Big Hairy Deal

The rabbits are growing nicely. Funny Bunny seems to be a great momma. I try to go out and play with the little bunnies at least once a day so they won't be as skittish around people as the adult rabbits are. I know, I know; I'm playing with my food. But I am not so insensitive as to look at them as meat in the freezer. They will be looked after, played with, yes maybe even named, for their short ten or eleven weeks of life. Then they will be canned and eventually sauteed with some butter, salt and pepper. Well all except one...Bucks new wife. Gotta keep the bacon, uh, err, bunny on the table.

5th Ave Farm, to date.

From the street, we're a cute green bungalow. Flower beds, bushes and trees frame the house. As you are walking up to the front steps there is a walkway to the south and the north. To the north is the drive way to the south is the side yard where the excitement is. Taking the southern walk around the corner of the house the walk just ends abruptly because the concrete walk way is a project that I never finished. I ran out of money for concrete and the hot summer hit. concrete is hard on the back anytime of year but especially  during the summer heat.

Anyway, if you don't stumble off the end of the walk you see the largest childs play set known to man in a residential back yard. One can pay $1500 for a prefab play kit or spend less on raw materials and build one twice the size. I did the latter.

Beyond the play set is the farm. Its not yet complete. It's an ever work in progress. But in terms of vegetation it consists of; 12 blueberries bushes, 2 plum trees, 36 square feet of asparagus, and then several raised beds of beans, peas, lettuce, squash, okra, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, banana peppers, onions, chard, and strawberries. I am probably leaving something out.

In the far south west corner of the lot is my favorite: In a coop I built are 6 laying chickens Eloise, Ethel, Granny, Tiny Poppy, and Poofy. Thats around 3 or 4 eggs a day. In a chick brooder there are 24 potentially (some might be dinner/roosters) laying bantam chicks only a couple have names. Then there is also 3 meat raising rabbits: Buck, Funny Bunny(Californians) and Salvia (a New Zealand) and 6 baby dinners...err...I mean baby bunnies. Five of them will grow for 10 weeks before being processed. The sixth one will be Bucks third wife. Some of you clever folks reading this probably picked up on the relational problem with that sentence. It's ok. They are rabbits. Rabbits have a tendency to disregard their own family history in favor of getting it on. So I am going to do the same. (I researched the whole thing)

We also have a guard dog.

We have a potters studio, a painters studio, and a woodshop.

God has blessed us richly.

Chickens, rabbits and kids, Oh my!

Updates:
24 healthy bantam chicks including 6 Silver Sebrights.

We get around 3 eggs a day from the adult chickens (layers)

As I said saturday; funny bunny had her first litter. At least 6 babies have been counted. But they are deep in the nest and hard to see.

And as if the farm is not enough to take care of along with a dog and a 7 year old daughter we have been doing foster care training. So we're about to take on another child. Girl. Eva's age.

God has been good to us. We want to give back. Please pray for 5th ave farm.

You know what's going on here?

That's right! Funny Bunny is nesting! She is getting her box just right for....BABY RABBITS. at least I hope that's what she's doing. 29 days ago she mated with Buck. So the timing is right. She should be due anyway now and she was pulling out her dew lap fur for bedding all night. When I got out to the hutch this morning it looked like there were two rabbits.

Aside from this exciting news here something else. I made at least 11 bird houses and 5 feeders out of scrap wood and license plates and a couple of wallhangings for our open studio. 

Saved the Garden, Saved the Dog

I got home and Yvonne was furious. Shadow our new puppy had dug up a lot of veggies Yvonne was growing. Yvonne was ready to give the dog up. I don't blame her. I was worried about the chickens being stressed out from Shadows presence and Shadow kept bugging the rabbits. Of course Shadow is part Lab and part Pit so she probably does have blood-lust for any thing live in the yard. So I put up a fence. Good fences make good neighbors. They also make puppies better and more well behaved. Therefore I saved the dog. At least for now.

Bunny Lovin'

Funny Bunny (the doe) was given a conjugal visit with Buck tonight. It didn't take Buck long. He had stop eating for a couple of days, I guess  because he was yearning. So we thought we'd set him up on a hot date. Well he didn't waste any time. Funny Bunny raced around the 2.5 x 3 foot cage a couple of times playing hard to get and as soon as she stopped there was lovin'. Then Buck fell off. But that didn't embarrass him none. He hopped right back up for another go. Then fell off again. And I do mean FELL off. Not sure if it'll take. But it ain't gonna be because Buck didn't give it his best shot. We should see results in 31 days. Little furry hopping results. Note: There is only one picture with this blog for obvious reasons.

Shadow

This is the new homestead dog. We got her yesterday afternoon. She will provide protection for the urban farm, companionship to our daughter Eva, and motivation to exercise for me. Her name is Shadow and she is our new baby girl.