Moving right along

Well, trying at least. It seems that once we think Mother Nature is done handing us cold weather, she comes back for more. That's the beauty of living in the Ohio Valley, if you don't like the weather here, stick around, it will change. We had 70 plus degree weather last week and then it snowed a bit last night. It's all melted off, but still chilly. I had to bring my rosemary pots in last night for fear of the cold killing them. On to the good stuff, though. We have a wee little rabbitry going in our back yard. Hubby is working on the new hutch as I type this. We have two Californian bucks. They are great boys, pretty lovable. Back in the fall we bought two New Zealand does. We have been trying since to breed them for meat, but to no avail. I don't know the reason, but we are going to continue to try until we know for sure they are duds. Right now, at most farm supply stores, you can buy rabbits for breeding, eating, showing or pets. My husband went to Tractor Supply today to get some rabbit food and they were bringing a new bunch of New Zealands in while he was looking around and talking to one of the employees. Since it's very difficult to find rabbits in the off season (you should have seen what I had to go through to find my does), he bought two new does. They are only about nine weeks old, but we figure if the older girls won't breed, we need a back up. They should be ready in a few months. Now we have six rabbits. At least that is a lot of manure for composting.

It is absolutely amazing to me how fast chickens grow. This has been our first experience ever with chickens. They were so cute when we brought them home. You can see how little they were in this picture. Well, they have grown.

They are going through a rather ugly phase right now as all living creatures do during early adolescence. They are dusty and are starting to smell a bit in my little kitchen, so they are now in the garage until we get the coop done and they are a little bigger. Still, I can't wait for those farm fresh eggs.

Week before last, while the husband was on vacation, we had a gentleman build us a storage building/barn. We really were in need of extra storage since most of the garage is now our bedroom. We had a small shed out there, but it wasn't hacking it. The barn is great. I do hate how high we had to have it jacked up off of the group because it looks so strange, but our back yard holds water and we really have no choice but to raise it. I plan to get some lattice and creek rock to trim it out. We are going to fill the creek rock border with soil and plant something there. Haven't decided if it will be herbs or vine beans, but it will be something. Our goal is to have as much food growing on this property as possible.

Finally, here are some pics of my pooches. The first is Charlie and the second is Daisy. We are planning on breeding them as well for a little extra money to offset their vet bills. I love this breed (Shetland Sheepdog). They are one of the top ten most intelligent breed of dog, although I wonder about Daisy sometimes. She is such a goofball.

Hopefully, next entry, will have a finished hutch and coop. Maybe a recipe or two, I don't know. :-)