Virginia is the Chef of the Parrot Garden Kitchen and she prepares a wonderful baked mash for all of the birds at the Parrot Garden. The stuff is fabulous!
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Patricia Sund
Parrot Nation 
October 3, 2010 at 5:16 am
Pat, LOL, shame on you sneaking on parrots’ mash.
What exactly is in this mash? I only understood ‘organic barley’ What else?
Could you please post the ingredients here? Thank you.
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October 3, 2010 at 9:03 am
Virginia uses Bob’s Red Mill Barley.
And then she puts in barley, and split green peas, adds water and bakes it in the microwave. I’ll contact Jackie at the parrot Garden and have her give me the exact method for you. It might take a couple of days. So be patient, but I promise I’ll get it to you!
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November 13, 2010 at 3:26 pm
hello..i’m having trouble finding a mash that my grey will eat. may i have the measurements and ingredients of this? thank you so much ! ilona
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November 29, 2010 at 12:18 am
I would like the recipe for mash too I am looking for healthier foods for my birds they get bored with food easily.
Thank you Bradley
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December 19, 2011 at 10:45 pm
OK, Patricia, You have us all sitting on the edge of our sofa’s wanting the exact recipe for a mash that by your video looks easy enough for even me to make and tastes good enough that you’s eat it!! Maybe our picky Fid eaters would eat it, too! Keep us posted when get the goods!! Thanks!
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August 27, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Ohhhh Patricia you double-dipped (actually triple dipped), then it’s going to be fed to the birds? Hmmmmmmmmmm.
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August 28, 2012 at 6:20 am
Why yes. Yes I did Ellen. Did you realize that every time you go into even one of the finest restaurants anywhere, chefs spend the entire day sticking their fingers into the sauces they make and tasting? It’s called tasting for quality control. The restaurant “Daniel” in Manhattan has a brigade of top-flight chefs that use that method all day long and you don’t get out of there even at lunch for less than two hundred dollars for two people. “Daniel” has been written up as probably the finest restaurant in New York. They wouldn’t get a four star rating if people were dropping over from infection. But they do wash their hands constantly as a matter of habit.
That stuff was really hot and I doubt any germs I put on that spoon were of any consequence to a parrot.
Parrots walk through their own poop and then use their toes to groom. They are chewing on bark, and getting into some pretty nasty stuff all day long. The Best Friends birds are a healthy lot and something like that to me is of little consequence relative to what the birds get into on their own.
If I recall correctly, I was still hungry and so I grabbed a fresh serving spoon and dug out the middle where I had served myself and had a bowl of of it with some cinnamon on it. I was really hungry. Sometimes you don’t see the entire story simply because of the interest of time. I didn’t shoot that part because I didn’t think my eating a bowl of oatmeal would be considered very interesting.
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May 6, 2013 at 2:09 pm
funny, Patricia….chefs are taught to taste their food…look at Gordon Ramsey..hes alwasys telling his group on his tv show U have to taste to know what ur creation taste like! yes, my girl Gracie, taste everything……and hasnt died yet!!!!sometimes people notice it all, dont they???? im going to make this for my b&g mccaw..she really doesnt care much for veffies, except corn on the cobb and peas but loves her organic pellets….shes healthy but if i can get her to eating more goodies like this, if be a hpaay bird owner,,,,do u find that some big parrots dont find their toys a big deal to them????
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August 28, 2012 at 12:31 pm
I”m sure the chefs washed their hands before dipping their fingers to taste for quality control. And I’m sure they wash them again afterwards. Unless we’re talking about Paula Deen, they do not double-dip. Otherwise they’d be out of business no matter how tasty and expensive their food might be.
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August 28, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Ms. Kessler, while I realize your grooming habits are most likely impeccable, your aviaries are pristine, your house is immaculate and your manners are above reproach, I must say, you seem to find fault in everything and everyone else. This just makes people uncomfortable.
I have raised thousands and thousands of dollars for rescues. I attend conferences, support adoption and placement and promote a healthy diet for birds. I have done more good than harm.
You are a former breeder who is now a vegan who seems to be trying to make up for that. We forgive you. Can you now please try and forgive yourself?
Out of that entire video, you managed to find something you found fault with. You made a comment. I answered it. Please let it go. Thank you.
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August 28, 2012 at 1:11 pm
The power of the positive Patricias far outweigh the Negative Nancys and Debbie Downers. Stay on track dear, you are fantastic.
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July 15, 2013 at 9:15 pm
Wonderful, love it 😀
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August 28, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Really?? A great positive post about feeding birds and this is what you find to criticize? From a chef’s side..yes, they double dip, triple dip and are constantly sticking their fingers in things. Have you ever seen the towel used to wipe the edges of a plate before serving?? There is no sterile field in cooking, whether it be for birds or people and certainly our birds have enough antibodies to withstand a finger or a spoon in the food. What an incredibly negative attitude you have, I’m so sorry for you, what a miserable existence that must be.
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August 28, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Ms. Grafton, unlike you who spent years in the restaurant field, most notably in “the back of the house,” I don’t think Ms. Kessler has any idea what is considered a good, clean restaurant is. I worked for over a decade in the field in management as well as service, so I know what you are referring to. I know you spent years, cooking, managing and purchasing. You’ve seen it all.
And relatively speaking, this video has nothing on your average “Macaroni Friday McPherson’s.”
This would not, could not hurt the parrots because a clean spoon was used to feed me for breakfast. But then, that’s not negative and that will not do. When Ms. Kessler decides to do something positive for parrots and the world of aviculture, I’m sure we will all support her. Until then, well, we’ll all be waiting expectantly.
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August 28, 2012 at 2:04 pm
For some reason I’m seeing the color green here, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the color of MASH or CHOP…….Just my humble opinion.
…..and if anyone is no naive about what happens in a restaurant, then you are living in a “bubble”……
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August 28, 2012 at 2:05 pm
….so, should read SO naive!
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August 28, 2012 at 2:15 pm
As we all saw, (as loving parrot caregivers), when we watched this video, these birds are thoughtfully cared for and are given an excellent diet of well designed foods. How lucky they are is what we are thinking as we watched and thoughts of “I should make this delicious mash for my parrots, too!”
Funny not once did we think negative thoughts about Patricia tasting the mash, we thought about how good it would taste while also being healthy for our own parrots. And how nice it was for her to share this information with us!
Hmmmmmm, just food for thought, for any negative thinking people out there!
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August 28, 2012 at 2:47 pm
I am sorry, but this is all I can think of:
In searching for that clip, I also found out that Mythbusters addressed this:
I’m quite sure that the overall bacterial count in the bowl of food was not really changed upon the food being tasted.
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August 28, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Jessie, that was really interesting! They had to change the experiment due to the skew of the control group! Wow! Love it and learned a lot! Thanks for posting that.
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August 28, 2012 at 11:34 pm
One should prefer the shared consumption between human and parrot, of foods prepared for companion birds, over housing their own parrot(s) in the form of inadequate home made cages made of galvanized hardware cloth, sparsely equipped of appropriately sized perches and toys, in an area reminiscent of a common garage, judging by the cinder block walls. Lord knows how much longer my first cockatiel would have managed to live, had he not sipped and supped from my own meals, as I fork fed my self. Surely he would have far surpassed his ripe old age of 16 years, ancient for the species, over 30 years ago.
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May 6, 2013 at 2:19 pm
i cannot believe that for all the good that Patricia does for our birdie babies that someone has the odacity to pick apart her taking a bite of Virginias mash for birds!!!!! omg..never eat any food at an amusement park or from an airplane…and in restaurants…holy toledo……all great chefs taste the food before they send it out!!!!! Maybe Chef Ramsey changes fork or spoons on his tv show, but its never shown..i say find a nother blog to follow and leave these wonderful blogs to bird owners who think Patricia Sund is a wonderful lady who does more good for her babies than most due in their lifetime..Kuddos to u Patricia…….!!!!!!!!
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March 30, 2014 at 5:45 pm
I would love recipe for this Patricia. I know my birds would love it. Tks Gayla
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