Walter Pierce
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wpierce.bsky.social
Walter Pierce
@wpierce.bsky.social
4.5K followers 1.1K following 3.9K posts
I raise children and farm animals, love cooking and gardening, write code to pay the bills, & play music in my limited free time. He/Him/His. VA, USA.

Banner: 5 guitars on a black couch
Profile: white dude, salt & pepper beard, blue shirt, faded green hat
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wpierce.bsky.social
I'd love to hear/see the story!

We had a bridge get washed away by some flooding last fall 🙃
Creek in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Looking south across the creek where a bridge used to be, the metal of the bridge is to the left, washed out from a storm. The wood slats that were on top of the bridge are nowhere to be seen. On either side of the creek are concrete platforms where the bridge was anchored.
November 16, 2025 at 12:58 AM
wpierce.bsky.social
Always a great night to stream Ian's show! I'll be enjoying the music with at least one whiskey sour.
Whiskey sour in a half pint mason jar on a gray countertop. Behind the drink, left to right, is a large bottle of lemon juice, a 1.75L bottle of Maker's Mark, and a bottle of agave syrup.
November 15, 2025 at 11:08 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
This is the bed of my truck about 3 and a half years ago going to pick up pork from the processor. The next time we picked up the meat I put the freezers in the livestock trailer and towed it, made things a bit less stressful going up and down I-95 😅
A bunch of cheat freezers and big coolers strapped down in the bed of a gray pickup truck with the tailgate lowered
November 14, 2025 at 12:26 AM
wpierce.bsky.social
Having your own goats is both great for and terrible for 10pm ice cream cravings 🍽️🍨 #SmallFarmLife
Inside of an upright freezer - bottom shelf has a dozen or so containers of ice cream, some pints, some quarters. There's a package of Canadian bacon resting on some ice cream containers on the left. The middle shelf is mostly full of quart sized containers of ice cream, with a box full of macarons to the right. The tip shelf is half cut off, but on the right is packages of hog fat and the left has a brown box with content unknown to the viewer. A scoop of chocolate ice cream and a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a blue bowl on a gray countertop.
November 13, 2025 at 3:23 AM
wpierce.bsky.social
I let those peppers ferment with some onions, carrots, and garlic for almost a full month, strained it all then blended with some apple cider vinegar, a little bit of the fermenting brine, cumin, and coriander. I forgot I was out of bottles though so need to order some more 😅🍽️🌱🌶️🔥
4 plastic pint squeeze bottles full of green fermented hot sauce on a gray countertop. Behind them is a glass gallon jar about 80% full of the same green fermented hot sauce. To the right of the plastic bottles is a half gallon glass jar about 75% full of red fermented hot sauce.
November 11, 2025 at 11:19 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Everything's going to shit, but at least we have baby goats, cats, and the unbridled happiness and curiosity of childhood to keep us going. #GoatSky #SmallFarmLife
A baby goat stands facing to the right on a driveway. He is mostly black, with brown around the eyes, feet, and his belly. His ears are floppy, inherited from his Nubian father. His mom is Kiko, so he'll be a pretty solid dude when he's grown. A young child wearing a blue and red striped zip up hoodie sits on a driveway playing with a black and brown baby goat and a black and gray tabby cat. A young child wearing a blue and red striped zip up hoodie squats on a driveway as a gray and black tabby cat face boops his knee. A black and brown baby goat looks on curiously, body facing the camera but head turned to the left to see the action. A young child wearing a blue and red striped zip up hoodie follows a black and brown baby goat and a gray and black tabby cat playing on a driveway together. There's a gray minivan and a gray truck in the background. Off to the right there are some granite and marble slabs leaning up against a shed.
November 11, 2025 at 12:50 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
It's finally dropping below freezing tonight, so here's the last big haul from our summer garden. The fennel and Thai basil are making the kitchen smell amazing 🌱
Glass bowl on a gray tile floor full of various chili peppers: apocalypse scorpion, habanero, serrano, fish, jalapeno. To the right is a black plastic basket mostly full of cherry tomatoes with some small not quite ripe butternut squash behind them. To the left of the tomatoes is a steel stock pot with a boatload of Thai basil in it, some of which is flowering. Stainless steel stock pot on a gray tile floor with a bunch of fennel fronds spilling out.
November 10, 2025 at 11:43 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
While I was under the minivan busting knuckles and cursing Honda, Lila was able to get a few cloves of garlic planted 🌱
15 or so rows in a freshly filled garden bed with holes spaced every 6ish inches, a garlic clove in each. Beyond the bed are some mostly naked kanzan cherries trees bordered by boxwoods.
November 9, 2025 at 11:43 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Oof 😬 Well, you an save your knuckles by cutting things off if you need to 🤣
A black and yellow reciprocating saw lies on cardboard protecting a driveway. Laying next to the saw is a sway bar link, with one of the bolts cut, where some of the yellow paint from the saw blade has transferred to it. The cut bolt is laying next to the sway bar.
November 9, 2025 at 10:59 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Original suspension parts treated us well in the ol' Odyssey, hopefully we can go another 150k miles before I have to do this again 😅
A pile of suspension parts on a brick patio just recently removed from a minivan. Front and rear shocks/struts, lower control arms, sway bar links, lateral arms. Impact wrench and some hand tools in the background.
November 9, 2025 at 7:57 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
One of the last reminders of summer still holding on strong 🌱
A yellowy-orange zinnia with a few dew drops on it standing alone amongst brown zinnia stems that have expired.
November 4, 2025 at 8:24 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Enjoying some peaceful easy weather by the mountains & watching the children play
1/2 gallon stainless steel percolator brewing coffee on a camp stove
November 2, 2025 at 4:43 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Thank goodness for cell signal, we're camping in the wilderness in the foothills of the Blue Ridge but wouldn't miss Game 7.
A computer with game 7 of the world series on with a campfire in the foreground
November 2, 2025 at 12:27 AM
wpierce.bsky.social
8yo got a packet of sunflower seeds in her trick or treat bag, probably the best treat anyone got! 🌱🌻
Packet of giant grey stripe sunflower seeds
November 1, 2025 at 2:07 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Who doesn't love a good bunny snuggle? #SmallFarmLife
A light tan baby bunny being held in the hands of a young child up against her gray sweater
October 29, 2025 at 9:13 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Gonna be a bit dicey tonight, so we harvested the rest of the basil and a few squashes. Squashes and chilis have tarps and blankets on them, if we can get them through the night we have at least another 2 weeks before they'll be threatened again 🌱🥶
A long yellow candy roaster squash in front of 2 medium orange winter squash of some sort of golden delicious squash in the rear. A green zucchini is laying across the tops of the front 3, and a single pinkish tomato is on one of the orange squashes. A brunette woman holds a giant bunch of basil, obscuring her body between her knees and head. The aforementioned basil in a 27 gallon (102 liter) black tote on a gray tile floor and front of a refrigerator
October 24, 2025 at 12:51 AM
wpierce.bsky.social
Celebrating our 14th anniversary with kale, peppers, potatoes, and bacon from the backyard. Tuna from the store. We didn't have any almond flour so 13 yo ground almonds for the torta caprese ❤️🍽️🌱🥂
Grilled tuna steak with a dijon sauce, German potato salad, and kale & bell pepper salad on a black plate Flourleas chocolate cake topped with powdered sugar and raspberries on a white milk glass plate on a gray countertop A young couple just married, arm in arm, beaming with happiness amidst a backdrop of colorful trees in the mountains. A brunette couple in their 40s take a selfie in their kitchen while off screen their children are melting down because they want chocolate cake
October 23, 2025 at 2:02 AM
wpierce.bsky.social
Gotta love a pepper haul in late October 🌱
Black plastic basket full of red, yellow and green bell peppers with a few yellow banana peppers as well, next to a small pile of about 15 or so green poblanos Red shopping basket about 1/3 of the way filled with various chili peppers. Clockwise from top left: purple Hungarian black, red serrano, yellow biquinho, red biquinhos, red and green jalapeños. A young child wearing a blue and red striped sweatshirt holds a bouquet of red, yellow, and pink coxcombs against a forest of coxcombs
October 22, 2025 at 11:01 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Frost has threatened a couple times but we're still going strong 🌱
3 green jalapeños and 1 red serrano on a wooden cutting board White bowl full of quartered cherry tomatoes, some red, some pink, some yellow, on a gray countertop.
October 22, 2025 at 12:35 AM
wpierce.bsky.social
We're at our happy place in the woods
Beautiful brunette woman and a beautiful brunette man with a salt & pepper beard at the bottom of a hill in a forest. View of a mountain creek with rocks and leaves, lined with trees barely hanging onto their yellow leaves.
October 19, 2025 at 5:54 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
We got a late start getting our winter squash seeds in the ground but happy we have a long growing season. It hasn't frosted yet and likely won't for another couple of weeks, still plenty of time to get 100lbs or so of squash before then. 🌱
Long pale yellow winter squash in some grass Round orangey-yellow winter squash in some grass
October 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Baby chicks have arrived!

We like to get them in autumn so they're ready to start laying in spring, as well as us being able to sell birds that are close to or already laying when all the local feed stores are selling chicks. #SmallFarmLife
Dozens of baby chicks under heat lamps in a red trailer, the floor covered with pine shavings. A few of the chicks are on their red plastic feeder, some drinking from the waterer next to it, but most of them are just exploring their world.
October 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
We replaced the drywall 6 years ago and the windows 5 years ago, finally getting around to trimming the windows painting the walls so we can stop sleeping in a construction zone

Although for the past couple of weeks we've been on couches & the rest of our bedroom furniture is in the living room 😅
View of a wall being repaired and windows without casing and trim. There's a new frame covered in plastic and some tools strewn across the wood floor. Another wall with double windows, wall is mainly plain drywall (taped and mudded), windows don't have casing or trim. There's a bed frame covered with plastic with tools on top, window trim leans against the wall. Same view as the first picture, but the walls have been painted a brownish gray, windows are cased and trimmed in white with a custom granite sill, baseboard and quarter round installed and painted white. There's a lamp to the right and a shop vac next to a bed frame covered in plastic. Same view as the second picture, windows cased and trimmed with white, granite sill, walls painted a brownish gray, baseboard and quarter round installed and painted white. The bed frame sits in the middle, covered in plastic, with a yellow extension cord haphazardly placed on the corner.
October 15, 2025 at 10:12 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
These dahlias are in the neglected corner of our property but still going strong and attracting pollinators well into October 🌱
Single flowered peach colored dahlia with a yellowy-orange center Single flowered pink dahlia with a yellowy-orange center SIngle flowered red dahlia with a bee in the center grabbing some late season pollen
October 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
wpierce.bsky.social
Welp she really outdid herself for our 8yo's bday 🍽️🎂

Probably should have gone with a less sweet frosting but oh well, our blood sugar will eventually go back down
7-layer rainbow cake, frosted with white buttercream frosting and topped with rainbow sprinkles Cross-section view of a 7-layer rainbow cake with white frosting Two young girls behind a giant rainbow cake, one of them holding up a slice taken front very slim sliver seen in the cake
October 13, 2025 at 2:41 AM