On the Farm in 2012

We were gifted some rabbits by a friend last week. This is our new buck and doe bunnies in their rabbit tractor. The tractor keeps them contained but allows them to pasture on the grass. We are raising them for meat and will be employing them as lawnmowers and fertilizers around our home.

Not all rabbits get along but these two are lovers. We will have to remove the doe in a month though when she gives birth so that she has a private, safe space to raise her young. Rabbits are prolific breeders and because of this, an efficient sustainable source of meat and furs.

The sheep and goats are eager to get out of this paddock and graze in their new electric portable fence enclosure that we bought them for winter solstice. This will allow us to move them about the farm to browse and forage on fresh grass and blackberry leaves without having to worry about them devouring our fruit trees or wandering down to the neighbors house. Just waiting on the fence to arrive in the mail. The two goats and one sheep are all pregnant and due in March.

Here are a few of our chickens in their chicken tractor tilling and fertilizing the soil. These three are at the bottom of the pecking order and so the other chickens won't allow them to sleep in the coop. Instead they were roosting in the trees and getting picked off by the great horned owls around our farm. The chicken tractor gives them a safe space to live.

Last but not least, our micro-herds. Red wiggler worms in our worm bin turning our compost into rich soil. Not pictured but also in this bin are black soldier fly larva. I'm researching a system to raise these in a separate bucket as a form of protein for our chickens. I'll post a blog when I get that project finished. Happy 2012!