Bitterroot's Journal - Rabbitosis, cookies up to my eyeballs, & Xmas!

[Bitterroot]

1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
Bitterroot Valley, Montana. Zone 5a.

2. How many people are in your family? Marital status?
Just my hubby and I.

3. How would you define your farm?
Just getting started.

4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
Hermit hole in the mountains sounds like a good start. Otherwise, I'd put the cash into working towards improving the farm.

5. Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to?
Yep. I love building things.

6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet?
Trained many years ago with Oxy and arc/stick. Would love to get back into it.

7. Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer?
My paw-paw. He was a farmer, and some of my earliest and best memories include rides on the tractor, or the hay rake behind the percheron team.

8 Is it a hobby or an occupation?
Why isn't "sickness" an option? Bwahaha! Hobby.

9. In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more?
I know a little bit about a lot of stuff, but most of it is old and rusty. I'm hoping to learn new things and brush up on old ones.

10. In what types of farming will you never choose to do?
Never say never!

11. Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply?
Definitely. That's the goal of all of this, to become less dependent on the system.

12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world?
Working with the tools, building something. Or just visiting with the animals.

13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?
Retired trucker. Could probably figure out how to work a tractor, but will probably never have one.

14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
I like making beeswax tapers and a few other small things. Would be happy to teach anyone who wants to learn.

15. Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
Yep, can have anything I want. I'm getting started a bit late int he year, so all I have right now are a few rabbits. Next spring comes chicken and turkeys, as well as some cows, bees, and whatever else follows me home.

16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood?
I've done a little bit of work with a wood lathe.

17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?
Love to garden. Just run of the mill stuff. Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, pie pumpkins, squashes, herbs, etc.

18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
Used to fish when I was younger, but can't seem to find the time nowadays.

19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country?
Ten acres of pasture/farmland in a rural area of the valley. No zoning, and the convenants in the area are very lenient. Basically they preserve the area as agricultural.

20. Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed?
Novice.

21. What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn?
Oh gosh, no specialty yet. I find lots of things interesting, so hopefully I can learn about all of them.

22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?
Not sure on this one.

23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?
Just the basic stuff, nothing fancy.

24. Are you interested in herbal animal medicine?
Sure. I use it for humans, so it stands to reason it would work for animals as well.

25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
Right here!

26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
No.

27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be?
Someone who can freeze time so they can get all the chores done and still have some time to enjoy the day.

28. Are your family or friends also interested in animals?
Not so much. Hubby is fond of them, but I'm the primary caretaker.

29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs?
Love to cook. And yes to all of the above.

30. What was your best animal experience? Worst?
Best animal experience? Probably having a horse as a young teen. Worst, when grandma sent me out with a bucket to milk the cows and of course I grabbed the bull. :/ Kicked int he face, and lucky I wasn't killed.

31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs?
No, but have the skills to pick out the foraging items, and am thinking of getting back into hunting.

32. What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm?
Raised by people who pretty much did everything themselves, so I can do a lot of things without having to call in the handyman. What I don't know, I learn by watching others or digging around online for ideas.

33. Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?
Not yet, but will. Looking forward to learning to can, too.

34. Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
No, but would like to put in some solar someday.

35 What is on your to do list?
List is probably shorter if I just write down the things that don't need to be done right now ...

36. Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?
No, but maybe.

37. In what do you trust?
Myself.

38. Do you make and fix things yourself to save money?
Yes!

39. Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits?
I'm getting old and grouchy. I prefer the animals to most people I meet.

I'll try and update once a week or so, or with any new news if anyone is interested. I'm just getting started, so there is a ton to do.

Just picked up some Florida White rabbits yesterday. I've been wanting some of these guys for YEARS, and I finally have them. The breeder bred the two older does for me, so hopefully I'll be palpating with good news soon. I'm keeping them in the garage this winter, as I'm not sure what predators are prowling around outside just yet, and I don't want to put them out until I have a secure shed for them to go into. Unfortunately, with buying the house our funds are just about gone, so no money for that project until spring.

 

[HankTheTank]

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Kicked by a bull? Wow. Lucky you are all ok.

btw

 

[BrownSheep]

Youre living in some BEAUTIFUL country! I have some friends up at Helena at school. Looking forward to your herd adventure!

 

[elevan]

8 Is it a hobby or an occupation?
Why isn't "sickness" an option? Bwahaha! Hobby.

 

[Bitterroot]

Not a whole lot happening. Packing boxes. Moving boxes. Unpacking boxes. BORING.

Took the rabbits out into the yard yesterday evening and let them run around in playpens to stretch a bit and snack on some grass. Between that and watching the neighbor's appaloosas, I managed to waste an entire evening.

Today I'm putting all the switch covers back on from my painting whirlwind, re-hanging curtain rods and new curtains, and trying to finish up the racks for my rabbit cages. I got the inspiration from a thread here I believe. Each cage is suspended over a slanted board that funnels droppings and urine conveniently into a bucket. I'll get some pictures once I'm finished.

Fall is definitely here. Cold crackly air this morning, and fallen leaves are blowing around. So sad that I won't be able to get tot he bulk of the things I want to do until next spring, but I have all winter to plan and get excited.

Smoke is clearing, and I hope it stays that way.

 

[Bitterroot]

So a little time has passed, but still not too much going on. Actually, I much prefer it this way!

Had a scare recently when I discovered four nicely placed piles of black bear poop within 10-20 feet of our house over a few days period. It makes me no longer feel guilty about keeping the rabbits in the garage over winter rather than putting them directly out into the barn as I was originally planning. Wardens weren't much help. They said this time of year the bears have their dens picked out and will be starting their hibernation soon. He didn't seem a bit alarmed that this/these animal(s) apparently has little fear of humans. Ah well, next year I'll be ready with a bear tag for if Yogi decides to come back. I'd much rather let him live his life out there, enjoying the clean air and stuffing himself on the huckleberries I covet, but if he's going to continue to get that close to my home, my family, and my animals, then his pelt will make a fine addition in front of the fireplace.

Both my FW does kindled. The experienced doe had 6, and all are doing great. They turned two weeks old on saturday. The younger first-timer doe only had one, and by the time I found it, it was dead on the wire. Tried to re-breed her to my buck a couple times, but a combo of his young age and inexperience plus her refusing to budge made it a no-go. I'm going to add some supplemental light out there on a timer, give them 14 hours a day of light, see if that improves any attitudes.

I'm looking forward to trying my hand at making icewine, since I adore the stuff. My order for a couple dozen Vidal Blanc grapevines is in, and I am looking forward to putting them in next spring, and encouraging them to give me many many many grapes.

Ordered my turkey poults for spring. I've waited so long to be able to order from Porter's, several years, and I finally can have those birds I've been dreaming of.

I visited with an emu rancher nearby, and am enamored with those big goofy, tasty birds. We'll be adding a pair of those next year as well.

SO many plans. Now all I need is a dump truck full o' cash to pay for it all, and a back that can take digging all those holes I have to dig.

 

[Bitterroot]

Flurry's kits are 17 days old today. Gah, they're SO cute. I always put them in a bucket of hay while I clean out the bottom of the nestbox, and then bring the bucket in to wallow in the cute for a little while. The whole litter is doing well, and I'm proud of Flurry for being such a good mom. I think I'll hold back a doe as a future breeder, sell a couple, and then we'll butcher the other three.

I found a breeder up in Kalispell with some mini rex, so we're headed up there Saturday to pick up (ahem) one mini rex. Or maybe three. heehee! I'm going to work on some siamese sables, so I'm picking up a siamese sable doe, and a pair of torts to work into there to get it going. Another project I'd like to work on too, is adding the FW body type into that mini rex pelt. It'll take a few generations to get it ironed out but I think the results would be interesting. They more than likely wouldn't be any good on the show table, but I'd love to have FW meat with that gorgeous plush fur, and don't plan to show anyways. Most of the show folks I've ever met have been downright rude - not my idea of a good time.

That's the update for now.

 

[Southern by choice]

What kind of turkeys are you getting? Our Chocolate Tom is "eye-candy". I've decided to keep him around, we have enough birds in the freezer. Hopefully in Spring he will mate with our slates and we will have poults to sell.
Do you have a big market for rabbit where you are?

 

[Bitterroot]

I love the chocolate turkeys! I'll have to go look and see if you have any pictures posted of your handsome guy.

I got 6 lilacs, 6 red slates, and 3 crossbreds to see what sort of interesting colors they might send. I love those light colored birds.

Rabbits sell like crazy around here, especially the meat breeds and crosses. I'm thrilled to see so many folks opening their eyes.