put together some beautiful loose-leaf blends for their tea selection.

There’s plenty still to come from Nikki and her crew. They’re leveling the back to build a greenhouse and renting the lot behind the store for extra space as well. I’m so excited to see this store blossom and grow! It’s true. I’ll just say it: I’m totally a City Farm groupie. I think I know where I’ll be spending a lot of time this Spring…