All About Basil: A Birthday "Pupdate"

It's hard to believe our big guy is 7 years old. His birthday was this past Friday and we've been joking all week that he's finally caught up to me (in his 50's if we calculate by human years).

Farmstream Updates: Painting & Backsplash

A few weeks ago we made it back out to Lockhart Family Farm to continue working on updating the 1976 airstream that our friends, Josiah and Jocelyn, recently purchased to house on the farm. It's set up as a camping-style AirBnB rental where guests can come stay on the farm through their travels.

Pup In The City Natural Dog Treats Giveaway

Today we're excited to be hosting a giveaway for Pup In The City all-natural dog treats:

Pup in the City is an all-natural dog treat company specializing in American-made jerky, sweet potato chips and mongrelbread cookies that are all homemade, free from fillers, flavorings or preservatives and safe for both pet and human consumption. You gotta like that!

Basil's Blanket Season (aka Call Me Crazy)

Happy hump day! Well, we can tell the autumn weather is truly starting to set in now that "Basil's blanket season" has returned in full swing. What's Basil's blanket season? Well, it's the 5 months out of the year that Basil gets spoiled with his own throw blanket while lounging about — tell me we're not alone on this?

It's a Snow Day (errr, Dog)!

We've got a first snow here in RVA! It came in quickly yesterday in the late afternoon through the evening and the cold temperatures this morning have helped it stick around long enough to enjoy the views of a snow-covered city.

17 Apart: Fancy That!

Original image by Tori Watson, Marvelous Things Photography

In our goals and resolutions post from earlier in the week, we mentioned toying with the idea of a weekly blog roundup of all the things we're digging at the moment — so today we're doing just that! We figure a roundup post can be a good way to share all the smaller things we're into (or fancying, hence the series name) that might not fit into a single post for one reason or another. Sometimes there might be a long list of randomness, other times it might be a single gem — whatever the case, here's what we're into right now.

Our Dog Treats In American Lifestyle Magazine

Back in early spring we began working with American Lifestyle Magazine to recreate our natural carrot and banana dog treat recipe for their holiday issue. Now that the issue is finally on newsstands, we were so thrilled to see how it turned out and find a project spread of our own across the pages of a print publication! Basil even made a little cameo — can you spot him in the top right image up there?

Lockhart Family Farm Visit

Last Friday I ventured out to Woodford, Virginia to spend a good part of the day at Lockhart Family Farm. Lockhart is a small scale farm specializing in raising heritage breed pork and poultry — they use what they call old world sustainable farming practices. You might remember the recap from our first visit to this farm for the community Food Coop farm dinner.

Photo Roundup: Happy 3rd Birthday, Basil!

Today's post is all about our big guy. He turned 3 on August 11th and while we celebrated with many of his favorite things (a trip to the river, lots of play time and a special bone), we wanted to put up a post celebrating all the milestones and new adventures we've had with our favorite pup over the past year.

Weekend Basics

Friday we attended a farm workshop and dinner with members of the Richmond Food Coop. We visited a new farm out in Woodford, Virginia called Lockhart Family Farm. It's a small scale family farm that specializes in raising heritage breeds of turkey, chickens and pigs — and they do it all with what they call old world sustainable practices.

How To: Make Spent Beer Grain Dog Treats Recipe

Basil appreciates a good brew day just as much as we do, but for his own selfish reasons — he knows he's going to get some fresh dog cookies made with the leftover spent grains from the brew!

Weekend Basics: Dads & Grads

It was a big weekend for us with milestones and celebrations for my son's high school graduation and Father's Day all falling within the same weekend!

Best Bully Sticks Giveaway

***Update: This giveaway has ended, find the lucky winner at the bottom of the post. Stay tuned for future giveaways right here at 17 Apart! *** 

Image from bestbullysticks.com

Today we're excited to be hosting a giveaway for a 25 pack of these 6 inch thick odor free bully sticks from Best Bully Sticks, the local Richmond company specializing in bully stick treats (regularly over a $50 value)!

Best Bully Sticks: Basil's Two Thumbs (paws?) Up

When Best Bully Sticks, a local dog treat producer specializing in all natural dog treats contacted us about sending some bully sticks especially for Basil to review, we (and Basil) jumped at the chance. The amazing folks behind Best Bully Sticks are also offering up a chance for one lucky reader to win an entire 25 pack of odorless bully sticks, so check back here on the blog tomorrow for the giveaway.

Summer Weather & Our "Sun Dog"

One of the affectionate nicknames we often call Basil is "Sun Dog." He loves to find the sunniest spot in the house and just lay in the warm rays. There are two spots that crack us up the most —

Pawsh Feature: "We're Good Partners in Crime"

Tim and I are so excited to be featured in the latest installment of the Pawsh People series over on the Pawsh Magazine blog.

Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Treat Recipe: "Nana Treats"

Today we're back with a new homemade dog treat recipe that has consistently been one of Basil's favorites. They're his favorite because they're made with love and delivered by his Nana (Tim's mom) whenever she and Pop stop by for a visit — and they've got a little sweet side to them that we're sure he's nuts about too. Nana was kind enough to lend her recipe for the treats to us so we could take a stab and making them at home and share them here on the blog!

Basil (Almost) Home Alone

Yesterday we gave a window into what our week in NYC looked like, so today we thought it would only be fair to show the going-ons of Basil's week away from the parents...

MR2 Ducks

I snapped our new favorite picture of Basil during a quiet and foggy walk at the river this morning — which reminded me of an old joke that Mary had never heard. Can you follow along?

Beef or Pork? Chalking Up the Kitchen Walls

Remember when we painted the top accent wall of our kitchen in chalkboard paint over the summer?