Real Hens of OC
realhensofoc.bsky.social
Real Hens of OC
@realhensofoc.bsky.social
👩🏻‍🌾 Urban Homestead Skills/Educator
🐓 Chicken Eggspert & Author
🥕 Growing Food
🍯 Food Preservation
♻️ Sustainable Living
☀️ Taiwanese American, Celiac Disease, ADHD
🐢On Kizh/Tongva land
🏳️‍🌈 Safe Space
Plant medicine with chickweed! I’ll steep the chopped plant matter in EVOO for a few months, and then use it as an ingredient for a chickweed salve and also my all-purpose healing salve.
March 23, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Please share! My friends and I volunteered our time to record a chat on Garden and Soil Remediation post LA Urban Fires to help folks make informed decisions for their own spaces. Full link on Real Hens of OC YouTube channel. Full video here: https://youtu.be/1WMF3RPPysU?si=fAo-Rw2BOGogyGmN
March 11, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Am always proud of myself when I fill my canning shelf. Ticks the boxes off many goals: #SustainableLiving, #LowWaste, “fast” food, #ADHD friendly meals, save money, preserving from my garden, opting out of corporate systems, less stress/ anxiety related to food & #CeliacDisease
March 8, 2025 at 10:50 PM
#PressureCanning all day today. Planning on 3 rounds of beans, and maybe a bonus 4th round because I soaked too many chickpeas. My canning pantry is my version of fast food, saves $$, keeps me safe and sane (I have #CeliacDisease), is #sustainable, and helps planning meals #ADHD friendly.

March 7, 2025 at 11:27 PM
What’s better than #mushrooms? Free and volunteer shrooms! I pick up trash from 🍄‍🟫 farmers: spent mushroom substrates (SMS). I use SMS for garden, chicken coop & compost. Bonus is that I get flushes of free mushrooms to add to my meals. #sustainableliving #closedloop #urbanhomestead #beyondorganic
March 6, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Kirkland is a tiny roo with BIG personality, BIG goals and strong preferences for BIG butts. 😂 He only makes amorous advances in the big girls. We rescued Kirky from a busy Costco parking lot 3 days before Thanksgiving 2022. He was dumped there by some terrible humans. #petchicken #backyardchickens
March 4, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Today’s #passionfruit harvest. My 3rd winter harvest of this warm season fruit. There are much less fruit than in summer, but the point is that I shouldn’t be harvesting at all in the cooler season on this young and small plant. It’s a nice #windfall of fruit, but sad sign of #climatechange.
March 3, 2025 at 5:22 PM
#ClimateChange means I have a confused garden. Warm weather plants are fruiting before cool weather plants and other abnormalities….At least I have plenty of food for pollinators and wildlife visiting my #UrbanHomestead, also a #CertifiedWildlifeHabitat and #MonarchWaystation.
February 28, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Removing wrappings on a healed a Cot N Candy Aprium grafted on August Pride Peach. It’s a cool flex to say that I make Franken-trees. Plus, I save $ when I trade cuttings with folk, get fruit year round, and have extra insurance against loss from stupid 🐿️s. #grafting #organicgardening #microfarm
February 27, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Nature reminds us that things happen in cycles. Growth cannot happen without 💩 & decay. And even if we can’t see it with the naked eye, there’s life & beauty in decay. A teaspoon of compost is full of life, from 1M to 1B microorganisms, and they are key in aiding growth.
February 26, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Lots of food and protein potential in these #moringa pods! No need to spend $$$ on moringa supplements when you can #growyourown. I forgot to bring them to #SoCalSeedSwap, but happy to share w/whoever wants them in the meantime (sorry I’ve no bandwidth to mail) and save them for the fall swap.
February 24, 2025 at 8:16 PM
My sweet Mary Poopins has her ups and downs, but is doing well for an old lady (11 years old in April) who nearly died 1.5 years ago. Since then, this geriatric Queen has been a pampered permanent house chicken.

#NotJustAChicken #OldHen #chickenkeeping #backyardchickens #urbanhomestead
February 24, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Chef Rod of Organic Harvest Gardens, where we held this Spring’s #SoCalSeedSwap, filmed me while I made them some Franken-trees & grafted aprium scions onto 3 mystery stone fruit trees.

#sharingiscaring #urbangarden #communitysupport #foodsovereignty #foodforest
#sustainableliving #seedswap
February 23, 2025 at 4:56 PM
We also try to encourage folks to bring #nativeseeds & #nativeplants to share at #SoCalSeedSwap! Hope to see y’all at the Fall 2025 (date TBD) swap. All swaps are inclusive, free, and for community love.

#sharingiscaring #plantswap #SeedSwap #seedswapsocal #growyourown #foodsovereignty #foodforest
February 23, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Another fabulous #seedswap! 200+ folks came thru to foster mutual support & camaraderie. Since 2017 inception, I’ve done this 2x year and definitely can’t do this without volunteers & #community!

#sharingiscaring #plantswap #socalseedswap #seedswapsocal #growyourown #foodsovereignty #foodforest
February 23, 2025 at 2:34 AM
In addition to the #community seed and plant swap, we’re our volunteers are also offering mini demos. See y’all in #LongBeach tomorrow (2/22/25)!

#seedswap #SoCalSeedSwap #SeedSwapSoCal #plantswap #gardenswap #communitysupport #growyourown #organicgardening #naturalgardening
February 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
#Foodwaste makes me 😡. My friend also brought lots of snow peas, salad mix & some fruit. Luckily I have dinobeasts to help compost the waste. I’ll be making #tomatojam, and may freeze or can some. I already prepped the snow peas for freezer storage #foodpreservation #homesteading #urbanhomestead
February 17, 2025 at 6:52 PM
The old lady loves her Dad. 😭🥰😍 Mary Poopins will be 11 years old in April
February 17, 2025 at 2:51 AM
February 13, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Today I worked on propagating some more California Natives from my own garden to share and to donate to orgs working on #rewilding and #bioremediation of landscapes destroyed by the LA fires. Today, I focused on Salvia clevelandii and Salvia apiana #nativeplants #earthsteward #climatechange
February 12, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Cluck Norris is happy to peck anyone who cares more about their messed up bigoted ideologies instead of people and humanity.
February 12, 2025 at 12:52 AM
When I decided to grow only edibles, medicinals & natives in my front yard, my intent was to offer my #actofresistance as conversation starters and to plant seeds in folks’ minds about #colonialism & #capitalism in lawns, #growingfood, #sustainableliving, #naturalgardening & being #stewardsofearth.
February 9, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Enjoy slow mo of Tahini, the tiny roo with a foot fetish, trying to get my foot. He’s a silkied serama.

#serama #backyardchickens #petchickens #chickensky #urbanhomestead #homesteading #BIPOChomesteader
February 8, 2025 at 12:36 AM
February 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
February 6, 2025 at 4:53 PM