Homestead and Folly

A winter sun rises on a difficult day We bought some breeding rabbits, housed them, fed them, cared for them and then it was time to kill and eat them. They went from squiggly little grub-like babies to cute fuzzy bunnies hopping about, to fully grown rabbits. The day was cloudy but not cold with plenty of snow on the ground. We had decided today was the day as the rabbits were big enough to eat now and the weather lately had meant that it was taking more and more work to care for them, not to mention, we were going through expensive feed like crazy. The mother rabbits were due to kindle in a week and there simply was no longer room for these grown rabbits. Just getting over a cold, I joined my husband outside after he had killed the five rabbits and he had them laying in a row in the snow to keep them cool. After a failed attempt at trying to gut them on a table, which was really hard on the ol' back, I got some rope, and using the wood beams of the wood shelter, we ...

One Day in February 6:45 Wake up, put wood on fire, feed child, fill water container for rabbits, water container for chickens, step in melted puddle by front door with socks on, curse, but put shoes on over wet socks, no time to change them. 7:30   Race out door to get child to waiting bus at end of driveway. “Sorry driver”, late again. Back up stairs, get full water container for rabbits, and walk to first rabbit tractor through deep snow. The crust of the snow on top is not strong enough to hold my weight, so my boots plunge down, down, down, until fwamp, the snow is  up to my knees. Fwamp fwamp fwamp. Lift lid, take out frozen water dish, slosh warm water inside, then turn over repeat until ice puck falls out. Place dish on ground, taking off woolen mitten so it doesn’t get wet, pour water in, lift and place in hutch, add food pellets to food dish which hopefully you remembered to get before crossing the yard, pet bunny “good bunny” you say. Open their door s...

Someone asked me recently "what makes this generation of small farmers and homesteaders so different from the 'back to the land movement' of the 70's?" There are many differences and although there may be similarities, that movement existed in a different time with it's own political and societal pressures. What makes me think I can succeed while many have abandoned their attempts so many years ago? The biggest difference, it seems to me, is the Internet. Generations ago, farming practices were passed on from parent to child but after industrialization, that has all but stopped for most of us, so how is it any of us have the knowledge to even attempt raising livestock, garden or build our own sheds, barns and houses? We look it up, we find diagrams, instructions and video of other people who know how and we follow their lead. We then Blog, make our own videos and share our experiences with cyberspace and the tradition continues. We legitimize our at...

I am late writing my blog this week not because of any great tragedy but just because sometimes you have one of those weeks that just sucks the life out of you. Our fourteen year old car died, then my husband injured his back and so it was up to me to carry on with all of the household tasks. We don't have a herd of cows to feed or milk but boy oh boy, was it a hard going week doing all of the chores, inside and out by myself. Consequently, I am now nursing a cold and still doing most of the bending and heavy lifting. His back is healing but I am worried he will re injure it and we will be back where we started. There are no sick days when you have animals to care for in winter, even small animals. During this time I have realized that in two feet of snow tending small animals with the wrong setup is as difficult as tending a large herd of animals in the right setup Sometime before we had too much snow we thought it a good idea to move our rabbit tractors farther from the house...

Winter Wonderland This past weekend we were invited to stay at an out of season Bed and Breakfast, working farm, in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, about an hour and a half from the city of Halifax. We got a late start on our journey and so the last part of the drive was in complete darkness. We were told to stop at "the big red store, you will know it when you see it" in order to meet up with our hosts, so they could guide us the rest of the way and so we wouldn't get lost. This big red store was straight out of another time. Think general store from Little House on the Prairie and you will get the idea.  We climbed the wide, wooden steps, approached the wood and glass door, the gentle glow of light and looked in and saw a young woman standing at a long stretch of counter. We went in and as we opened the door a string of bells jingled brightly, signalling our arrival. The wide, wood planked floors creaked under our feet and I immediately saw a wall of bright coloured ...

Male Bunnies enjoying their new home Watching the females raise their tiny baby animals is very satisfying and great entertainment. I could watch them all day, tumbling and learning. There comes a time when the babies begin to separate from their mother. Chicks wander further and further away from the protective watch of their mother, at first staying within a leap from her protective wing, then within eye sight until finally, there they stand on their own. Bunnies start to mate their own mother. Time to separate them. The three roosters called Thomson, Thomson and Thomson (my eight year old is a big Tin Tin fan) are now almost fully grown and are wreaking havoc in the coop mounting anything in sight and in fact quite brutally helping each other out. One day I watched as one of these feathered youngsters held down a hen's head to the ground using his beak to clutch her head feathers while his brothers both tried to mount her at the same time. I was worried they may in...

Bunnies munching away on some precious exposed grass The weather, as in many places in North America has been cold. Wait, that is an understatement. It is often cold in winter here but it has been -20 many days lately and very snowy. Last night we had a heavy rainfall and the temperature went up to 4 degrees melting the snow and exposing grass. Today I chipped off the ice around the rabbit tractors and moved them which was very difficult but so exciting. It was exciting for two reasons. The first is having been frozen in place for weeks the bunnies have been forced to poop in the same outdoor corner of their pen. Bunnies in general are pretty tidy creatures and prefer to keep their poop in one place, away from where they sleep. It has been accumulating so I was happy to move their pen and give them a fresh, clean toilet. The second reason is there was green grass left frozen under the snow and the bunnies haven't seen that in months. Finally,  greens. some old...