The new rabbit set up

Well here is a picture of the new rabbit set up, though it is still in progress.  As you can see, I have a nice piece of thick plastic sheeting from the fabric store, up the wall and down on the floor protecting against peepee accidents.  I now have casters on the bottom of the rabbit condos, making it super easy to roll the cages out of the way and clean any spills off the sheeting.  I also picked up this microwave cart at Walmart.  It has two adjustable shelves, which I positioned so that I could push the wheeled feed canister under it and there is a narrow shelf right at the top for the newspapers I use to line the trays.  There are also a few hooks on one side that are supposed to be for towels ro something, I am using them for brushes and a basket that holds toys and empty cardboard rolls to fill with hay.  I have two command hooks (those ones that don't damage the walls) on the wall you can't see, right next to the microwave cart, that hold my apron and a long sleeve button up that I wear under the apron to protect my arms from scratches.  The other hook holds my hair collection basket.  That keeps it off the table, out of the way, but easy to reach while I'm grooming.  I have a little shelf that I purchased from Ikea that I will be hanging above the microwave cart, now known as the grooming station, to hold the paper towels, clorox wipes and my rabbitry management binder.  This will keep these things off the table so that I don't have to clear it off every time I need to groom the rabbits.  The shelf also has a hanging shelf basket which I will use for storage of the tattoo clamp and supplies I will need to purchase once my rabbits start breeding.  Anybody want to get me a tattoo clamp for Christmas?

Grooming an Angora Rabbit

First off, I am in no way an expert at grooming my rabbits yet.  I haven't been doing it for very long and am still figuring out the best way to do it.  The system I am currently using involves putting a junky rag towel down on the grooming table (for easy clean up in case of accidents of the pee/poop variety) and hard sided very wide bowl or basket or container of some type.  When I first did this, I had two little bags sitting on the table - one labeled clean hair and one labeled mats.  But it was too hard to get my hand in and out of the bags while rabbit wrangling, so now I dump the clean hair into the bowl and the mats I just leave on the table next to the bowl and deposit them in the appropriate bags after the bunny is back in the cage.  I also wear an apron made of thick cotton to protect my clothes from being covered with hair and my body from excessive scratches.  I use mainly a stiff metal bristle comb, almost like a flea comb, but I also have a slicker brush, and a pair of school, round tipped scissors.
I mainly use the comb because it gets quite a bit of the hair out just fine.  I use my fingers to try to coax apart the mats that I find, or I treat them like my daughters' hair and grab the top, closest to the body and comb out the very bottom of the mat, then a bit higher, then higher, until the mat is gone.  Sometimes, I have to use the scissors to just cut the darn thing out.  Juliet seems to get terrible mats right behind her front legs that extend to her hindlegs...an oval cornicopia of mattedness on either side of her body.  And for some reason, her white hair is so much harder for me to see and separate mats in than it is for me to do the same with Gnomeo.  I end up using the scissors more on Juliet than Gnomeo.  But I still save the mats...they can be used for all sorts of projects, just not spinning. 

I couldn't do it while taking this picture, since I needed a hand to hold the camera, but usually I keep one hand on the rabbit and one hand combing.  I hold the rabbit still and his coat firmly, while trying to gently go through his hair without pulling too much.  If I get snagged on a knot or mat, I stop and focus on that area until the tangle is clear. I try to do the entire rabbit in one sitting, but if there are a lot of mats, I will tackle about half of them and leave the rest for another grooming session.  The rabbits get tired of sitting there and while the brushing doesn't seem to bother them, I do think they have a limited amount of patience for it.  I keep the collection bowl nearby so I can easily dump the hair as it accumulates on my comb. 
After a grooming session is over, I give the bunnies some love.  I scratch their head and give them lots of pets and talk to them a lot.  I feel like talking to them during this time of positive interaction will help them associate my voice with safety and help them to be calm and relaxed if the need for me to do something out of their normal activities should every occur.  Then they go back in their cages and I sort and put away the collected hair into appropriate bags.  I am currently keeping a bag of mats and a bag of clean hair for each rabbit.  I may end up combining them once I spin it into yarn, but for now they are in their own bags. 
So that is it!  It takes me maybe 15 minutes per rabbit, depending on how tolerant they are and how matted their hair is...but 15 minutes is usually what I spend.  Any longer than that and they really don't want to be there anymore.  However I will spend longer than that in the cuddle time after the grooming.  Maybe someday I'll figure out how to post a video and show you just what it's like, wouldn't that be something?

Book Review: The Nervous New Owner's Guide...

 

The Nervous New Owner's Guide to Angora Rabbits by, Suzie Sugrue

I promised a review of this book, so here it is.  This is the only book I could find on Amazon.com that deals entirely with Angora rabbits and their care.  So of course, I felt the need to buy it imediately!  I read this book about a month before actually bringing my rabbits home and was glad to have it.  It really did give me a good amount of information on my specific breed and I appreciated her writing style as it is written in a friendly voice, not a technical manual. 

First off, it's only 126 pages including the resources section.  I was slightly distressed at the length, but after reading the book I will admit that it did cover a lot of what I needed to know.  There are really only three chapters in this book and then a resource section in the back.  The chapters are: First Things First, Life with Fiber Rabbits, and Working with Angora Wool. 

In First Things First, she gives a bit of information about finding breeders, picking the angora for you, how many and what gender would be good for what you want to get out of them and what age you should be looking for.  I found this section interesting, but not very helpful since I had already figured all of this out from my own research on-line.  I did really like the break down she has about each breed.  It is nice to have this information all in one place, but like I said, I had already looked all this stuff up.

In Life with Fiber Rabbits, she covers housing, feeding, handling, grooming, behaviors and has some health information as well.  I liked the feeding section, it had a nice amount of information about treats and healthy, safe foods that I can give the rabbits when I'd like to suppliment their diet.  The section about health issues was also nice, since there are a few (like wool block) that are kind of specific to long haired rabbits and so are not covered in books mainly dealing with meat rabbits (since they are all short haired).  She also gives the good advice to get in contact and involved with any rabbit or breed specific groups in your area to gain access to a network of people who probably know more about rabbits than you do and can help you diagnose and treat any problems with your rabbits. 

I was excited for the Working with Angora Wool section and am just counting down the months until I have enough fiber to actually start spinning my own yarn!  This section covers different ways to store and process your raw fiber.  There are tips and tricks hidden throughout the section and even discusses blending fibers.  This section was probably my favorite chapter of the entire book, since it is what I got the rabbits for to begin with. 

My other favorite part of the book was the resource section.  The back of the book has a few pages of books, websites/disscussion groups, and a fiber festival list that is a nice jumping off point for anyone getting into angora rabbits.  I have looked into a few of these and as I have time I will venture into others, but I really like having a place to start like this.  You can type "fiber festivals" in Google and wade through a million pages of garbage - or you can find a nice list of fiber festivals in a book like this.   Love that! 

Overall, I think this was a good book to have in the Library of any Angora owner.  I would suggest it to someone thinking about getting into Angoras before they actually purchase a rabbit, since it does tell about the daily requirements and grooming and things that people don't really think about if their looking at it as just a cute pet that will magically give them some yarn once in a while.  If you are an experienced angora rabbit owner however, I don't know that this book would be worth the $15 price tag.  So I guess I'm on the fence with this one.  Good book for beginners and those looking to get into Angoras, but not a requirement for those with experience.  All in all, I am glad to have it in my rabbit library.

Sleeping like a rabbit

  You know how people say they slept "like a baby" to mean that they slept well?  My babies have never slept well, they toss and turn all night and wake at least once a night, calling for me.  I would much rather sleep like a rabbit.  When they first got here, they were pretty skittish and didn't sleep all the way.  They would lay down and relax, but not fully close their eyes...waiting for a predator or 6 year old to gobble them up at any moment.  Now that they have been here a while, they seem fairly sure that my kids won't eat them and that we do not also raise large birds of prey nor pumas.  So now they sleep, like really sleep.  They flop over on a side, very dramatically and with a loud thump.  They close their eyes, all the way and they sleep.  They sleep like they are dead...on a few of the hottest days, I have actually checked them to make sure they were just sleeping and had no succumbed to heat stroke before my very eyes.  They sleep so well in fact, they don't even bother to right themselves to "let go", if you will.

Sorry for the graphic nature of this picture, but in the spirit of full disclosure, I thought you should know.  Because they are so...fuzzy and because they like to lay with one leg slightly back and one slightly forward, they naturally have a little depression near their bum.  While sleeping, they poop and it just sits in this little depression which is quite annoying if you are the one who must groom the rabbit in question.  This fresh little poop, sits in this depression and "dries" to the fur.  Yuck.  So when I see this, I "accidentally" bump the cage so Poopy Butt wakes up and gets up, hopefully while the poop is still able to fall freely to the tray below.  Otherwise I have to pull the bunny out and clip the poop from the fur.  So if you ever decide to raise rabbits, this is just one of the interesting things you get to look for!  You're welcome.

A Bit About Juliet

Juliet.  My crazy Juliet.  I have been living with her for almost 2 months now and I think I've got her pegged.  But she, for sure, a dog trapped in a bunny body.  Really.

I just don't know where to start in trying to explain Juliet to you.  She hates her cage...well, she doesn't hate her cage.  She just wants to be out, all the time.  She will scratch at the door and pull at it with her teeth.  If I pass too close by her cage, she will jump up and run to the door and wait.  If I don't open the door, she will pull at it with her teeth.  When I do open the door, she stands right behind it (kind of in the way) and will grab it with her feet or her mouth and pull it open the rest of the way.  Then she will stick her head out of the cage as far as she can...terrifyingly far and even though I have read in a bunch of books that rabbits are fairly safe placed on a table because most won't try to jump off, I am certain Juliet does not fall into this category.  She is NOT a cautious bunny.  When I take her out to groom her, she practically jumps into my arms and scrambles to get down.  Once I get her to the table, I need at least eight more arms to hold her there and brush her at the same time.  Although once I get started, she seems to enjoy getting brushed and will tuck her head in close to my body and just sit, kind of cuddling with me while I brush her out.  Then when I'm done, she will put her feet up on my shoulders and sniff at my face and hair.  Like a little bunny hug.  Then it is impossible to get her back in the cage.  She really does not want to go back in once she is out.  Really.  Not a fan of being inside the cage.

Juliet loves to play.  She has a red whiffle ball that she likes to chase around the cage, but she doesn't like cardboard tubes like Gnomeo.  Since she enjoys being out so much, I did go to Petco and buy a small dog play yard that folds down flat.  It's just a little pop-up fence that's maybe 2 feet high that opens into a circle.  I put it in the garage and let Juliet play out there with Madison (the 6 year old).  This is great for two reasons.  One, Juliet gets out to play and wears herself out and Madison LOVES to be able to play with her.  Two, because the garage has cement floors, if she plays out there enough she should file her own nails by running around on the cement and I won't have to clip them!  We haven't tried this with Gnomeo yet...mainly because it has been over 100*F every day here and I really don't want them to over heat.  We have taken Juliet out only once, on an overcast day where it got down to 87*F, which was still dangerously hot for the bunnies.  Once it starts to cool down, I am hoping to make the garage or patio play time a regular thing.  I really think Juliet liked it and if it helps me with keeping their nails in check, all the better!

The other thing about Juliet is that she is LOUD.  How can a rabbit be loud?  Oh, they can.  She digs in her food bowl.  She scratches at the hay manger.  She bites the metal end of her water bottle.  She scratches at the door to the cage.  If my house is quiet, it means Juliet is sleeping.  It is really annoying trying to watch t.v. when Juliet is awake.  Really, really annoying.

A Bit About Gnomeo

This is Gnomeo.  I thought that since I now know him a little better, you might like to get to know him too. 

When I first brought him home, Gnomeo was painfully shy.  He would stay to the back of his cage all day, pressed flat against the back I suppose feeling safe because of the protection of the wall.  When I opened the cage to feed him, he would cower and wait until I was well back across the room before he would approach the food dish.  When I had to groom him, forget about it!  I had to get on my hands and knees and shove myself as far into the cage as I could to reach him back there.  He would plant his back feet and try to prevent me from getting him out, digging his little claws into the wire.  Once on the grooming table, he would sit petrified as I brushed him out and scramble to get back in the cage when I was putting him back.  I was afraid he would always be a frightened rabbit and might not even mate with Juliet if he were so frightened of everything, all the time.

Today, Gnomeo is still a shy rabbit.  However, he and I now have a bit of an understanding.  He still likes to stay to the back of his cage, close to the wall in the shadows.  When I open the door to feed him though, he comes right over to me and nudges my hand as I pour the pellets into his dish.  He runs over to the manger when I fill it with fresh hay.  When it's time to get a good brushing, he comes out with very little trouble as long as his hind legs are well supported and doesn't squirm to get back in his cage like he once did.  He actually seems to enjoy his grooming and after we are done, seems quite happy to explore a bit and get a good dose of head scratches and cuddles. 

He also really enjoys cardboard tubes (empty toilet paper or paper towel tubes) and his blue hard plastic whiffle ball.  It is hilarious to watch him jump around the ball trying to make it "jump" or pouncing on it and then flopping on his side.  He reminds me of a cat so very often.  My youngest Charlotte has claimed Gnomeo as her bunny.  He is very calm when she tries to pet him and since his cage is on the bottom of the set up, she gets to feed him sometimes.  He is also very quiet.  The only time he makes any noise at all is about 7 am when he does his laps.  He literally runs circles in his cage every morning, right about 7 am and his weight and speed make the entire cage set up shake.  A bunny's gotta stay in shape, you know?

I hope Gnomeo continues to be very happy here and I hope he can "do his job" come December when I plan on mating him to Juliet for the first time.  He is a beautiful rabbit with super soft wool and his offspring should be soft and sweet, just like him!

Oakland here I come!

Not normally words you would hear come out of my mouth with any excitement.  But thanks to the calender section in the back of the latest issue of Urban Farming magazine, I now know about the Rabbit Workshop occurring in this..."fair"...city in the month of October.  So if you are in the area and are interested in learning about butchering and tanning the hides of your fuzzy little ones, come on by and say hello!  I'll be the one looking squeemish in the back...
Oh!  And Sarah Cuthill of Frulingskabine Mico Farm will be there too!  So come say hi and learn how to get a rabbit from hoppy little cute thing to yummy stew in your belly and soft mocs on your feet!  Here is some more info for those of you brave souls interested.

Institute of Urban Homesteading
Rabbit Butchering and Tanning Demonstration
Saturday October 20, 12-4pm
Instructor: K.Ruby Blume
Location: North Oakland
Cost: $40-65
Following a tour of the rabbitry and a brief discussion on the benefits of rabbits as urban livestock we will demonstrate humane slaughter and dressing. Also included will be ideas for preparation of both rabbit meat and organ meats. Then the instructor will take you through a step by step demonstration of the tanning process. Some hands-on will be possible. It is highly recommended to take Raising Rabbits as a compliment to this class.

Discoveries...

I have learned a few things in the past weeks, about how to keep rabbits, how NOT to keep rabbits, habits my particular rabbits have and things that I need to change or modify in order to keep a happy home and rabbitry. 
*I have learned, for example, that you should always have casters on your stacked cages.  It is practically impossible to move two stacked cages with rabbits inside when you have to clean up a pee-pee puddle that has magically appeared UNDER the litter tray.
*I have learned that keeping rabbit cages on tile is not the best idea because when those pee-pee puddles appears, they like to soak into the grout and make me spend forever on my hands and knees with the bleach.
*I have learned that rabbits like to pee in the corner of their cages, as far into the corner as possible and since there is like a 3 inch drop to the litter tray, half of this pee will not make it into the litter tray due to basic rabbit anatomy and angles of trajectory.  Thus all of the previous lessons learned.
*I have also learned that they make pee guards for cages, and that they are a good idea.
*I have learned that rabbits like to play with whiffle balls, you don't even need to load them with hay.
*I have learned that it is important to look for hay that is LONG, not broken into bits to shove into a bag.  Rabbits do not seem to eat the little bits and they end up in the litter tray.  They like the long stalks, period.
*I have learned that rabbits have sharp little claws and you should NOT wear a sleeveless shirt when trying to make them do something they don't want to do.  Unless you like that I-just-survived-an-attack-from-an-angry-cat look.  Then by all means, go for it.
*I have learned that an apron is just as much a grooming tool as a brush.  It protects you from the errant scratch, protects your clothes from 800 tiny little fur balls that will never come off and makes you feel very official.
*I have learned that Gnomeo likes cardboard tubes filled with hay, Juliet thinks their dumb.  Gnomeo will play with it, eat the hay out of it, then chew up the tube until it's gone.  Juliet will pull the hay out to eat it, then never touch the tube again.
*I have learned that they will tolerate being accidentally poked in the eye by an almost 2 year old and not turn into some kind of evil rabbit bent on revenge.
*I have learned that water bottles with springs in the drinking mechanism are the most annoying water bottles on the planet, ball on ball is the way to go.
*I have learned that trying to watch t.v. at 10 at night anywhere near the rabbit cages is a bad idea.  You never realize how loud rabbits are until that point.  They drink a lot and it is LOUD.
*I have learned that plastic sheeting is my friend and protects my grout from random pee-pee puddles.
*I have learned not to let my husband touch the rabbit cages, to the demise of my beloved plastic sheeting.  See *I have learned #1 and know that without wheels, if you try to move rabbit cages you will just tear holes in the plastic sheeting used to protect the grout.
*I have learned that using newspaper to absorb the pee in the litter tray keeps the smell down as opposed to not using newspaper and letting it pool to be cleaned later.
*I have learned that it is almost never a good idea to give someone a detailed account of your trials in the rabbit world, unless they are genuinely interested.  When someone asks "How's it going with the rabbits?" They do not want to know all the details, no matter how interesting they may be.  Keep it to a "Great!" and move on.
*I have learned that every 3 days is a comfortable amount of time for us to go between litter changes.  The rabbits are in the house and it is a really hot summer, but we do not smell them at all until around day 4.  So 3 days is good for us.
*I have learned that the more newspaper I use to line the trays, the easier the clean up is...but then I have to use a lot of newspaper.  I am currently looking for an unlimited supply of free newsprint.
The list goes on and on, but to make a long list short, I currently have an order in for a set of casters, pee guards and new plastic sheeting to replace the one with the holes in it.  As soon as I get these things, I'll do a post about the set up that works for me - being a small raiser with cages inside.  I think those three things are going to make daily life SO much nicer for me...and the bunnies too, but mainly for me.

Oasis Water Bottles

This is not a compensated post.  I do not know anyone at Oasis nor did I get these bottles for free or anything like that.  I did, however, get some average water bottles at the local feed store when first setting up the cages for the rabbits.  I thought all the bottles looked the same and just picked one that didn't look "flimsy" or "cheap".  After two days of use, one of the bottles started a constant leak.  I mean it took about 45 minutes before the 32 oz bottle was totally empty and her waste pan was flooded with 32 oz of water.  Fun.  I checked out the bottle myself, limited as my knowledge is about water bottles and found nothing lodged in the tube, nothing blocking the little ball from falling back in place...I couldn't figure out how to fix it.  I called the feed store and explained to the lady on the other end of the line that I had purchased the bottles a month ago but had just started using them two days ago and that one was not working and could I bring it in to exchange or repair or something?  I had two long haired rabbits and it was over 100* outside, they needed water.  So I took the bottle in and she explained that I could not return it because it had been more than 30 days, but I happened to mention that I was starting a rabbitry and didn't have much experience with these bottles and wanted to know which brand to buy in the future so that as my herd grew I would not continue to buy faulty bottles.  I think the thought of future purchases softened her heart, because she recommended the Oasis brand and let me exchange the faulty bottle for one of the better ones.  She explained that the other bottle I had purchased relied on a spring to hold the ball against the end of the tube, keeping in the water.  Sometimes, the spring gets knocked lose and is no longer pushing against the ball, which allows the water to seep out.  This Oasis bottle has no springs and relies instead on two heavy metal balls, one behind the other.  Their combine weight is enough to keep the ball in the mouth of the tube.  So far I have really noticed the difference.  The other old bottle does seem to leak a bit, though it has not yet broken, while the Oasis bottle stays pretty darn dry.  I bought a second Oasis to use on the other cage, and am just waiting until Gnomeo drinks all his water so I can replace it with this one.  I will still keep the other bottle for emergencies - seeing as how I was not prepared when the first bottle broke, it seems a good idea to have an extra one now.  So if you are looking for a good water bottle brand for any small caged critter, the Oasis bottles come in a range of sizes and I haven't had any problems with it so far.  Seems to be quite the well made little bottle.  Let me know if you have any other product tips for me, and I'll keep you informed as to my findings as well.  Then we can all learn from each other and waste a little less money!

Review: Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits

A while ago I said that I would review the first book I read on the subject of rabbit raising, Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennet.  It is the first book I have read completely about rabbits, since I figured I would need a little more information than the single chapter the average Homesteading book gives to them.  I bought the Storey's Guide because of their reputation, they are one of the best in business of "farm" infomation books and how-tos.  So I gave it a shot and figured it couldn't hurt, right? 
All in all, it was a good resource.  It was not right for my situation and did not offer any real solid information on anything other than meat rabbits.  Mr. Bennet does give a lot of useful information that would be of help had I been setting up an outdoor rabbitry or planning a large number of holes.  He also did have lots of great information on Tans, Californians and other breeds that can be used for meat.  But as I said, the focus was almost 100% meat and a large (small scale) rabbitry.  The author, for example, has a detached garage he has outfitted as a rabbitry.  He included plans for this and various other large outdoor structures, which would be great for people planning on having 30 breeding rabbits and various litters awaiting slaughter at all times.  For myself, with only one breeding pair and having to house them indoors, not much for me there.  There is a section with good information on showing rabbits and making sure that you start with a good pedigree pair of rabbits so that if you do decide to show them or sell them to someone wanting to show them, you can.  There is also a cookbook section, which would be helpful if you were doing this for meat production.  I may end up utilizing any unsold kits as freezer fodder, but I hope to sell them all off.  And there is a nice little section on ailments and breeding as well, since these tend to be the same in all breeds this was also a helpful section. 
I do think that this book has it's place on any rabbit breeders shelf, but it did not have a lot of the information I was looking for as a woman getting into the Angora breeding scene.  It has a lot of good general information and if I am ever able to move my rabbits outdoors, there will be great use for this book.  So if I were new to Angoras and looking for only one book to buy, this would not be it. But if you are looking to set up a good reference library for your rabbitry, this book will fit in nicely.

They're here...

The rabbits in their new digs!  Gnomeo on the bottom and Juliet on top and my 6 year old in there for a size comparison.  Big rabbits mean big cages.  As you can see, she is happy they are finally here.

Rabbit Road Trip, Part 2

So after all was said and done, we loaded Gnomeo (right) and Juliet (left) into their carriers and put them in the back of the van with the window shade over them to try to keep the sun for beating directly on them.  I brought some newspaper for the bottom of the cages and Sarah gave me some hay, I think they were as happy as they could be for the ride.  Rabbits do not eat or drink during travel, I did bring some food and water for the stops that we made but none of it ended up getting ingested by either rabbit. 
We drove from Fruhlingskabine Micro Farm 5 hours to my Mom's house, where I had dinner and we tried to give the bunnies a little food and water.  About an hour later I was back on the road to my house, which is another 5 to 6 hour drive.  I can't tell you how long it was, it was just kind of a blur at that point.  All I know is that I started driving at right about 7 am and made it home around 1 am.  Tired person and tired rabbits.  I got them set up in their cages, hastily, and crashed.  I would love to show more exciting photos, but really the entire drive home looked like this...

So you really aren't missing much.  Except that spot on my windshield which happened somewhere around Turlock - the first time we went through it.  So the rabbits are here and we are all still alive!  My total road time, up and back, was about 19-20 hours.  LONG drive for two little rabbits.  But now I have beautiful rabbits to build my rabbitry and that is awesome.  Thank you to my Mom for going on this insane trip with me and Sarah at Fruhlingskabine Micro Farm for being my friend, mentor and provider of beautiful rabbits.  If you're in the market for Angoras and I'm too far south for you, check her out!

Rabbit Road Trip, Part I

Rabbit Road Trip 2012

 Well to have a rabbitry, one must obtain rabbits, right?  So bright and early one fine July morning...okay it was actually dark, really dark and early.  But still hot.  Annoyingly so.  Who decided it should be 75*F outside my house at 4 am?  Anyway, I left my house in the dark, hot, early hours of the morning and headed up to the Central Coast of California to make a pit stop at my parents house to spend the night and pick up my Mom, who volunteered to make the long trek up to Sonora with me to get my new "livestock".  It turns out this was a GREAT help because most of the drive was exactly what I posted above.  LARGE expanses of flat, parched land.  I would have gone completely insane were it not for her - thank you MOM!

Ice cream stop at Cruisers in Copperopolis, Ca.  Very Stephen King, I was expecting to return to my van to find the tires flat and have to spend the night in the creepy little too perky town.

 

 

The next day, Mom and I jumped in the car a little later since we didn't have any reason to get going as early as I did the day before and headed up north.  We drove for about 5 hours, through a lot of cute little towns and tiny dots on the map...some dots not listed on the map.  We thought we were lost about twelve dozen times, mapquest can make anything difficult, just so you know.  Like I said, I am so glad my Mom was with me!  I never would have thrown caution to the wind and went against mapquest to get to Los Banos, but she did and we got there!  So when we reached the curiously named Copperopolis, we stopped for a bathroom break and something to drink.  We ended up getting an ice cream, since they had Mom's favorite Pistachio, and I just love ice cream so I'll go for it anytime.  But the longer we sat there the more creeped out we got.  Copperopolis, besides having nothing in the way of copper anywhere within it's limits, is straight out of a Stephen King book.  The people all know each other, there are only 5 buildings and one is the town hall, there are apartments on the second floor of those 5 buildings which make you think that the people who work here live here too...just creepy.  So we got out of there fast.  Now I regret not getting a tee shirt.  Oh well.

Angels Camp, Ca

We finally made it to our overnight stop, Angels Camp California.  Home to the Jumping Frog contest Mark Twain wrote about.  It had a cute little historic downtown area which I hope will someday be filled up.  It was about half empty, but what was there was cute.  The sidewalks were covered with plaques to the jumping frogs of the past - each year's winner had it's own star.  Really cute.  We also got to see this little gem -

I don't know why the writing came out backward, I promise it was right in real life.

Mom looks so cool on that old chicken ladder.  I personally thought this was a high point on the trip so far.  That ladder just went forever!  And you would totally need it too, that was a steep hill!

A girl's gotta eat.  We checked in to our hotel and went down the block to get some Round Table Pizza, which Mom and I used to get when I was growing up but haven't had in about 12 years.  Hanging out in the hotel with my Mom, watching movies on HBO, eating yummy pizza and drinking wine from those tiny little single serve bottles = priceless.  It was a nice night.  And even nicer to wake up to this...

I have never had a view like this out my hotel room window before, have you?  We got on the road just after 7 am, hit the first Starbucks we came to and headed out to Fruhlingskabine Micro Farm to pick up the bunnies!  Yipee!  I was so excited, but the directions were so bad (thanks again mapquest) that it took us a bit longer than expected to get there...although we did get to see some interesting sites. 

Mark Twain's Cabin on Jackass Hill

Like Mark Twain's cabin.  Who knew?  So when we finally got there I was a little tense from the drive not going as I thought it would, but I was still SUPER excited to be meeting my e-mail buddy Sarah and my new rabbits.  Sarah was so nice and introduced us to her daughter and her bees and of course, her rabbits.  It is nice to be able to see her set-up and that she was willing to show us around and tell us whatever we wanted to know.  My Mom now is considering a cob oven for her yard and I am trying to figure out how I can hide a hive from my neighbors, unless they happen to be reading this.  Then I have not, nor will I ever consider putting a hive in my back yard.  Ever. 
Sarah gave me a grooming lesson, taught me how to sex a rabbit, what a normal rabbit should look like and how it should behave, gave me a care sheet in case I forgot the basics (because I did), gave me my pedigrees and was just overall extremely helpful!  I was only there for a little bit, but I would have loved to have chatted for days.  She mentioned on her blog that part of the fun of rabbit "farming" is meeting people and I totally agree.  She and I would never have met, had I not contacted her about her rabbits and I dare say she will be a great friend. 

Rabbit Buddies!  Left - me, right - Sarah Cuthill of Fruhlingskaine Micro Farm

Readying the Rabbitry

Well here it is!  The finished set up and new official rabbitry of Cold Hands Farm.  I know this will be a work in progress and that things will change here and there as I find things that work/don't work for our indoor set up, but for now it is ready to go!  I am thinking that Gnomeo will go on the bottom and Juliet on the top.  I have read that the males are a little more tolerant of the pokes and prods of young fingers and I figure Juliet will be much happier to be out of the way of those little fingers when she kindles...has babies, not an e-reader...although I'd be glad to be out of reach of little fingers if I had one of those.  Anyway, it's here and it's ready for bunnies!

 

Building Bridges...Cages, I mean

When this little beauty comes home with me in a week, she (as well as her lover boy, Gnomeo) will need a cage to call home.  So being the good Rabbit Mama that I think I am, I purchased two 30x36 wire rabbit cages, stack kits that put the two cages atop each other so they take up less space, and the necessary food, water, hay feeders for each new home.  I decided two days ago that it was probably time to build the suckers, since the time to bring our babies home was drawing near.  Since I have my two girls with me 24/7, they were my official "helpers" in cage building.  Which means to those of you without kids reading this post, that it took FOREVER to do anything and my tools kept getting turned into princesses and the j-clips were dumped out all over the floor which I kept stepping on and the girls kept kneeling on, then crying.  So I stopped.  I tried to build A cage for about an hour and got nowhere, so I just stopped and we went in the kitchen and ate some Goldfish crackers. 
Last night, since my Husband was home to keep the girls busy, I tried again.  I felt so great!  Building my own cages with wire mesh (cut panels) and j-clips - I even had to buy j-clip pliers and felt that this surely was something people did not have unless they were farmers.  Seriously, why would you need j-clip pliers unless you were building cages or collapsing fences or some other farm type structure?  Anyway, I was on a roll and built one of the cages.  Great!  Then I opened up the stack kit box, which can be added to one of these cages right away or years after purchase (it said on the website).  What it did not say, however, is that if you are planning to use the stack kit, you should NOT put any j-clips on the first two crossbars of the four corners of the cage.  Guess where the cage directions tell you to put the clips?  Yup, I had about 12 j-clips in the wrong place. 
For those who don't know, a j-clip is a piece of hard metal that's about 3/4 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide that, from the side, is shaped like the letter j.  You place the metal j in the j-clip pliers and position the pliers over the two pieces of cage wire you are trying to connect, they squeeze the pliers making the j roll and curl over itself, turning into an o with a little overlap.  Nice, strong hold.  Good, sturdy cages.  But how does one get those lovely little metal o's off?  Well, they do make a tool to remove j-clips.  I could have ordered one and had it shipped to my house.  But then I would have bunnies with no cages.  And yes, before you ask, I did go to the local feed store to ask if they carried j-clip remover tools, to which the guy behind the counter asked "what's a j-clip?".  They didn't carry them.  So before I ordered the tool on-line, I decided to try and really give it a go with good old fashioned woman power.  I grabbed two big sturdy pliers, a junky old screwdriver that I was willing to give up to the cause and got to work.  It took me over an hour to remove all 12 clips and my forearms are KILLING me.  Prying, pinching, trying to hold the clip with pliers in my left hand while trying to pry open the overlap with the pliers in my right hand enough so I could get a better grip and rip the sucker open.  Ugh, it was quite the "learning experience".  But I did it.  There is now a perfectly constructed 30x36 inch rabbit cage, with legs, a waterer, a hay rack and a food dish all attached and ready for little Juliet up there.  There is a slide out plastic tray under the cage so I don't have to take her out to clean the cage and the door is just hard enough to open that the six year old can't get it open at all.  Perfect!  So now, all I have to do is build Gnomeo's matching abode and stack them.  I'll post a photo of them as soon as they are completed and stacked, awaiting occupancy. 
I hope you like your new digs, Juliet, because it was a labor of love...and I will not be doing it for you again!

Planning a rabbit road trip

In about a week, I will starting my journey. I will drive the 6 hours to my Mom's house. She volunteered to go with me on my rabbit retrieval road trip and I would love to have the company. I will spend the night there, then bright and early (well it will most certainly not be bright, since we'll likely leave before sunrise)she and I will hop in the official farm van to head off to Sonora. I think it will be about 4 hours from her house, so we will have lots of time to chat. I wish we lived closer to them, I miss seeing them. We will hopefully make it to Sonora well before noon, have a bite to eat and walk around a little before heading over to see Sarah and picking up Gnomeo and Juliet. I hope to get a quick look at her farm and see her coop and hive (so jealous of both!) before loading Mom and rabbits back in the car for the long drive home. Four hours back to Mom's, then another six back home. It will be a long two days, but I will be leaving my two girls overnight for the first time ever and as their primary caregiver, I'm a little worried about how they will handle 48 hours without me. But they are excited about bringing the rabbits home, so they are torn between wanting me to go get them and wanting me to just stay home. It will be a big trip for all of us. So I guess I should probably go build their cages.

Two new books in the mail!

This morning was super exciting for me, as I got two new books delivered to my doorstep that I just can't wait to read. One is called The Nervous New Owner's Guide to Angora Rabbits by Suzie Sugrue and is the ONLY book on Angoras offered by Amazon. I thought I should give it a try to see if it was helpful so I could recommend it to people who buy my future little bunny babies. The second is one, not on rabbits, but general homesteading in the "suburbs" although I know very few suburbs around here where people can have goats, but whatever. it's called Little House in the Suburbs by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskin. I'm excited for a few of these chapters and we'll see if it's recommendation worthy. I'll review both of these books here when I finish them...which reminds me that I was going to review the other book I read on rabbit raising. Look back a tomorrow for a review of the Storey Guide to Raising Rabbits.

Our sweet new Juliet

Meet the new improved Juliet!  Yipee!  Isn't she just the sweetest?  I hope she and Gnomeo will be very happy together.

Ps. This photo was again courtesy of Sarah Cuthill at Fruhlingskabine Micro Farm.

Now that's one Hunky Buck

Here's Gnomeo!  We're just about 2 weeks away from bringing this hunk home and we can't wait.  Isn't he a handsome fellow?

Photo courtesy of Sarah Cuthill at Fruhlingskabine Micro Farm

Prepping for rabbits

There isn't that much time left before I get to drive up to Sonora to pick up Gnomeo and Juliet (still unsure which rabbit she will be, but soon to find out I hope). I have the cages, waterers, food crocks, hay feeders and grooming tools at the ready. I have two pet taxis ready to pop in the van for my rabbit road trip. I have a cage stacking kit on it's way and two more rabbit books are also zooming to my door, these two specific to Angora breeds. As soon as the stacking kits arrive, I'll build the cage stacks. Then right before I go to get the bunnies, I'll head into the feed store for my bag of pellets and Timothy hay. The only problem I have run into is that the feed store sells feed containers for 40lb bags of feed, but they sell 50 lb bags of pellets. What is that about? What am I supposed to do with the other 10 lbs of pellets? Hmmm. I think I'll have to head in to the pet store to see if they have any storage options. But for now, I think I'm on track to having everything ready for these babies when they get home. My dad has also volunteered to help me set up a letterhead and business cards based on my farm stamp design, so I will be able to put some business cards on the bulletin board at the feed and pet stores and also have some stationary avaiable for written correspondence if I put my rabbitry on the ARBA breeders list. So things are moving along and this farm dream of mine is slowly moving toward being a reality.

Official Farm Stamp

So the other day I carved a rubber tile into this farm stamp.  I need a new stamp pad, but you get the idea.  This will be the stamp I use to put my farm name on everything from equipment belonging to the farm to items sold by the farm.  It measures about 3x5, so I am going to try to make a smaller stamp as well.  But for now, this is it.  It's all kind of wonky, but I like it.  I think it's funny how when I see homemade things made by other people, I always think they are great!  The way they are just a little off so you can tell someone did it by hand - I love it.  But when I do things I always think they look a little too wonky.  Like it was the art project of a five year old, not a grown woman.  But I actually think this one came out pretty good, if I do say so myself.  So if you ever purchase anything from me, expect to see this stamp on your package!

An Award for Cold Hands Farm!

Wow!  My little blog here was nominated for a blogger award, how cool is that?  I would like to thank my friend Sarah over at Fruhlingskabine Micro Farm for nominating me!  I know I just started this Farm adventure, but I plan to give it a good go!

Now the rules....
Thank the person who gave you this award and  include a link to their blog. Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.  So in no particular order, here are some blogs that I LOVE to read!

1. Sarah at Fruhlingskabine Micro Farm
2. Jenna at Cold Antler Farm
3. Meg at Whatever
4. Nikki at WhiMSy love
5. Heather at Heather Ann
6. Alee at Farmgirl Alee and Farmerette Nora
7. Jeremy and Heather at McCool's Dusty Acres
8. Amanda at Itchin' Stitchin'
9. The Daughton Family at Firecracker Farm

....okay I can only come up with 9 that I read regularly...I'm always on the hunt for new blogs though, and with this new Farm, I'll be scouting out other Farm blogs like never before! Now I'm supposed to give you seven things about myself...hmmm

1. I love to bake pies...but really only apple.
2. I love to knit, but I have no patience...so often leave a blanket half finished FOREVER!
3. I love calamari, like seriously, LOVE IT.
4. I can read a 400 page book in less than a day.  I've done it a few times actually.
5. I really love sappy Christian old west movies.  I know that's very specific, it is what it is.
6. I have a special love affair with Honey Mustard Sauce.
7. I secretly wish I could make a living as one of those guides at a pioneer era recreation homestead, that dresses up and teaches school kids how to card wool or churn butter.

So now I'm off to let all the people I nominated know that, well, I nominated them.  So thanks again Sarah!