DISASTER!

Some days....Last night there was a power outage. The incubator is FULL of eggs at various stages of development, including some in the process of hatching. After much worry and some help from the wood stove, I believe THAT crisis has been averted. The power is back, the temperature regulated and I have new Light Brahmas and one last duckling.

Now for the bad news.

Last night I had some concerns over the younger litter of rabbit kits. They just didn't seem 'comfortable'. This morning things seemed worse, some of them have diarrhea and are not their normal pudgy selves. So I load up a syringe with Lactated Ringer solution and dissolved some Imodium in another and headed back down to the barn. As I am trying to administer sub-cutaneous fluids, oral Imodium and adjust a heat lamp while inflicting the least amount of stress, the damn barn cat jumped into the pen, grabbed the biggest, healthiest baby of the bunch and ran off with it! :-( I'm so angry with myself for being so absorbed in the task at hand that it never occurred to me that he would do that! I don't blame him one bit, I'm happy that he hunts wild bunnies and minimizes the damage they do to the garden. I'm afraid that this litter may be a total loss. I very worried that Mama will end up so stressed that she abandons them. Is it too early for a glass of wine?

Bunny Update - Week 3!

You know you couldn't sleep last night waiting for this. The younger litter has their eyes open and are becoming mobile. Looks like some interesting coat colors are developing, very exciting!

















The older litter are already very independent and will be weaned soon. I must dedicate more time to handling them so that harvesting wool will not be a huge ordeal.

Here is Mama bunny with her 2 white kits to give you an idea of how big they have grown. They are starting to show a fluffy coat too.












The (not so big) surprise is the arrival of a 3rd litter, with my white doe as mama. I see movement in the nest box amid a huge pile of white wool. I can't wait to get a closer look.

The bucks are now all segregated from the does, I think I have had enough of babies for a while.

Hello, my name is Jezebel, and I knit.

It all starts when you see a beautiful, one of a kind custom knit item. You take one look at the price, which was really quite reasonable, all things considered, and think to yourself 'I used to knit and crochet a bit, I can make one of these myself'. So it begins, searching the interwebz, craft stores and thrift shops for needles, yarn and patterns. You join Ravelry and spend hours drooling over patterns and the stashed yarn of others with like addictions. You browse Hyena Cart and Etsy, even Ebay, for the perfect colorways on the softest base. Next, you may dabble in dyeing your own colorways, spinning your own yarn or even raising animals for fibre. Your family grows weary of hearing 'just let me finish this row, I'll be right there' and the tears as you frog a project that was 3/4's finished. The spare bedroom is stuffed full of moth proof tubs of yarn, the contents better protected from the suns damaging rays than your own skin. You pet it and dream of the lovely projects it will all some day become. There is a tote at the ready, filled with a grab and go project for cars trips, waiting rooms and play group. Your online friends are knitters, you seek out knitting groups at the local yarns stores and libraries. The weekend trip and vacation calendar fills up with fibre festivals and conventions. Your friends are trying to decide whether they should turn you into Intervention, Hoarders or both.

Does any part of this sound familiar?


It was less than three short years ago that I fell in love with hand knit diaper covers, but they were out of my price range. I was already making recycled and fleece covers for Boogie and resale at my Hyena Cart Shop, but it had been a while since I picked up knitting needles and I had only ever knit flat. I knew nothing of plys, merino and BFL, mohair blends and mulespun. As I educated myself it became clear that I had no intention of ever buying acrylic at Wal-Mart ever again!



I was already frequenting a few cloth diaper forums and stumbled across a great group of yarn obsessed women that are amazing enablers. It started out with cheap needles and yarns, but I have gradually upgraded my supplies and have found some good bargains on higher quality yarns, though I still haven't taken the plunge into the really pricey yarns. Now I'm looking into other bases, like bamboo and silk, to make something for *gasp* myself!

A Mighty Wind

We had a front pass through yesterday that brought a small amount of rain and an incredible amount of wind that lasted all day long. I had mentioned in an earlier post that we had some older trees around the farm house that needed to be taken down and Mother Nature gave us a hand with one. She started a few years ago when this particular tree was struck by lightening, knocking part of it down and weakening what remained. When I pulled into the drive after running errands in town, this is what greeted me.
Amazingly, it dropped right in between the shed and chicken coop, causing no damage of note.




The tree was completely hollow and I found that the trunk that remained standing contained a birds nest with three naked hatchlings. I'm guessing they are Starlings, but irregardless, we couldn't leave them exposed so I sent Rob up the ladder to board up the sides and give them a roof. I'm hoping the parents come back to care for them. Notice the nest contained some Guinea and chicken feathers they found around the farm.
























The wind also ripped the plastic cover off of my hoop house. Not a complete catastrophe, but I would have liked it to remain intact for a few more weeks. I'm planning to relocate the hoop house to a spot where it will receive more sun and be better protected from the wind in the future, I'll just be doing it sooner rather than later.

Never a dull moment, NEVER.

Bunny Update - Week 2

Here they are at a week old, all eight of them! Looks like 2 are black, 3 gray/silver and 3 white (actually more like a whiter shade of gray at this point). Mama is doing a wonderful job!







The older litter, there are seven, is up and hopping around the colony. They are sampling solid foods and growing FAST! It is very time consuming trying to handle all of them to make them tame so it is easier to harvest the fibre from them when they mature. It would be nice if Boog could help, but I think he might make matters worse. I can't wait for them to start to get fluffy.

There are lots of things happening at the homestead this week. The new asparagus bed is planted as are most of the cole crops and potatoes. Today is the average last frost date here so the next few weeks I can start planting the bulk of the tomatoes, peepers, eggplant and beans. Busy, busy, busy.

I'll leave you with Boogie and Rebel playing in the sunshine.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, try and squeeze in a siesta to celebrate.