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Graham, I will be interested to hear how her hide business comes along.

My young cousins (9 ~ 18) have recently acquired rabbits to begin a breeding program. Grandma (my friend Charlotte) keeps reminding them that the babies will be grown for meat and hides, but isn't sure that they really understand that, yet.

Boo, we have learned to live with them. We often listen to them sing in the evening. My theory is they spread out around the valley and then start singing to get all the yard dogs barking. Then they know where all the dogs are and keep their distance. I get them with my searchlight as they run across the top of the field. We have one really big song dog that looks more like a wolf. I'd like to have his hide pinned up one day.
Lolly, Sophie is 11 going on 45. She is bossy, single minded, and smart. Her twin sister is the sensitive, artistic one, but still just as smart. I will let Sophie help me as much as she wants with the processing, but if she gets uncomfortable with it, I won't push her. I want all three kids to realize where their food comes from and the sacrifices that are given. But I think if you do it in a natural way and just show them all the things that go into putting food on the table, it comes easier when the big day arrives. That was basically the way I was brought up, although I will never subject them to all the goose and chicken plucking I had to go through.

Graham, I have a grandson the same age, 11. Since he's now man of the family he's trying out his will, just like his father did. I hope to get him to the farm this year and involved with some swale and berm construction. There won't be any domestic animals this year, just lots of opportunity to get quite dirty and mud covered.

I agree that you have to let them do what they can and learn the process. I have a granddaughter who is 15, and she is my good right hand most times. When we do get to the place where we can bring animals into the equation she will be there to help. Every good cook needs to know how to joint a chicken, don't they? Yes, cooking is her passion.

lol Sophie's passion is eating, but she is like me in that there is probably more meat on a sparrow's kneecap than she has. So we both have the same theory but for different end results. If she wants to eat then she should be able to bring the meat all the way from the barn to the table.

How is the bunny business going Graham?

We put the rabbits together last weekend and he seemed to do well with doe 1. Doe 2 played a bit hard to get, but we will see later this week when I palpate them. I did think Doe 2 was forming a bit of a dewlap when I fed them this evening. That is usually a sign that she is pregnant but we will have to wait and see.
I'm optimistic about getting at least one litter this time around, and one of my jobs this week is to build the rabbit tractor for the young ones to grow out in. Basically, as soon as they start eating momma's rations they will be moved to the tractor.
Meanwhile I have started cutting hay and I have rebuilt the handbaler so it is upright instead of horizontal. I've also mounted it on a sled made from a pallet, so we can drag it behind the lawn tractor. This will save a lot of raking work as we can fill the baler as we go.

We finally finished haymaking last night, with a total of 85 bales put up in the barn. The sigh of relief from the family could be heard half a mile away.
The nestboxes have been put in the rabbit cages although I'm still not sure if either of them are pregnant. I have tried several times to palpate them. but from what I have read, even some of the more experienced rabbit breeders have a hard time with this. They have both been settling in the boxes and re-arranging the hay in there, but neither of them have started pulling fur off their bellies yet. They are due tomorrow, but I will leave the boxes in the cages until at least Sunday.
In the mean time, a lady we met at our Back to Basics group has given us about thirty raspberry canes. It's not the ideal time to plant them, but she was clearing out a huge raspberry patch and rather than see them go to waste, we said we would take some. My wife also scored some asparagus plants off her too.

My goodness Graham, 85 bales? You guys are actually putting up some serious feed there, that's inspiring. I've been scything quite a bit lately, and am really wanting to make hay as well, but just haven't dedicated the time to it yet. I'm thinking it's time to change that. Are you still using the string trimmer? I can't believe how effective the scythe is, hopefully you'll run across one soon. They are game changing tools, for sure.

It may not be ideal for the raspberry's, but my experience has been that you can plant any them now if you water. We have been getting rain here almost every day, so that would cut down the work a lot on the watering, To get them established you might be hauling water for awhile, but once established they should be fine. What type are they, Black, Red, or Yellow. I planted 4 yellow plants this spring from Gurneys, they are all doing fine now. I am still hauling water to then though, I have been watering the trees to make sure they make it, so I have a bit left over to water them as well as the Gooseberries.

Actually I cheated with most of it. I had so much trouble with the trimmer clogging up with grass, that I got the lawn tractor out and ran across it with the deck up high and at a fairly fast speed. It was just right to cut it down without chopping too much of it up. I really should put some cash aside for a scythe though.
I think the raspberries are red. That was the downside to the deal. She had them all in a big pile when I went to get them and she had been clearing out all her rows. She has red, purple, black and yellow, so I may end up with a multicolored raspberry patch. I'm not looking forward to the watering, but it has to be done. I have a pond to the side of the orchard but at a lower level. I'm looking at a way of pumping the water up from the pond to a holding tank that will supply a soaker hose set up.