How long has it been?

I will readily admit to being a horrible blogger.  I never seem to be able to keep up with it.  I have two blogs, this one and her sister, The Good Little Housewife, and I can't keep up with either.  It's not for lack of material, but more because I simply forget to update.  Then one day, out of the blue, someone messages you asking about your rabbit hutch and you remember that you have a blog to update.  lol

Since I last updated, we have tried our hand at rabbit breeding.  Most of them did not make it, so we gave our does away until we could figure out a better breeding cage set up.  It was really a blow to us since we had planned on doing this for meat.  We ended up keeping the two males for manure and the fact that one is the offspring of our first rabbit who passed away a couple of years ago.  Either way, maybe in the future we can try again.

We still have our chickens and they are wonderful.  I would recommend chickens to anyone.  The eggs are great and the birds are entertaining.  When we finally get a little land of our own, we want to raise more chickens, even some of the fancier breeds.  The eggs sell well at farmers markets, plus, it will keep us in a better supply of chicken meat.  It seems that store bought meat has no flavor, anymore.  

Our gardening is not going so well.  We are not sure what is going on, but nothing really grows.  Last year, during the drought that dried out the midwest, we were trying to water with the hose.  Our city municipalities put so much chlorine in our drinking water, that it was killing the plants.  So we lost all of it.
This year, we didn't get anything done in time for spring planting.  My husband was busy with finals and graduating and I was busy trying to get my soaping business off of the ground and homeschooling the kids. On top of all of that, we have been working on remodeling our home.   I also got started on a course study in herbalism so that I can make medicines and such for my family.

We do have some pumpkin plants in the ground and are preparing for a fall planting.  In the meanwhile, I have canned up a bushel of green beans, put some corn and berries in the freezer, and will be canning some jelly very soon.  Every little bit helps.

I seem to be full of empty promises when it comes to my blogging, but I will try to keep updated a little more.  Thanks for reading!

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. :-)