Rabbits and Homesteading

>> Dear Mephibosheth:
>>
>> I've collected a few other leaves to compare to pictures of weeds
>> I'm finding online.
>>
>> The Prickly Lettuce may be Sow Thistle. I cannot tell right now from the
>> photographs because the plants vary so much depending on their age. Sow
>> Thistle has a stimulant effect (opposite of prickly lettuce) and is very
>> good for you with many vitamins and lots of protein. The Maori in New
>> Zealand eat it as a vegetable, and rabbits, cows, and other animals like
>> them.
>>
>> We used to have rabbits. Their dung is very good for the garden mom says.
>> Have you considered having a rabbit?
>>
>> I will continue identifying my weeds.
>>
VigilantWatchman
****
Dear VigilantWatchman:
Greetings. The sow thistle sounds fantastic. Milk thistle is great for the liver but I do not know if that is true of all thistles. There may be a Weed Walk in your area. You can look up "weed walk" for your city online. I think that you would enjoy it. When you go, you can take your samples that you have questions about. Of course you can always keep your eye on the plant as time goes on and read more identifying information about it or call your county extension agent. I don't know too much about that because I have not availed myself of it.
I've thought about rabbits for meat and watched a video on how to kill them. They are so easy to keep and their fecundity is well known. The dung would be AWESOME! That would be reason enough to keep them. You've opened up my mind to something that I think will work! Please tell me what you know about their care. Why did you get rid of your rabbits? Do you think you will get them again? That dung is like black gold as they say. You can feed them right out of your yard and plant them a few carrots along with your own. You would have excellent quality fertilizer and meat (if you chose to prepare them in that way). There are apparently butchers that will kill your animals, but I need to do it here. Hannah is braver than I am, but she is not very strong. On youtube it looked easy but I do not want to mess it up. I have several feral cats that I feed to keep them around. They keep squirrels and rabbits in check, so I'd have to make sure I had a very secure hutch.
We incubated and raised a quail chick once (saw a kit for sale and purchased it because quail are in the Bible). Incubation was time consuming (chicks need their dams) but raising him was very easy to do. More than one person has kept quail meat on the table. 100 chicks may be $100. Quail are laid back, cute and easy to keep. Chickie used to settle down into my lap and scoot around as if he were in the dirt or peck at any shiny thing like the metal band around my pencil, while I was writing...This summer I'd like to process a chicken and eat it.
Are you an artist? Do you do line drawing? I am learning about it and find man's hand the hardest thing to draw.
Mephibosheth
****
Dear Mephibosheth:
...About our rabbits. I just wrote in my notebook yesterday that I want a rabbit or two so I can use the dung in my garden. I was young when we had them and never directly took care of them but this is what I remember. Most of the year we kept them outdoors in an elevated wooden hutch lined with a wire network on the bottom. This allowed the rabbits' dung to pass through to the ground underneath so you do not have to clean the cage (or the rabbits). We kept the male and female rabbits in separate cages.
They produce a lot of dung. It is surprising how much. I remember all sorts of plants tried to grow around the hutch. The weeds around the rabbit droppings were much denser and brighter and bigger than plants that grew elsewhere. I think mom would collect the dung and mix it with soil for our flowers.
We would let them out to hop around the yard and let them eat the grass sometimes. They loved the clover. They could eat grass and weeds entirely that we threw in their hutch, but we also had rabbit feed from the pet store that we supplemented their diet with. They will eat almost anything, and we found out that plastic bowls and houses for the rabbits ended up being food. We just put ceramic bowls in their hutch to put feed in (because it is heavy enough not to overturn, and they won't eat ceramic).
Rabbits need wood or something else somewhat hard to chew on. It files down their teeth, which are constantly growing. If they have no way to file their teeth down, the teeth will continue to grow and eventually kill the rabbit as they re-enter the skull. We never had this happen, but I have a friend who lost her rabbit that way.
In the winter, we kept our rabbits in the garage in a wire cage that was elevated a couple of inches over a metal tray that we lined with newspaper to collect their droppings. If it got too cold, we just brought them in our sun room, but they do smell. I know people who keep their rabbits indoors and let them hop about freely, but I would not want to do this. I think they potty train their rabbits.
Our rabbits were very friendly, if a little shy. They did not mind being held. They do not groom themselves like out guinea pigs or cats, so their fur can get dirty. We originally kept our rabbits on a piece of property we have out in the country and visited them every couple of weeks. The neighbors' dogs tore through and ate them one time though, so we moved the single surviving rabbit back to our house and bought a few new ones. One of them escaped our yard somehow. I think the other ones just died of natural causes.
We once had laying hens and chickens in a chicken coup we built when I was 6 or a little older. This was on our 24 acre "farm". It is truly in the country. The people we bought it from had horses, so it has a horse corral, along with a stream, a pond that is a few feet lower than the rest of the property, and forest across most of the land. We used to set targets up on one end of the pond, and shoot at them from across the water. Since the pond was a few feet below the rest of the soil, our bullets went straight into the earth so there were no stray bullets in the air.
We tried to have a couple of vegetable gardens growing, but the problem there is that there is very little rainfall, and the ground is mostly clay. It is so dry that there are cracks running along most of the ground. There is a lot of dessert-type vegetation that keeps the dust down.
Our neighbors had cows and we would leave the gate adjoining their property and ours open so their cows could feed on our grass. The neighbors didn't have to buy extra hay, and we didn't have to mow our grass. Plus, it was neat to wake up for breakfast and see cows around us! ...maybe one day I could live there. It has a little house, a well, a septic system, and everything you need to live more than comfortably. The only thing is that it is so hot there that it seems nearly impossible to live without the air conditioning. I am curious how people lived there without it.
Are you somewhat in the country where you live? Do wild animals ever come to your garden?
I took the required art classes in junior high and high school and some of my pencil drawings won a few awards in a local competition. I used to draw faces and enjoyed, but I don't think I am especially good at it. Line drawing has always been fascinating for me to look at. It is truly stunning how accurate many diagrams are that were line-drawn. I do not really know how to do it, but I would be interested to learn, especially for something that serves a useful purpose. Are you teaching yourself with a book, or just trying to duplicate what you see?
Our winters tend to be pretty mild, getting down to freezing a dozen or so times around December and January. We only have to cover our plants once or twice a year. Because we usually do not have hard freezes, fruit trees are not very common here. We do a loquat tree in our back yard however. They are so delicious! This year, I will have to harvest them and learn how to preserve them, because we usually have more than we can eat.
VigilantWatchman
****
Dear VigilantWatchman:
What an interesting email. You remember many things from your life.
>Is a weed walk how you came to recognize most of your weeds?
I do not know, of a truth, I don't but I do not think that this is what happened. The manager of a health food store suggested the Weed Walk she took up in PA. We went, I did not know what I was seeing and yet I was engaged. I did not care too much for the Green Drink. I took notes and pictures. I met a man who told me things about chickens and gardening. As he and I talked, his wife went with the group and got me some comfrey. I came home. At some point I saw the chickweed and knew it, I do not know how. I do not know when I purchased the books with photographs. These things are a blur to me. I know that they happened because I can identify these things. I've heard people use the word "enabled" in referring to what God does to set these conditions up. That constant state of being open to what I do not know has set in motion an atmosphere to pick things up that I previously had no knowledge of or interest in. Maybe it is like a baby that has to learn everything and does it in a VERY short timeframe. They do not know, but must know.
> We would let them out to hop around the yard and let them eat the grass
> sometimes.
I like this idea.
> We once had laying hens and chickens in a chicken coup we built when I was
> 6 or a little older. This was on our 24 acre "farm" that we have about an
> hour north of where we live here. It is truly in the country. The people
> we bought it from had horses, so it has a horse corral, along with a
> stream, a pond that is a few feet lower than the rest of the property, and
> forest across most of the land. We used to set targets up on one end of
> the pond, and shoot at them from across the water. Since the pond was a
> few feet below the rest of the soil, our bullets went straight into the
> earth so there no stray bullets in the air.
It sounds perfect with your own water source, a place to learn the bow like Jonathan, if so desired, plenty of space. Have you thought about spending any time there during your sabbatical?
> We tried to have a couple of vegetable gardens growing, but the problem
> there is that there is very little rainfall, and the ground is mostly
> clay. It is so dry that there are cracks running along most of the ground.
> There is a lot of dessert-type vegetation that keeps the dust down.
We read about desert Indians that cultivated food in the most creative ways--placing plants in the path of seasonal rushes of water, not disturbing the soil., planting in season to catch the rains at the right time. In terms of the Bible, I think of building sluices and handwatering. I also think of the French intensive method of plowing deep and working in a lot of organic matter into the soil like leaves and forest soil. You could become an expert on your type of land specializing in plants that thrive in arid conditions. Do you eat prickly pear/nopales? I have never had them but would like to grow them. My grandfather grew fabulous plants in North Carolina red clay that did not look like it would yield much, but it did. It was a wonder to me.
I am looking to grow tepary beans this year, a desert type bean that has very high yields. If watered too much it grows leaves, and less pods. With low water it gives a good yield. With optimal water, twice as big of a yield as with low water.
Southwestern Endangered Aridland Resource Clearing House website--
http://www.nativeseeds.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=1_14_42
> Our neighbors had cows and we would leave the gate adjoining their
> property and ours open so their cows could feed on our grass. The
> neighbors didn't have to buy extra hay, and we didn't have to mow our
> grass. Plus, it was neat to wake up for breakfast and see cows around us!
> Mom says that she wants me to have the property one day. I don't know,
> maybe one day I could live there. It has a little house, a well, a septic
> system, and everything you need to live more than comfortably. The only
> thing is that it is so hot there, well over 110 degrees in the summer many
> days, that it seems nearly impossible to live without the air
> conditioning. I am curious how people lived there without it.
That would be an interesting question to figure out and perhaps do some experiments with. Abraham was sitting in the tent in the heat of the day. I get up early to do work when it is hot so I can get much done before it is mid-day. When I rest, I like to go in the woods or in the gazebo swing. The woods must be at least 10 degrees cooler, or more, than in the sun. Sometimes we put our feet in a bucket of water and it truly cools us off. Sometimes I get chilly in the chapel. The chapel was developed when Hannah was young, I had rocks delivered and placed them in the woods and made our own little patio out of bricks around a tree stump that was a podium as we read Paul's speeches from the book of Acts (Year 1). It was revealed to me that it was not only going to be our chapel but our laboratory. Back then I thought that meant chemicals and white lab coats and goggles. I did not know that it meant compost, fires, wild lettuce, carpentry, etc.
Coolness...in Lurray Caverns, the caverns are 58 degrees year round no matter what is happening above ground. When we lost our elecricity for almost two days, our basement was the warmest place in the house. In the summer it is the coolest place. Some people live in holes. Some people still live in caves. Some live in the side of a hill. These places are cool. When visiting old museums, we see that there were summer houses. In the winter people could live on the south side of the house, in the summer, the north side. There were outdoor kitchens. There were breeze ways set up for winnowing (that may not be the right term). There were springs and spring houses. Knowing how to build outbuildings is an important skill.
The Native American and the colonist are the ones we've set our eyes on because they knew how to live on this land.
There is a whole way of setting these things up and hardening oneself till one is acclimated. I am very cold natured but I have not been touching the heat this winter. I've worn some extra clothes instead and also let myself be chilly. When the electricity went out, I may have been the one most satisfied with the chilly house. We read that some Native Americans dipped their babies in the cold river water in winter (I would never suggest this) to harden them off to the cold. I read that amongst some of them the soles of their feet were like leather. This may be frowned upon in our society, but extremely useful. I spent much of my youth without shoes. I love going without shoes and I've recently decided that I will not force myself to be a tenderfoot.
> Are you somewhat in the country where you live? Do wild animals ever come
> to your garden?
Sometimes a deer will venture into the garden to eat my grapevines, but not often. Rabbits and groundhogs used to make their appearance frequently. I wanted to get a gun and kill one groundhog who kept eating my melon vine. But I started occasionally feeding feral cats to keep them around here. It worked. When they grew too large in number, I trapped a few and called Animal Control. The cats keep the rabbits, etc. in check. A long time can pass without me seeing a pest whereas rabbits used to lay kits in the yard practically every year. I have decided that a barn cat is an indispensible part of a farm. I had even identified which one I was interested in, a Maine Coon, but the cats I "have" now get the job done and require almost nothing from me. There was a fox that sunned out in my neighbor's yard every morning and it seemed that he had a good relationship with the cats--both of these would be foes to the chicken...I've seen it however where a stray cat was invited to stay at a farm and actually slept in the hen house with the chickens.
> I took the required art classes in junior high and high school and some of
> my pencil drawings won a few awards in a local competition. I used to draw
> faces and enjoyed, but I don't think I am especially good at it. Line
> drawing has always been fascinating for me to look at. It is truly
> stunning how accurate many diagrams are that were line-drawn. I do not
> really know how to do it, but I would be interested to learn, especially
> for something that serves a useful purpose. Are you teaching yourself with
> a book, or just trying to duplicate what you see?
My idea of line drawing is by no means sophisticated. For me it is the ability to draw so that the idea is conveyed or interpreted and someone can understand what what I have drawn. How am I learning? It has come through a series of things. A few years ago, in our school, we drew a lot of 3D boxes in mathematics and it was a start. Then we drew five basic shapes. Then five basic three dimensional shapes. We tried some books, and tracing paper, and tracing wall projections. We did art through Ezekiel (we are now in chapter 48) and recently got our hands on a children's drawing series, "Draw, Write, Now". It is for the youngest of children, but it is helping me. I am not even close to mediocre in drawing, but by necessity, I am illustrating what I want to share. So I use the book, but it helps me to figure out what I am seeing. I am trying to write the vision and make it plain upon table that he may run that readeth it. I am trying to record at this time. I get tired, so very tired, but I am still alive.
> Our winters tend to be pretty mild, getting down to freezing a dozen or so
> times around December and January. We only have to cover our plants once
> or twice a year. Because we usually do not have hard freezes, fruit trees
> are not very common here. We do a loquat tree in our back yard however.
> They are so delicious! This year, I will have to harvest them and learn
> how to preserve them, because we usually have more than we can eat.
I looked up loquat, I have never had one. Maybe when you preserve them, you will send me a few whether dried or canned. I would like to try them. I will keep my eyes open for them in the store.
Incidentally, I get our snowsuits from the thrift store for about $7. I've been crocheting my own hats basically using a chain stitch. Thick acrylic yarn is warm and not itchy.
Mephibosheth