Bee Swarm

We caught our first swarm of bees from our own property this week.

Bee Swarm

Pigless

On Monday, we processed our second, and last, pig.

Pigless

Fur Handbag

I made myself a little present this weekend, and it turned out absolutely beautiful.

Fur Handbag

Bee Swarm

Bee Swarm -

Fur Handbag

Fur Handbag -

Forest Garden

We've started work on the first terrace of the future Forest Garden.

We had planned to plant about fifty trees this Spring, seeing as we now have the water for them. However, that turned out to be a little ambitious, just because of the work involved in setting up the system we want. So, for right now we have settled for one row of the forest garden.

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We used the pigs to cut a terrace into the hill. We have then built up the rock retaining wall on the south side and added a bunch of tree branches and manure to build up the organic material. Besides increasing fertility of the soil, this also acts as a huge water battery. The organic content stores water really well and will keep the area moist long after it has been watered.

We then made a wide swale on the north (uphill) side of the terrace. This will help water filter into the soil of the terrace in heavy rains. It also serves as a pathway for us. We'll be installing a deep water irrigation system to get the trees started.

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The big tree holes (nine of them) are on the edge of the swale. Around each tree spot, we will also be planting bushes and vines and other perennials. It'll take a couple of years to really get going, but we'll expand on the area each year, making terraces down the hill. The idea of having a large scale forest garden is super exciting.

Forest Garden

Rabbit Run

Our growing rabbits needed more space, so we made an outdoor rabbit run.

These new rabbits we have are awesome. They produce large litters and those litters reach butcher weight much sooner than rabbits we've had in the past. Plus we have them in the cage and burrow setup as opposed to a colony, so we haven't been losing any to trampling, heat, snakes, and the like. Our production rates have gone up considerably, and our mortality rate has gone down. Great!

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There is, however, a downside: the cages we had for the weaned rabbits are insufficient. They were fine while a doe here or there would miss a breeding, but that doesn't seem to be happening much now. We are now in full production, and we've run out of space for the growing rabbits. On any given day, we have over 60 growing rabbits.

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So we've added a colony type area to the setup. There is a triangular area from the northwest corner of the water tank and the northwest corner of the barn that wasn't spoken for. It is now fenced off, with a feeder, a water nipple, and a little shelter. There's a concrete area that runs along the north of the barn wall, so it will always be cool and shaded for the hotter parts of the year (which seem to be starting already). We'll like plant a tree or two in the future, but for now, this area is a perfect spot for the older growers.

There are now two single cages for 4-6 week old babies, as they get gradually weaned (not the whole litter at once). Then there's two double cages for 6-8 week olds. At 8 weeks they go to the outside pen.

We put 20 in there yesterday and they seem to be loving it. Plus Leo and Nicky have found their new favorite place to be. The rabbits are so tame, and the boys love to sit in there petting anyone who hops along.

Rabbit Run