GOOD LORD....I'm TIRED!!!
Just finished cleaning out underneath 40 rabbit cages and cleaning the cages, nest boxes and feeders, water bottles, etc.
Also more than DOUBLED the size of my garden over the past two weeks......gotta dump all that bunny poop somewhere! Anyway, should have a REALLY BIG garden next spring!!! Have 3 - 40 foot raised beds, and 1 - 30 foot bed.....SO FAR!!!! Plan to raise ALL my foods, except for some basics, next year! Still gonna buy coffee, sugar, flour and beans, but everything else is gonna come out of MY GROUND!!! And the rabbit poop continues to MOUNT!!!
I am really looking forward to it...been trying to get to this level for awile now!
Continued to experiment with fresh foods for the bunnies that I forage. Have ID'd the broadleaf weed that they SO DEARLY LOVE...they almost attack me when I bring it to them!! It is....CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?????....GIANT RAGWEED!!!! But, I'm not allergic to it, and they ABSOLUTELY ADORE it!! I even gathered a small coffee can of the seeds today from the plants that are still standing!! OK....so I'm WEIRD!! Who else do you know would PLANT RAGWEED???? Also have narrowed down the vine they like so much...it is either Climbing False Buckwheat (that's what I think it is) or Black Bindweed, they look very similar. I am waiting for the seeds to ripen on those, which will help to further ID the plant, and also to gather the seeds for sowing this coming spring. The problem here is we have a fairly heavy flood every spring, and most of the seeds wash away down to the National Forest Land right next to us, and by gathering the seeds, I can have the plants readily available, instead of stomping through the woods, since the bunnies put quite a dent in the available plants growing on our land!
Continuing to get tomatos, zukes, green beans, and eggplant from the garden. My cukes are dying out, and the eggplants are too. I'm still waiting to harvest the sweet taters, they did well, as far as vines in the tires I planted them in....how well they made taters remains to be seen....should know in the next coupla weeks.
Two of my does had litters about 10 days ago, they are just opening their eyes now. One had 8 on her first breeding, and I'm not sure how many the other one had...she's skittish and I'm afraid to mess with them or try to even count them. It was her first breeding too. The first bun, Blackberry (she's solid black, lost 4 of her eight kits, two of them stuck their heads through the wire and got stuck and died, and two of them got stuck in the wire floor.....too bad, because they are BIG HUGE babbies! I bred her with a NZ White, and she has 2 white babies, one BEATIFULLY marked brown, and one solid black left alive. The brown one is a light beige, and has white tips on his ears, and a white "necklace" of fur....a real cutie!!
All 4 are gonna be BIG rabbits! This makes at least 39 rabbits for us!
The ones that didn't make it were another brown one, a black one, and two more whites...we WILL do better next time!! She didn't have a very good nest box and that was the problem, had no lip in the front.....She is my FAVORITE bun....she was a pet for a little girl, and when we bought her, she was ALREADY spoiled...now she's worse!! Of all my rabbits, she begs and comes to the front of her cage whenever I am near...I REALLY LIKE her!!
I have been feeding them all tomatos, eggplant, and cukes all summer, in addition to carrots, wild plants, as mentioned above, hay, bananas, cantaloupe, watermelon, corn, (which most say NOT to feed, but I give each of them about a 2 inch section of corn on the cob about once a weekand they LOVE it, and have had no problems). Also blackberries, (the plants too, wild grape vines and leaves, maple leaves and twigs, and sassafrass leaves and twigs. They also got wild carrots, Indian wheat, grass, and apples. I have HEALTHY rabbits!! Most of the advise I have read says to feed only rabbit pellets....but they are doing fine. I also feed about 1 cup of pellets to each one every day...they are BIG rabbits!!
Let's see....what else is going on????
For some reason ouyr pear tree dropped all it's fruit at the end of last month. It was no where near ripe. So, I guess no pear butter or jelly this year....dog gone it!I have to prune the peaches and the plum and pear trees yet...gotta do that SOON!
Oh yeah! Caught a MAJORLY BIG SALE on GARDEN SEEDS at Big Lots! The seed packets were 2 cents each!!!! Bought EVERYTHING...especially CARROTS...for the buns you know! Got just about any kind of seed you could want...except crooked neck squash...for some reason there were no seeds of that! Bought lots of herbs and flowers too, but mostly veggies.
With my garden growing in size, I am planning how I will arrange things. I am going to put a bird bath in the middle, and maybe some sort of fountain....maybe, our well can't handle continuos free flowing water, so it will have to recycle. Also am going to plant okra and corn in a BIG patch at the back of the property, at the bottom of the hill, for the deer! As well as clover and some alfalfa to attract deer...comes in a packet from NA Hunting Club, you know.
Also gotta plant some peach seeds I saved, and go get some persimmons when they start to fall, and plant the seeds along the side of our property, again for the deer, as well as to make my FANTASTIC Persimmon Walnut Bread! Our walnut trees started bearing this year....about 10 of them, but not many nuts yet, they are too young. DH planted them when he bought the place, about 8 years ago. That's about all I can think of right now....