Meat the Rabbits

The rabbits are here!  We have four bunnies in their own lovely private suites in our carport.  We have three does and one buck which is supposedly the right amount to have when you are just starting out with meat production, conservative estimates place the amount of meat we will get in one year from these guys at about 400 pounds.  The girls do have names, they are:  Trixie, Rockette, and Sapphire.  We decided to name them because these are going to be our foundation stock and not eaten.  All the bunnies were born in May so we have a few months before we can breed them, most likely the first breeding will be in December and then we will have the first rabbit meat hitting the freezer in the spring.  I can't tell you how excited I am to be taking this next step in being more self-sustainable.  Rabbits are a livestock that literally anyone can have in their backyard or even in an apartment.  They make zero noise, they are clean, and so far have been really easy to care for.  I am feeding them rabbit chow with some produce thrown in for variety.  Did you know that on the same amount of feed, a rabbit can produce six pounds of meat whereas a cow can only produce one?  Rabbit poops are also great fertilizer and we will be using it in our garden.

So far, when I tell people I am raising rabbits for meat, they immediately doubt my ability to convert a live rabbit to a bundle of meat in the freezer.  I can't lie, I am nervous about that first slaughter even though it is many months away.  I am sure I will shed a few tears and have some remorse, but it is going to be done, I am more than willing to take this step in order to be more self-sustained.  I eat meat all the time and so does everyone else I know, the only difference will be that I am going to have to do the unpleasant parts that get the meat from the cute fluffy bunny to the rabbit fricasse on my table. When the day comes, I am going to put my big girl panties on, and git r done.

Hi my name is Frank

The garden is still coming along swimmingly.  The plants are growing like crazy, I can't wait for tomatoes, I think that is what I am looking forward to most, and I plan to put up a bunch of pickles.  We also have fourteen papaya trees started, wow how did that happen.  Every time we plant something it shocks us when it actually grows, so we always start out planting extra just in case some don't take, and then usually, they all do and we have excessive amount of plants.  I am going to start growing a bunch of Okinawan sweet potatoes,  so I am also super excited about that, there is just something about a purple sweet potatoe that makes me so happy.  

So I am starting to really heavily think about getting my greywater started, this might happen sooner than I had originally planned because the board of water is thinking about doing a huge rate hike for water, and the bill will most likely double if that happens...I will have to start seriously researching the possibilities for my system asap.