Happy Winter to All!

We have had more snow than usual this year, with four substantial snowfalls already. This one was about 16 inches or so.  I was so glad we designed the hay bale storage with a solid front base that is 18 inches, before the start of the doors. I still had to move a bit of snow to pull the doors open, but only the snow-drift stuff. If the doors had been full-length, I'd have had to shovel them out entirely to get to the hay. If you look to the left in the photo, under the yellow kayak, you'll see some bales under a blue plastic tarp, and next to it is a very ugly structure that is protecting the rest of the hay (brown and grey doors). It's functional, but I didn't get to paint it up all pretty yet. ;)

On the note of hay, we ended up having to stock up due to the fodder shortage in Texas. All the ranchers have been coming up to Colorado and buying up the hay to feed their beef cattle, causing a shortage here for the locals. The price was going up, up, up, and it was getting harder to find the hay, so rather than just buying what we could fit in the hay storage and looking for more later this winter, I had to nab it whenever I could find it. I have 6 bales of grass hay and one of alfalfa. They should last me until next spring.  I use the ones in the storage structure, since they're easier to get at, and will move the ones under the tarp when I have the space.

Here's a close-up of the bunny condos. There's plexiglass on the front doors to keep snowfall out of the rabbit condos, so they stayed nice and dry, and it also helps keep it warmer in there, so the water bowls freeze a bit less. They still get plenty of sunlight, when the sun shines. There are side windows too, and vents at the top to keep the air from getting stale. I have gutters on the north side for the rain and snowmelt, and I have gutters installed below the second story of the yellow condo that serve as poo-catchers. Look closely, and you'll see that the tray under the weanlings up there slants, so the waste rolls down and out for easier removal.

Here's the whole she-bang! The chickens are in the blue coop with their run. The grape vines have been helping to keep the snow out of the run, as they grow across the top and provide shelter. Buried under the snow are my new garden beds... you'll see those once the snow is gone.

Happy winter to all! Enjoy the activities the cold, snow, and dark inspire at this time of year! For us, that will include learning to knit and learning to tan those rabbit hides. I've got some designs for neat products I'm going to make using their lovely fur.  I'll have to get my leather-working skills up to speed. I'll post more on that soon.

Apologies for the gap in posts

Due to a medical challenge in the family, I have been too busy to write for the past few months. I hope to remedy that this winter. Sorry for the lapse! I have plans to finish getting you all up to speed on our progress, and some really interesting links I want to share.

First, I found a yahoo group that specializes in meat rabbits. Check it out! And I hear there's one that specifically deals with colony-style housing for meat rabbits. I haven't been to that one yet, but look forward to it. I figure I will collect wisdom from both of these groups and apply it to our little set-up here.

We've been modifying our two-story condo a bit, trying to find the best method of containing the waste from the weanlings as they live out their last month up top. I'll write in detail on that later.

We have successfully harvested two litters now, and boy, they are delicious! My initial uncertainty is gone. I am no longer squeamish about eating them. Of course, I'm still not the one butchering them... my husband is. We'll ask him how he's doing soon.

Lastly, I shall leave you with a link to a beautiful video on how to respectfully and humanely harvest a chicken. The woman talking you through it is a lovely soul. :) You'll see what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_S3P0eU0lE

Do we have the right to eat our own food?

I'm going to look into this a bit more, but here's what someone posted on a local group.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wisconsin Judge Denies Basic Property Rights and Food Choice
October 4, 2011 by biodynamicsbda

In a striking setback for property rights and consumer choice, a
Wisconsin judge issued an order on September 9 that owners of
cows do not have a fundamental right to consume milk from their
own cows. The order was issued by Dane County Circuit Court
Judge Patrick J. Fielder in response to a motion to clarify an
August 12 ruling denying a motion by the Zinniker Family Farm,
Nourished by Nature LLC (NbN), NbN members Robert Karp and
Gayle Loiselle, and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
<http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/> for a judgment that the
boarding agreement was in compliance with Wisconsin law.

Under the agreement between the Zinnikers and NbN, dairy cows
owned by NbN as an LLC were boarded at the Zinniker Farm. The
cows were owned by the LLC rather than by the Zinnikers, who
simply executed a services contract to board, care for, and milk
the cows for their owners.

Clarifying his original ruling that the plaintiffs did not have a
fundamental right to possess, use, and enjoy their property,
Judge Fielder explained clearly that there are no fundamental
rights to own and use a dairy cow or dairy herd, to consume the
milk from one’s own cows, to board one’s cow at a
farm, or to consume the food of one’s choice. In
addition, Judge Fielder stated that the private contract between
the Zinnikers and NbN falls within the scope of the
State’s police power, that the government has the power
to regulate the private conduct of growing and consuming food.

Bunny Condo Design

In designing our bunny condos, we decided to make a list of considerations. Maybe these will help you, too, if you decide to build your own.

1. Shelter from wind and rain: New Zealand and Californian breeds- the two kinds we have- are cold-tolerant creatures, and are fine with temps down to 20 below zero. They can't stand wind or getting wet, though- they will get sick and die. Colorado is a windy place. Since we've lived in our current home for a couple of years, we were familiar enough with the storm patterns and wind gusts to know they needed solid walls on the north and west sides of them.

2. Exposure to sun in the summertime: These same rabbits that can tolerate the cold cannot tolerate the heat above 90 degrees F. It goes above 90 frequently in the summer, so we needed to figure out how to shade and cool them. We placed the condos at a spot in the back that maximizes their shade from the tree foliage in the summer, and I am building a raised garden bed in front of them where I'll plant thick, tall-growing edibles to further shade them. By tilting the roof, the heat can escape, and we have vents at the top. The burrows provide a stable temperature underground as well, which they take advantage of sometimes.

 Compare this shot of early construction this past spring to the last shot here of mid summer. Big change!

We were thrilled beyond words when we completed the first bunny condo. There was such a sense of accomplishment. Using the space for living things made our yard feel healthy, purposeful.

My first construction project!

Thank goodness we don't have a rooster

This is nothing short of awful. This rooster wouldn't last one week at our house- he'd end up in a cooking pot! I had to watch it twice to believe it really crowed like this.


Cock-a-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh my.

Foundational design

We decided to try to give our rabbits something closer to a natural life. This meant providing ground-level dwellings, so they could dig, hide, and be more... rabbity. My father-in-law felt we should provide the burrows for the rabbits, rather than making them dig. Kris thought they could do their own digging. In the end, we decided to try one side with a burrow, one without, and see what the rabbits were inclined to do.

To let a rabbit live outside, on the ground, one must accept that the rabbit will dig. And one must assume that raccoons and other predators will also dig. So we decided to beat them to it. We dug down two feet and laid a reinforced wire the whole way around, and placed cement tubes in the corners to hold the posts for the building.  In the process, we dug out one side enough for me to construct a burrow using cement roofing tiles and rocks. Then we back-filled.

In these pictures, we've already back-filled quite a bit to hold the cement tubes in place. The wire drops down much further than you can see. The burrow tiles are also all buried already, except for the one over the earthen ramp/entry.

The dimensions of the individual dwellings were dictated in part by the size of the fencing we scavenged to use as our roof, and in part by reading what housing sizes are considered standard:  rabbits in cages about 6 square feet, 18 inches high. That's only 2'x3'. We decided that was way too small, and ours have about 16 square feet, plus whatever they've carved out underground (which is impressive- they ended up personalizing the burrows, adding second rooms on!). So far, none have collapsed, but one has an involuntary skylight (you'll see later).

One year ago

One year ago, I finished reading Radical Homemakers, and it rocked my world. I decided to start canning. I decided to raise meat rabbits. I decided to shop only for what we needed, and try to use only thrift stores, recycling centers, and online forums to get what we needed.

First I wanted to can things.  I harvested over 100 peaches from the neighbor's tree and made peach jam and peach salsa. Then I canned a killer katsup that is the best ever. I'm making a ton more this year. I picked apples and went to a cider-pressing party, and came home with the tastiest apple juice in the world- I was unable to exercise any restraint, and the winter's supply lasted maybe a month. I hope to do better this year, and by that I mean, make waaaaay more juice!

I also spent a day picking all of my own produce from a local farm and making insane amounts of soups and stews. Picking yourself is really fun, and also tiring. I might do it again if I have time, but I'm hoping to beg tomatoes, carrots and parsnips off of other local growers this year.

I decided we had to build the rabbit housing right away and start breeding right away. FAIL. After a few weekends digging and digging to lay the foundation in miserable river rock, I gave up on getting it done in a month. Here is a friend helping in October 2010... we owe them a couple rabbits for their sweat and toil!

I must gush with enthusiasm for a moment

I have so many posts I'm working on and am impatient to catch everyone up with our process of the past few months, so that I can move onto current interests and observations! Please be patient. What I've noticed in the blogs I like to read is that if there are too many posts in a short period of time, I tune them out. So my goal is to post 1-2 times per week only. However, due to the aforementioned impatience, I think I'm going to break that rule just to get this blog started. So for the next few weeks, I will attempt to write 3-4 posts a week until we're mostly caught up. Please bear with me!

I have to take a moment to express my gratitude to the Boulder Culinary Gardener's group, and the amazing expert gardeners there that are helping me learn so much. I posted my desire to find a cheap bobcat to scrape the grass from my yard, and the need to find dirt, and got great responses, encouraging me to try sheet-mulching instead- saves money while allowing me to benefit from soil that is decidedly rich in nutrients and worms without tilling.  I decided to give it a go, but found I am lacking in enough good manure for the project. I posted that need, and already have more than enough being offered! I also posted that I'm looking for a variety of rabbit-safe tree trimmings and such, and have had invitations to come harvest what I need from a number of generous folks. Now I just need to find the time to take advantage of their offers!

In the meantime, a friend sent me this very useful bit of information about how rabbits see, which helps me better understand their behavior. I hope you enjoy it too. http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/vision.html

Off topic? This is too cool.

I just have to share this fellow's work. Adam Katzman used to work in the solar industry, and now... I don't know what he does for income, but he builds really cool experiments in ecologically sustainable processes.

The one I'm admiring right now is the The Poop & Paddle  ....bare with me (I couldn't resist)


It's a floating outhouse that is also a contained water treatment system for the sewage he produces. The end result? No waste. None. How does he do it? Watch this Science Friday video to learn more about it!

I am disgusted by the amount of overflow waste he mentions that passes into our waterways, and am amazed by his very simple, natural system. And it reportedly doesn't smell.

Other projects I noticed upon quick perusal of his blog include a floating garden that makes use of trash in its design, the houseboat he made self-sustaining, and a rain-water collection system that results in food-grade quality drinking water.

I'd like to try to track Adam down for an interview. I found his extremely interesting blog, and will drop him a line. If I do, what questions do YOU have for him?

Who are we?

Most of these posts will probably be from me, Samantha, but I expect my husband will contribute occasionally too. When he does, I'll ask him to identify himself at the beginning, otherwise, you can assume the "I" is me. ;)

A quick background on my husband and myself:

My husband comes from a family that has hunted for generations, and grew up hunting. Past generations include ranchers and miners of the old west. Even today, his parents still harvest and process their own meat from deer and elk. My husband and I started doing the same about 10 years ago, and stopped having to buy beef. We've been living off of deer until last year, when he harvested his first elk.

My dad's family hunted and fished to have any meat- they couldn't afford to buy it. Growing up, Dad would go hunting and fishing on weekends to stock the family up, even having to hunt squirrels when the pickings were slim. When he married, things started to change some. My mom wasn't a huge fan of hunting, and sided more strongly with the animals. Dad's hunting tapered off to just water fowl, but as a kid, we did raise quail for meat as well as to release into the wild. I grew up fishing, but beyond that, couldn't stomach killing things- Mom's strong empathy won out.

Welcome to our experiment!

My husband and I spontaneously embarked on a project that has lead us off the marked path of 'best practices' or even 'practices described on the internet', and so in the interest of filling the void, we are starting a blog.

The project I'm referring to is raising meat rabbits in our backyard. The thing is, we fundamentally object to using wire cages. We decided that if we were going to try to have a more humane meat source than what is available at the grocery store, we needed to find a better way for the rabbits to live, to honor their instincts and make them happy. Yes, we want our animals to be happy, even if we're going to harvest them for food.

So we built three-sided "condos" on the ground, complete with burrows- one for each rabbit. This was a bit daunting. There's NOTHING on the internet about breeding and raising below-ground rabbits in this manner. We had to design it all, experiment, and learn behavior that wasn't described- or cared about- by industrial rabbit breeders.

Besides Rabbits, Other Topics!

I thought about calling this site "The Compassionate Carnivore", but I didn't want to limit us to just talking about meat-related stuff. We have more going on than that, and depending on responses and interests, we'd like to be able to discuss and share other topics, and hope you will weigh in on those topics too. There are some amazing people who I hope to have as guest writers for this blog.

We garden, and I'm very interested in urban gardening/farming in particular- learning to make the most use of our limited spaces, since most of us can't just up and move to the country, but desire some farm-life quality to our existence. Some topics that come to mind include: