I voluntarily have a dog, chickens, and bees. But as anyone with a yard knows, it isn’t only the animals that you’ve chosen that take up residence. Of course there are the pesky racoons, the mice that we are always battling in the chicken coop, the birds and butterflies, and would you believe it, we’ve even found a rogue hedgehog. A few weeks ago, I told you about the snake nest I discovered, and so I’m sure we’ve got a slither of snakes somewhere in the yard.

This week another reptilian arrived to add to the zoo that is my backyard. And it was Pearl that made the discovery. While Kim was in the house, she could hear Pearl going crazy on the patio. Pearl is not a noisemaker. She’d lead a burglar to the valuables in exchange for a belly rub, and I don’t think she would even bark. But if she gets a little animal cornered, you’ll definitely hear her yip. And that’s what Kim heard from the house: Pearl going absolutely bonkers by the pool screen. And this is what Kim sent me a picture of.

I had no idea what it was at first. The picture is a little blurry, and I just couldn’t make out where it was in the yard. As I focused in, I realized they were turtles, and believe it or not, they were only about two inches across. Kim got Pearl inside and, together with Maddy, carefully rescued these two little turtles and returned them to a pond across the street from our house.

So later in the day, I get home and glance outside, looking a little more closely at the patio, sort of scanning where these turtles had been discovered. As I glanced back and forth from screen to pool to door, my eyes noticed a circular shape in the pool. At first, I figured it was just a piece of pine bark or a leaf. Then it moved. And as I looked closer, this little circle darted across the bottom, and I could tell it was another turtle. And then as I started looking around, I counted three more little turtles, moving faster than I thought baby turtles could, just enjoying the pool like kids on a hot afternoon. I was able to wrangle them out and move them to the pond to join their siblings.

We can’t find a nest, but as we started discovering these hatchlings, I remembered that a few months ago, when I came home around lunchtime, there was a large softshell turtle in the road. By the time I left the house again it was gone. Since turtle eggs take two to three months to incubate, my bet is that was momma, making her way from the pond and using our yard as her nesting spot. We are on the lookout for more, because apparently a single clutch can contain between 10 and 38 eggs. So far, we’ve only seen the six.

Hopefully these little guys are happy with their new home. It really does feel like every month we make a new discovery of some sort of animal in our yard. Unfortunately, it’s never a miniature Scottish highland cow or pygmy goat, but who knows, there is always next week.

And while I’m waiting for more animals to join our zoo, I’m definitely going to be enjoying our first blast of cooler air. Blast is probably an overstatement. We’ll call it a trickle, but there are finally some 60s in the forecast and that will give some welcome relief to animals, people, and plants from the heat and humidity that has been with us all summer. Probably a little early to break out the sweaters and boots, but the mornings will be perfect for making fall happen in your garden. We’ve got lots of fun planned for the season, starting with our Garden Hoedown Weekend, September 20th and 21st, where we’ll teach you all about veggie gardening and you can join us to learn some line dancing too! We’ll officially Kick Off Fall on September 27th with the opening of our Pumpkin Patch and the start of our Scarecrow Scavenger Hunt. Visit our event page for all the details. See you in the garden!