Homestead and Folly

Not much but the grass is turning green and it makes me happy This week we have been busy getting our little homestead ready to sell. We have been trying to make our rather weather-beaten little animal tractors and hutches look more charming and less like wrecked heaps all over the lawn. The ice and snow have melted and we were finally able to move the animals around and spread them out so that only two are visible in the corner of the front lawn/field. The pregnant Doe, Floppsy has been relocated to near the wood shelter and she has been gleefully digging for days. Every evening I go out to feed and water her and thwart her digging advancements by placing large rocks in the holes she has dug to escape. The Buck, Jack, is beside the house but we will move him to the back yard as soon as we get rid of the big pile of brush we cut down and placed there last fall. The other Doe, Jill and all of her babies are in two tractors on the front lawn and are currently running and

We are raising our second batch of bunnies having eaten all of the previous batch and having learned a lot. We have learned to keep better records and to sex the rabbit offspring earlier, before they begin mating! We have learned some mother rabbits do not automatically know how to care for their offspring and that we were lucky and spoiled by Jill who seems to be an expert even during this very challenging winter. She birthed 7 rabbits in minus 18 degree Celsius (around 0 F) weather and all of her babies are thriving! We have learned that rabbits you raise yourself are more difficult, emotionally,  to kill because they try and cuddle you and they are so cute and soft but that they are physically easier to kill and their skin comes off easily once you know how. In fact much easier than plucking a chicken. We have learned how to prepare rabbit dishes and that in general, people are turned off from eating anything cute, which seems shallow and warped but whether I blame cute Disney