Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

We were working in another part of the yard Sunday and there were so many acorns I started gathering them to see if I could make acorn flour. I think I spent less than 30 minutes overall and I ended up gathering 8 pounds 9.5 ounces of acorns.

Sunday night I shelled/sorted through 3 pounds 14 ounces and discarded 1 pound 9.5 ounces in shells/nasty bits. There's roughly 2 pounds 4.5 ounces of acorn meat cold leaching in a bowl of water in the fridge. It took a very long time, the shells were flexible so I cut each acorn into quarters and pried the meat out.

Monday I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and now I have the remaining 4 pounds 11.5 ounces sitting in trays in the sun. Once they dry a little I should be able to smack each acorn with a hammer and the shell should open. Apparently you can also float test them similar to eggs, if they float they are bad: either from a prior year and old, or have a bug chewing out the inside. Ones with holes did have a bug but it has chewed it's way out.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

The second batch of acorn shells I'm going to try to save to dye some wool. Apparently the tannins from the acorns are supposed to make a nice gray dye in combination with iron. I'm pretty sure we have iron nails I can scrounge up. I have white wool I partially processed sitting in the closet. I will try to take pictures.

 

[Margali]

We were working in another part of the yard Sunday and there were so many acorns I started gathering them to see if I could make acorn flour. I think I spent less than 30 minutes overall and I ended up gathering 8 pounds 9.5 ounces of acorns.

Interesting. Please let me know how it turns out!

 

[Baymule]

That’s great about getting the trees down. Tree guys really know their stuff.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Bunny update, still no bunnies. Both does have plenty of hay. Sage was sitting in her box though. I even stuck my hands in each nest and felt for babies and nothing. Hopefully there will be bunnies tomorrow.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Bunny update, still nothing. Maybe the buck was shooting blanks? I will wait until next weekend and then breed them again. Right now there are two due at the beginning of November and one mid November. The other three does have been completely uncooperative so far. I'm really annoyed because they are supposed to be my meat momma's, but maybe I let them get too fat? I have been free feeding because my schedule wasn't regular for the longest time and I didn't want them to go hungry. I might need to change their feed schedule. If I can finally get these difficult ones to breed, I might keep a daughter or two and replace the mommas.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Munchkin had shots last week and now he is clingy, a little congested, and he has low grade fever. He didn't do anything yesterday afternoon except snuggle and whine. This morning was the same but not much whining. This afternoon he is perking up and actually wanting to play. I'm hoping he's over the worst of it finally.

 

[SA Farm]

maybe I let them get too fat? I have been free feeding because my schedule wasn't regular for the longest time and I didn't want them to go hungry. I might need to change their feed schedule.

If they’re getting too chunky and you can’t feed regularly, free feed hay and give them a certain amount of pellets per day. As long as they get it daily, it shouldn’t matter if it’s at the same time as long as they have something to munch on while they wait.

Some ACV in the water and fresh greens (grass, dandelion, plantain are great options) can also help get them “in the mood” as well - including the buck.
If you need to know sooner if they’re bred, there are (or, at least, used to be) some good YouTube videos on palpating 2 weeks into the pregnancy. I got pretty good at it for a while there, but I no longer have rabbits and doubt I could explain it very well anymore 😋

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Still nothing on the first two does. Second two got nest boxes tonight.

Weather is much cooler, it has been getting down into the 40s at night. Good for rabbits, less so for my mangoes, bananas, and guavas, etc. I need to set up my Christmas lights on the temperature controller and maybe get a rough greenhouse going too. The canna lillies are very droopy but they will come back from the roots.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I keep forgetting to take a picture of the front yard, it is very open without those trees. Lots of brush in piles and rounds that need to be split and stacked. Hubby finally brought splitter home. It is supposed to rain Sunday, so might be able to get a burn pile going in a week or so. We still have wood from the first year at the house that needs to be restacked in a better location, it's currently falling over into a walkway and probably getting eaten by termites.

We are going to end up with enough wood for decades if we keep taking trees down. We already had enough for this year and probably will have enough for the next two as well if we process all the trees we just took down. I'm excited that my coppicing book arrived.