End of a Line?

    Before I began to write what will be my last blog entry of 2014 I read some of the titles of my previous blogs. I did this because I wanted to get a sense of what I'd written about over this past year, so much has happened and the memories become muddled together. I see that many of my blog titles have been one word and have also been something close to virtues or ideals. I didn't start out thinking of writing the type of blog I have, it was meant to be more informational and less cerebral, but I hope I have still gotten my point across. That point is farming is fun and work, rewarding and disappointing, requires hoping for the future but also requires looking backward. These points almost seems antithetical and yet they are, as we have learned this year part of farming. We have invested a lot of ourselves and our resources into this project, not only physically but emotionally as well, and there have been rewards and trials to accompany those investments.
    We have been rewarded with a bountiful harvest from our garden and a freezer still full of produce. We leaned how to blanch and freeze our produce, we made ice cream from freshly harvested raspberries, Kathy made refrigerator pickles and she even sold some which was our first produce sale. We added a new doe named Isis to our herd of rabbits and had more litters and produced more rabbit meat than ever. We also lost long waited for crops to infestations of worms, moths, beetles and every creepy crawly thing you can imagine. We lost our first buck, Chase, to a still unknown malady and a few months later his only surviving son followed him to a similar end. I know that they were farm animals and yet I had so much invested in them emotionally that I felt my heart was torn in two as I watched them falter. I did learn to watch for symptoms and I may have saved Iris and Isis from falling to the same condition, I'm wiser because of my two bucks.
   The last blog I wrote spoke of waiting games and those games are almost at a conclusion for my rabbit herd. I bred Isaac to Iris and Isis just before his failure of health became evident and although the process and outcome was suspect in my eyes I have maintained a sense of hope that I would be able to continue Chase's lineage. The waiting game is close to over and neither doe had kindled and by tomorrow I should know if that line will continue or not. Isis continues to give me reason to hope for a litter sired by Isaac but Iris does not and so the waiting game continues for one more day. The reason for waiting this final day is that it is the maximum gestation period for a female rabbit and so New Years day will dawn with a new year but also, perhaps with the end of a line. I won't give up on breeding rabbits, it's not in my nature to quit so easily but I am faced with the fact that where I started and where I hoped to end up may not be the same place. If there is an end to this line then I'll start another, but I'll be much wiser and more experienced. I hope anyone who reads this blog will come to appreciate the work and dedication it takes to run even the smallest farm and that you might even want to try it yourself. If you ride a train to the end of the line takes you to your journey's end, if we arrive at the end of Chase's line it will be only the beginning of something new.

Waiting Games

    Much has happened on the farm since I last wrote. The winter solstice has come and gone and very slowly now the days are growing longer, although the cold which usually accompanies winter's arrival has remained to the north. This is not entirely a bad thing as I have two does which should kindle this weekend and the less than arctic chill will help the little hairless kits to stay alive until they are nestled under mom's nest of hay and fur. Isaac had to be put down and in true farmer fashion I performed and amateur necropsy to report to the vet on my next visit. I did this with tears in my eyes as Isaac reminded me much of his father Chase who I had grown to love. I also did this because two of my does seem to be suffering from what ever ailed Isaac and Chase. Isis and I went to the vet armed with this information and some poop for testing and what we got was very little results. The tests revealed nothing and she encouraged me to continue with treatment I have developed and been following. Isis is pregnant and due to kindle Saturday as is Iris and so preventative antibiotics are out of the question. I continue to feed them lettuce, carrots, celery and anything they will eat to keep them from losing weight and I play the waiting game. I wait to see if they'll start to eat after kindling and I wait to see if the blood line I was pinning my hopes on will continue. I wait to see if I'll be disappointed and wonder how much more disappointment I can put up with in one year.
     There are other projects on the farm that need to be completed. The raspberry canes need to be cut down and the chicken run needs to be finished but time, weather and money have had most of our projects on hold. The weather hasn't been cold enough to allow the raspberry go dormant enough to cut and the rain has kept me from doing anything with the chicken run. I had hoped to buy more hanging hutches and materials for another structure but money hasn't allowed for that. I had hoped to have the hard cider bottled by now but with an exceptionally slow fermentation it still sits in the carboy waiting for my hard working yeast to complete their job and so I play the waiting game.
    We have also had some great successes on the farm. I sold our first trio of breeder rabbits and we have processed more rabbit meat than ever. We had our facebook page liked by Buy CT Grown, which promotes the buying of local farm grown products, this should provide some great exposure for our little farm and hopefully move us toward our goal of becoming a full time rabbitry. I also had my first contact from a local restaurant about featuring rabbit as a bimonthly menu item. This summer after numerous visits to the town hall we obtained approval to have honey bee hives in town which we hope to add to our farm within the next two years. We also added sun chokes to our garden plot, a first for both of us, which is a highly saleable item in many farmer's markets, co-ops and health food stores. We need to add more more rabbits, hutches, and purchase hives and bees to make this happen and so we play the waiting game. Patience is listed a biblical virtue and as much as we need it in life we certainly need it on the farm. Farming requires patience, tenacity, planning, endurance, hope and waiting all of which we have grown in this last year. I hope you'll continue to play the waiting game with us and see how this " Little Farm in the City" does from here.

Measurements

    Today marks just ten days until the winter solstice arrives marking the end of fall and the meteorological beginning of winter. The full cold moon has come and gone and the nights are continuing to grow longer and the days shorter. We all measure things every day often without thinking about it, but sometimes with great planning and intent. We measure time and distance, we measure our years and we measure success and failure. The farm is different in many ways and not so much in others. On our little urban farm I tend to measure our successes or failures based on our production goals and the learning of new skills. I tend to measure time in the amount of daylight I have to work on the farm or the number of days I have left to prepare the gardens for spring planting. There is a lot that went well and a few things that did not turn out as I wished. The garden harvest was for the most part a huge success, we picked, blanched and froze a lot of produce. I have yet to tally the litters of rabbits we had this year but I have the general feeling that it has been a good year. I am happy with my return to zymurgy after a good session of bottling our freshly brewed stouts and as I sit and watch the gentle bubbling of the airlock of a slowly fermenting batch of hard cider. There have been many positives on the farm this year.
    I have also been measuring our success by the establishment of a good bloodline of rabbits. My goal has been to establish a good pedigree of rabbits so I can sell breeder rabbits, have really good meat production and establish a line of show rabbits. That goal was made more difficult because our buck Chase started losing weight for unknown causes and he eventually had to be put down. I was fortunate enough to have the foresight to save a buck that he sired and so could continue the line I wanted to establish. I have been faced with further difficulty as Issac seems to be succumbing to his father's illness but at a much younger age. Issac will also have sired two litters before he can't breed again and the choice that is in front of me is difficult. I haven't determined if this is a genetic problem or if it is environmental issue and so my choice to save his offspring is not as clear as I wished it was. I am measuring my success on the lineage of rabbits I have yet to prove and yet I am unwilling to give up on the progeny of the buck I grew to love.
    The days of some are measured in the hours until the weekend arrives. Here on the farm I am measuring them in the time to ferment the current batch of hard cider and the gestation period of my currently pregnant does. The measurements of the farm are easy in some ways and difficult in others it is after all hard to measure progress of things controlled by nature. Many people measure progress in tangible results and while we do that to some extent there is a difference in our measure of success. I will continue to chart our progress and attempt to measure that progress by the feeling of satisfaction we feel from our efforts on the farm. It is tempting to get caught up in measuring our success by the physical evidence of the things we produce but I am committed finding and participating in the joy and satisfaction of knowing that we have stayed our course. Kathy and I started this project with the idea that we could grow produce and animals that are better than we can get in the supermarket and to enjoy our efforts as well. Measurements are fickle by nature but as we continue this project I hope that we can truly share the measure of our success.

Long nights and Zymurgy

    I am sitting here writing this newest blog and listening to the sound of mixed precipitation falling on the roof. It's been almost three full weeks since I returned to work full time and the shortness of the days has really impeded progress on the farm. Ethan and I managed to string one course of hardware cloth around the bottom of the chicken run and I hope to do another course this weekend. I have managed to turn the top layer of the compost over and the only thing left standing in the garden plots is the spent raspberry canes. The light of day has become a very precious thing and I am trying to squeeze every bit of production out of those short sunlit hours. Last weekend I sacrificed some production on the farm to break a three year hiatus of brewing with my brother. We made three different styles of stout and as we boiled wort run off from grain and added hops I remembered how much I love zymurgy. Zymurgy is the study of the process of fermentation and it can be as  simple or complex as the brewer makes it. I love the whole brewing process, the smell of sugars being washed from freshly milled grains, the aroma of hops as they are poured into the brew kettle and the challenge of the boil as we attempt to arrive at our desired specific gravity. Last weekend was successful on many levels and although we were a bit rusty we quickly knocked off the cobwebs and had a very good brew session. Monks often used the dark and long days of winter to create some of the world's best known beer styles and it felt as if we were once again following in some very old footsteps.
     Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and even though I'm not working the day will be spent with family and friends instead of working on the farm. There is a part of me which feels like I'm squandering the daylight hours but I have reminded myself that this is a day for celebrating what we've been blessed with and giving thanks for and sharing those blessings. There are farm chores that will need to be done but those are easy tasks and won't take much time. I have been leaving lights on over the rabbit hutches to simulate summer daylight so the does will be more inclined to mate with our buck. In an attempt to defy the long nights of the season tomorrow I'll breed the first of the does and the remaining does will be bred this weekend. Hanging hardware cloth and breeding rabbits will be almost all that's done on the farm this week but there will be one more thing to do. Once again zymurgy is involved and I'll have Kathy pick up five gallons of late season cider from Woodstock Orchards; I may be partial to this orchard since I worked there years ago. I'm a true New Englander and in the typical style of our region I won't be making typical hard cider but New England style hard cider. We have to deal with cold winters here in the northeast so we like to have a bit more warmth to our cider. I'll be adding five pounds of brown sugar to the cider which will add, in typical New England style, about four to five percent more alcohol to the cider. There probably won't be much more that I can accomplish this weekend.
     I've spent a great deal of time reading about the lifestyle of farms of yesterday and we have been modeling our farm to match those times. Kathy and I believe that this simpler lifestyle is a more healthy one, both physically and mentally. Today's farms are places of constant, even frantic places of busyness with little consideration for the animals, land or people that live and work on them. The short days and long nights have been supplanted by electric lights, crazy fertilizing practices and round the clock agriculture. Tractors with lights allow for all night harvesting and intensive breeding and growing practices sacrifice quality for quantity. When I look at our twenty-four hour, seven day a week culture and see how quickly appreciation for the slower, smaller things of life are lost I find that I'm happy with some long nights mixed with a bit of zymurgy.

Last Harvests

   Since I last wrote we have lost the hour of  evening daylight that daylight savings time gave to us and the nights start much earlier now. I have gone back to work full time and so the farm chores have been relegated to the weekends. I have found that the loss of that evening hour has affected me more than I thought it would. The pressure to get the outside projects finished has just soared and the limited daylight and much cooler temperatures has just moved those projects to the top of the list. Last weekend I harvested the remaining habenaro peppers and put them in a brining solution. Today I packed the peppers in canning jars filled with olive oil and checked one more thing off the to do list. All the posts have been set and the door has been hung for the chicken run, now all we need to do is install the fencing. Yesterday I prepared the area for planting sun chokes and today the chokes went into the ground. It was warmer than I expected it to be and so the planting was easy and it was a pleasure to once again have garden soil on my hands. I planted the tubers exactly as my friend told me I should and thought about next years harvest of a new addition to the garden. The thought made me smile and I smiled even more as I checked another item off my list. I accomplished most of what I intended to do this weekend and now all the garden plots have been spread with rabbit manure and all the dead stalks and canes have been cut down for composting or removal.
    The full beaver moon has come and gone and we've only had a few really chilly days. The anticipated cold snap has yet to come and so the last of garden crops is hanging on. Kale, that wonderful and healthy green is hardy and I've seen it growing in several inches of snow, is still hanging on in the garden. There have been green worms munching on our last crop and I removed several of them today. The weather men are predicting a touch of the polar vortex will come at the end of the week and I hope it will end the lives of my little green poachers. I had written in my last post that I was ready for the growing season to be over and also to finish the last of my outside projects, this has not changed but I'm still hoping to nibble some of our kale. I have sold almost all the current litter of rabbits and so am really leaning toward a winter breeding of the does. This decision means that Issac will have to sire the next litters and I'll have to gear up for another outside project, mainly keeping the new born kits from freezing during their first few days of life.
    As I write this post I can see the leaves blowing from yard to yard and I can also see that most of the leaves are off the trees. Autumn is more than half done and winter is just six weeks away and although I have been talking about what I've been doing outside I know that those things are coming to an end. I am anticipating the coming change and have picked up two carboys from my brother for fermenting cider. I will order the yeast for inoculating the cider next weekend and the weekend after that have a carboy filled with freshly pressed cider from Woodstock Orchards. We will also begin looking into a cheese making kit in the next week or two which is a very exciting prospect for me as I love cheese. These are all inside activities and I'm really looking forward to starting them  because it's another phase of farming we haven't really tried yet. I don't mind the cold, in fact I love deer hunting or checking traps on the crisp falling mornings, so it's not why I'm ready to move our projects in doors. I'm ready to move inside because I'm looking forward sharing our  new experiences with our friends, so as I look out the window and see the long shadows of a shorter day I'm excited for the changes brought on by the season of  last harvests.
     

Mid Fall

    This time of year has a distinctiveness that you won't find in any other month or season. I really felt it as I made my rounds around the gardens and past the rabbit hutches this morning and I find the more time I spend on our little farm the more I notice it. The winds are gusting and cool this morning and at eleven am  the sun has nearly reached the halfway point in it's daily course. I can see the shadows are longer now than they been since early spring at this time of day and there are other differences as well. The gardens which were once flush with greenery and produce are nearly empty now; only a few kale and habenaro plants remain but these will be gone by the weekend. Many of the once colorful leaves have fallen to the ground and they make that unique rustling sound as the wind gusts blow them from one yard to the next. The air smells and feels different as well. The humidity that persisted even into earlier this month is gone and the air is drier and cooler. The summer smells of hot dogs and hamburgers being cooked on the neighborhood grills has been replaced by the faint smell of decaying leaves and plants mixed in with an occasional whiff of freshly cut silage.

     We have lost four hours and forty minutes since the summer solstice on June 21st and this coming weekend we'll give back the hour we gained from daylight savings time. As the days have become shorter so have my garden inspections, it's been a good season but I'm ready for a change myself. The time change will coincide with the end of our gardens and the beginning of the fur trapping season. Many people will complain that it gets dark way too early but if you fur trap as I do then you appreciate the earlier sunrise. I won't be trapping this year due to my shoulder surgery but I'll be happy to put an end to weeding and start trying to finish up many of the other projects started when the weather was warmer. I need to finish buying the materials for the chicken run and get the whole thing put together. We'll have sunchokes to plant this weekend and a partition still needs to be buried in the front garden to keep the chokes contained to their desired area. All the does have had their litters and I'm debating if I want to chance some cold weather litters, so I'm working on a way to provide warm nest boxes for any kits born in the winter chill. There is still much to be done on the farm.

      The weathermen are predicting a major fall in temperatures at the end of the week and this will likely bring to an end the unseasonably warm days we've been enjoying. I'll be rushing to get all the projects done that I've listed off and fortunately Justin will be able to lend a helping hand. There are still plenty of things I want to do and many of these will be able to be done in the warmth and protection of the house. I want to start a batch or two of hard cider, learn to make cheese and even try my hand at making some raspberry wine. I may try to use some of the pelts from our next batch of rabbits to make fur lined mittens or some other fur lined garment. The seasons have certainly changed as have my chores on the farm and soon the full beaver moon will hang over the frozen ground of the gardens, but right now I'm enjoying the changes of mid fall. 

Last Taste of Summer

   I have written a bit about the impending fall season and finally its arrival. I have observed how the animals are scurrying around gathering the last easily obtainable food and how I sense the impending freeze, which will be here soon. Kathy and I had a chance to get away for a few days this week and as always the trip to Vermont was great. While we were away my thoughts still turned to the farm and I found myself wondering how things were going. I had left instructions with the boys about making sure the floating row cover was still covering the peppers, making sure the rabbits had adequate food and checking on the does for any signs of early kindling. I knew that they would do as I instructed but I still have an obsession for things being done in a particular fashion and I wondered how things were being done. I loved the trip and the few days we had away were spent doing less obsessing and more relaxing. We had a chance to visit some of the places that we always go to and also found some new places to visit. We went to some different brew pubs and ate at a different restaurant than we typically celebrate Kathy's birthday at. The farm was less in the forefront of my mind and more in that place that just makes your thoughts turn there occasionally.
    While we were in Vermont we had quite a hard frost on Sunday night into Monday morning and although the plants where we were showed they had been frosted before I knew that we would have had our first frost on the farm. I heated up the car to defrost the windshield and wondered how the plants and animals back home had fared. The temperature in Vermont never got quite that cold again while we were there and rain moved in on the day we left. I had expected to be driving in lousy weather all day but we drove out of the rain and when we entered Connecticut the sun was shining and the temperature was nearing sixty-five degrees. When we arrived home I inspected the gardens and the rabbits before we unloaded the car and found the does had all burrowed in to the hay in the nest boxes but hadn't kindled yet. I then walked over to the habenaro pepper plants and found that the row cover had blown off the end plant which had been badly frosted. I found myself questioning whether the boys had done as good a job as I hoped they would. I then pulled back the rest of the row cover and found the tops of every pepper plant wilting from the frost's kiss of death. I then knew I couldn't have done any better had I been home and so I thanked the boys for taking care of things while we were away.
     We've been home a few days now and I've settled back in to the routine of the farm. I've been checking the habenaro plants and there are still a number of peppers that were spared the bite of the frost, so I will harvest what ever is left this weekend and pull the remaining plants out. The kale and brussel sprouts are hardy and they did fine with the frost. The rabbits were holding out but when I checked this morning Isis had kindled and we have five or six new kits. The raspberries took a beating from the frost and this latest Nor'easter and there are only a few past ripe berries left clinging to the brambles. I knew the frost would come, so before we left for Vermont I had walked through the gardens doing what might be a final inspection. I had walked by the raspberry plants and found some really plump and ripe berries. I stopped for a moment and carefully picked a hand full and popped them into my mouth, they were wonderfully sweet and juicy. I enjoyed the taste and moved on with my inspection of the gardens. There is still plenty to do on our little farm before hard winter arrives but I'm glad I stopped at the raspberry patch before we left, for even though we have a lot garden produce in the freezer, this was going to be my last taste of summer.
       

Getting Away

   As I sit to write this post the rain has finally starting to slack off a bit. I've been waiting for a rain like this most of the summer and although for many with gardens it comes too late, I'll take it. I have already mentioned that we still have plants growing and this rain will do them good. The kale is growing well and tomorrow I'll cut a bunch to make spicy sausage and kale soup tomorrow. The habenaro peppers are almost ready to pick and I'll probably do that Saturday. There are still a lot of small peppers on the plants and with cold weather on the way I'll have to cover them and hopefully eek out the last bit of fruit they have to offer. The rabbits are gaining weight rapidly now and Justin helped me process seven kits today. That leaves me ten left to butcher, I had planned to do more today but my shoulder didn't want to play along.
    It's been a good year on the farm regardless of the cooler and drier than usual summer. We harvested 32 lbs of onions, 40 lbs of potatoes, 25 lbs of raspberries, 30 lbs of squash, 10 lbs of green beans and numerous uncounted pounds of tomatoes. The rabbits have had a relatively productive year with 34 kits being raised to harvest weight thus far, although there should have been more, I'll take this number since we have had some problems. I can still think of a load of things that need to be done in addition to harvesting kale and habenaro peppers but with gardening slowing down I really feel like I'm ready for a little break. Running a farm, even a small one, is a busy and demanding proposition with little down time. There is always something to do and if Kathy and I are able to get to our goal of having a full time rabbitry and farm there won't be much time for breaks. I do keep this in mind and so I booked a couple of days away in Vermont, where we can celebrate Kathy's birthday and have some much needed down time.
      Getting away is precious and time alone with my wife even more so and I'm determined to put the farm out of my head for a few days. It doesn't happen often but the timing is nearly perfect because the rhythm of the farm is just at the pace we need it to be. I still feel the pressure of the remaining chores and still feel like I'm scurrying like those nut burying squirrels but the chores at hand can wait a few days. The rest of the rabbits need to gain some more weight and the does shouldn't kindle until we return, although they'll have their nest boxes Sunday morning before we leave. The cold weather coming in the next few days isn't really a concern as the does will pull enough fur to keep the new kits warm.  I have several weeks to get the chicken run up and the raspberry canes don't need to be cut to the ground until late November. Kathy and I love to go to Vermont and hope to settle there one day, so when we visit the state we often check out real estate ads for property that might meet our needs for our planned farm and rabbitry. The farm and our goals are never far from our minds and we love what we do, but while we can we also love getting away.

Burying Nuts

   Well the full Hunter's Moon has just passed and with it a cold front has ushered in the cooler weather we often associate with this time of year in New England. We have had some really warm days this month but there have been less of them and the days have become noticeably shorter. The sun doesn't even hit the front and side gardens until eight in the morning and the back gardens barely feel the it's warming rays in the late afternoon. The growing season has continued as our plants haven't yet felt the deadly kiss of frost and so I do my garden rounds daily now, attempting to will the remaining plants to grow faster so I can harvest the last of the garden bounty. I'm sure you can feel the change in the air as much as I can; the days are not only passing more quickly but there seems to be an urgency in the air as well. I may be more attuned to the feeling because I spend a lot of time out doors, not just in the gardens and with the rabbits but also in the woods and fields.
    I am a hunter and a trapper and so I spend a lot of time scouting areas in the fields and woods looking for good spots to deer hunt or set traps for the fur bearers I target. It is this time spent in the woods that often conveys the urgency of the season to me. I walk down trails and hear the animals' increased activity, gone are the long days of summer and plenty and coming are the days of cold and want. That season hasn't yet arrived but the animals and I know it will, so they scurry along the forest floor or the margins of harvested corn fields feasting on the last of the seasons' easily obtained food. While I don't need to put up food stores and fat like they do, I can always go to the store, I still feel the urgency in the air. We've worked hard on the farm this summer and while the ground is still soft and workable there's more to be done. I have to set fence posts and wire for the chicken run and rabbit manure needs to be spread and worked into all the garden plots. I have to watch closely and wait for the last possible moment to pick a plentiful crop of habenaro peppers. The kale and brussel sprouts can stand a good frost but the raspberry canes and fans of asparagus will certainly succumb to the first icy grip of late fall so they'll need to be cut down before the snow flies.
    Though I know there is less to do than there was even a month ago I still walk around the gardens making my mental list. There are many days that I see gray squirrels scurrying through and around the garden with black walnuts in their mouths. They sense the urgency of this season, perhaps even more than I do, and so they bury the food they've gathered with a manic pace. I feel maybe just a little like them, scurrying around and getting ready for the cold season that's not far away. I hate when they bury those nuts in the garden but I understand why they do it and I have to smile just a bit since there are days when I feel like I'm just urgently burying nuts.

Shorter Days, Longer Lists?

     This past weekend was, as predicted, absolutely beautiful with cloudless skies and abundant warmth. We broke the record on Sunday for a high temperature for the date and so I had the opportunity to linger on the patio enjoying what will likely be the last of significantly warm weather this year. Kathy and I were able to enjoy a few glasses of wine and relax on the patio because there is much less to do in the gardens now. That is at least how I justified my inactivity but the shortness of that beautiful weekend reminded me that there is a lot to do. I like to make lists because they help me get my thoughts in order and keep my priorities straight. If you visit my house you will often see a piece of lined note paper with number running down the left margin sitting on the coffee table in the living room. Kathy likes to poke fun at me because " the list" is always if front of me even when I'm trying to relax. My boys might tell you I'm a workaholic but I would rather characterize myself as determined and it is this determination to do well that drives the list.                                                       I have found myself thinking lately that my list should be growing shorter because there should be less to do. The growing season is just about done, but we have yet to have a frost so plants are still growing. That means that if I want the late harvest plants to do well I still need to weed around and water them. These two chores have been at the top of the list all summer and I still can't strike them off the list yet. I walk around the garden and hope for just another week of good weather because then I should be able to harvest snap peas and a whole bunch of habenero peppers. If the weather holds then I'll have to add brining and storing jars of hot peppers to my growing to do list. I had resigned myself to doing little or no hunting and trapping this year due to my recent shoulder surgery but I'm progressing faster than I'd hoped. If my progress continues I might have to add scouting my hunting and trapping areas to the list.                                                                            We have built the chicken coop, the does have been bred once again, I inspected the rabbit hutches which I'd hoped to add to our farm, we made iced cream using some of our freshly picked raspberries, many of the spent plants have been cut to the ground so I can check those things off the list. I have also determined that I want a bigger area for the chickens to free range in so I can now add a larger run with a fence to my list. The hutches weren't what I'd hoped for so now I'll add that search to my list. There is a lot to do before the snow flies and the ground has frozen into an unworkable state and the shorter days just don't help. I was hoping the the shorter days would shrink my to do list but the opposite seems to have happened. Then when I look at the numbers on my list I can see many have been crossed off and less have been added. I know there will always be numbers added to my list because that's the nature of the farm. Paces and gears change on the farm as the days shorten and the list changes too. I look at my list and I have just about the same amount of numbers in the margin that I always have and so I can relax just a little. I recognize this fact and can be happy with what we've done on our little farm this year; it seems the shorter days only seem to make the list longer. Oh there's a lot more to do but at least I can enjoy our accomplishments because I love this little farm project and I won't be a slave to the list.

Shifting Gears

  I recently wrote about moving forward and while going forward is always necessary on the farm, sometimes the speed has to change. This time of year requires a change of speed and pace. The summer is officially over and autumn has begun, there are a few plantings yet to be made but the season is pretty much over. The harvest is nearly done, there are just a few raspberries left to ripen, some habenero peppers which need to mature and kale continuing to grow but the these are the last hangers on in what has been a very busy growing season. The sun is no longer providing the needed light and warmth to sustain any more crops and it's time to think about digging out the last tough weeds still clinging to the edge of the gardens. I have spent the last few days walking around the garden plots and making mental notes of what needs to be done next but the pace is slower than what it's been. Gone are the days of picking, blanching and freezing all the rapidly ripening produce. I no longer have to furiously pull weeds to keep the gardens clear they are finally reaching their end and I'll digging out those that have stubbornly made their way into the garden plots.                           With this change of seasons there seems to be an inward shift of gears going on and though the pace is slower there is no less work to do. The work that needs to be done almost seems to require a lower, slower but more powerful gear. The last garden plants will be pulled out over the next few weeks and rabbit manure will need to be spread over the garden plots and tilled in, such work isn't done quickly and requires just a bit more effort. The chicken coop has been assembled but the surrounding ground needs to be leveled to provide an adequate place for the coop and run to rest, this also will take some slower moving and more muscle. The rabbits are now over five weeks old and in a month I'll begin processing them for our family and friends and this too is just a slower process which requires less speed and more precision. Tomorrow I'll go look at four rabbit hutches to see if they'll meet our needs, if they do that also will require some planning and effort to get them set up before winter.
   There are still lots of chores to be done they're just different and they require a different gear. The does have all been bred again and when they kindle the kits will require a bit more care due to the cold weather that will be in place when they arrive. I hope to scout my hunting and trapping areas for the coming season and, if my shoulder permits it, to gather meat for the coming year. This type of activity also requires a slower, more thoughtful pace and a greater effort all because it's tough to endure the cold and dark of this season. Kathy and I will be using the shorter days to learn how to make cheese, jam, make hard cider and acquire other farm skills that are necessarily done in doors. We will also plan for next years gardens, the arrival of our new hens and the expansion of the farm in new ways. We're still going forward on the farm and forward toward our dreams all that's changed is we've shifted gears.

Moving Forward

    It's been just a week since Justin and I buried Chase our New Zealand White buck and I have found that the time has passed rather quickly. There is still a lot to do on the farm, rabbit kits are growing well and it will be time to process them soon, kale planted a few weeks ago is growing steadily and will be ready to harvest in about a month. We have been harvesting raspberries at a break neck clip and the freezer now has twelve pounds of wonderful sun ripened fruit which will be used to make jam, iced cream and an assortment of baked goods. Decisions still need to be made as well, I need to decide if I'll breed the does one more time before the weather becomes too cold and this then would involve borrowing a friend's buck again since Issac is too young for the task. I also need to decide when the remaining plants should be pulled out, wondering if they have produced their last good crop. I am, at times, hesitant to make those choices simply because it's taken so much time and effort to get the good yields we have had this year. I love the taste of fresh vine ripened tomatoes and hate to give up on the last few green fruits, believing that they'll still turn that beautiful red orange color that indicates they'll taste wonderful. The forecasts have called for colder weather and this will slow all the ripening processes, the sun really isn't hitting most of the garden like it did during the peak of the growing season and I think to myself, it's time to move forward.

     I think time seems to pass more quickly this time of year because the days are now much shorter than they were in mid-June, three hours shorter. There is also still a lot to do, manure needs to be dumped on the garden plots and tilled in, the remaining garden plants need to be chopped up and composted, sun chokes need to go in the ground for next year's harvest. We have a chicken coop that needs to be assembled and feeding and watering vessels need to be purchased ahead of the planned arrival of six hens next spring. I sometimes like to linger on the patio on days when the sun is still high and strong enough to warm my skin and give me the impression there might be time for one more taste of summer. During those moments on the patio I also see the shadows growing longer by the minute and realize it's time to move forward.

     Kathy and I have done a lot during this growing season; we've learned a lot too. We are already having some discussion about what the garden areas will hold next year but Kathy usually reminds me that the time for such planning is January because there is still much to do now. We have also talked about our failures and successes and what we learned from them. We will replant some vegetables right where they were this year, it's hard to argue with success, but some will need to be planted elsewhere or abandoned completely. While I engage in these success and failure discussions in my head I still think about Chase. I have left the hutch door down where he lived all this week, the floor needs to be bleached and all his feeding implements scrubbed. When I walk by that open door I think about what I've learned, where I failed and succeeded. I have learned a lot about raising rabbits from Chase, not just having rabbits but raising them. I succeeded in producing good quality litters, we learned how to deal with crazy cold weather and keep all the rabbits alive. I failed to recognize when something was wrong with Chase until it became too late but that to is a lesson, now I know what to watch for and I will not be caught off guard again. I also learned that I have feelings for my animals and this is not all bad because it makes me care more about their well being. An animal well taken care of is an animal that will end up being good produce and it will not suffer in my care. I walk by the hutches and watch Isaac growing into a good looking buck and feel happy knowing that Chases' blood line was saved. I realize that farm is growing the way that we want it to and as I look at the empty hutch that Chase was in I feel happy about what I've learned and about knowing that this hutch will soon house a new doe from his blood line. I think about all of our lessons, failures, successes, and growth and I realize it's time to be moving forward. 

Unintended Endings

   The last time I wrote about unofficial endings and our buck Chase was holding his own. Animal husbandry is an interesting thing not just because of the uniqueness of raising animals but also what goes along with it. I have written a few times about the disconnect between people and their food so I will pursue this line of thought for just a moment. You can observe people walking through the grocery store shopping for the day or the week and see that they aren't thinking about the food but just about the cost. They pick up whatever is the best deal not perhaps what is best for them or their family.It is possible they don't even know what's best or why, they need to eat so they buy what they can afford without knowing where it came from or why. If you grow any type of garden or provide your own meat there is an intimacy with your food that the mainstream populace doesn't understand, if they did perhaps our societal eating habits would change. You realize that things are hard to grow but you know what they should taste like. If you raise animals to eat you are intimately involved with their birth, their survival, their growth and most likely their death. That may sound shocking but everything we eat has died, be it animal or vegetable we grew it to eat it. The plants may affect us less but they have given their life and energy to sustain us none the less. This is perhaps no more evident than on the farm. Plants fail to thrive and we try to understand why and replant. Animals fail to thrive and we try to understand why and breed them again. Yet we are involved in the process.
     All this brings me back to our disconnect with food, many carnivores might not be so if they were involved with the process or there certainly might be a greater appreciation for the meat in the faceless package. We don't think about the process perhaps because it distresses us or maybe we haven't been caused to think that way. Death is hard and most of if not all us try to avoid the thought of it but it happens on the farm all the time. I have processed many rabbits for food since that is what we have chosen for our little farm. I am intimately involved in each piece of rabbit that is produced for food and yet as heartless as this sounds I am not without a heart. I have made a choice to process, nice word for butcher, these rabbits that I have put so much effort into keeping alive and growing but I still feel each extinction of life. I can say that I intentionally end  life that becomes a meal but I feel and somewhat regret it. I am not numb or with out feeling but I am a meat eater and this is my choice.
     I often wonder if I have gone beyond real feeling for animals but yesterday revealed that I am not. I began this blog talking about Chase our herd buck. He should have been given a numbered tattoo and bred with does. He should have produced lots of quality meat rabbit litters and he did. Then he became more than a number tattooed in an ear he became Chase, he responded to his name, he liked to be stroked across his back and neck. Chase met me every morning at the front of his hutch for food and a scratch behind his ear, he became my little friend. Chase should have produced lots of litters, championship, show worthy litters and then he should have finished his service and gone into the broiler. That didn't happen, he became Chase or Chasey boy or buddy. Chase became sick for unknown reasons and lost weight and he could no longer sire litters worthy of his stature. I nurtured him for months convinced I was attempting to keep his blood line going even though I had preserved his son Issac for future breeding. Yesterday I brought Chase to the vet looking for answers and healing and instead was confronted with possibilities of antibiotics and I don't knows. Then Chase revealed he was worse than I thought or hoped and I was confronted with a choice continue his suffering for two or three days or more or end it now. I made the hard choice and the vet brought Chase to me to hold while two fatal injections were administered. I watched as my buck closed his eyes and stop breathing; I had intended to fix him but I had brought him to an unintended ending, I brought myself to an unintended ending. I cried for awhile as my friend breathed his last and I revealed that I am human. Every life costs something, eating costs something, living costs something, but this is the life I have chosen and it costs something.

Unofficial Endings

    Labor Day weekend has arrived and, although it's as early as it possibly can be, it's the unofficial end of summer. The kids have gone back to school, pools are being closed up, summer homes and cottages are being visited one more time. Many people are pulling up the mostly spent garden plants having given away all the zucchini they could, but if you aspire to have an urban farm there is still much to do. I have written most of my blogs in the spirit of farming and most likely if we had more readers they would be disappointed in the lack of practical reports and advise. We are not experienced bloggers and the writings have inspired by my inward perception of what we have experienced. Kathy and I started this project with some goals in mind and as we have grown our garden areas and our lawn has shrunk we have added more to the list of what we want our farm to be. I hope to share the more practical side of our experiences over the next few posts.
   Although I have had rotator cuff surgery I'm still very involved in what goes on here at the farm, after all I do have a bit more time to consider what should be done next since I'm out of work at the moment. We have found this year that our wishes have exceeded our abilities just a bit. I had planned to learn how to can  our produce but we didn't have the money to buy some of the equipment needed for the job and time wasn't on our side. Kathy's job demands a lot of time and often I try to do things on my own even when I was working and this has made me realize that some of our planned projects were perhaps a little more than we could hope to achieve. This doesn't mean that we're going to give up on those things it just means we'll have to plan better. There is still a lot of time to grow our farm into our vision and we just have to keep things in perspective; Rome wasn't built in a day.There have been accomplishments which I'm proud of as well, I learned to blanch and freeze some of our produce which was a learn as you go experience but none the less the freezer has many pounds of green beans and squash in it now. I was able to, after several calls and visits to the town hall, secure a letter from zoning allowing us to have honey bee hives on the property. We have ordered a chicken coop and run which will house six hens next year. This weekend I will attempt to make sun dried tomatoes in the oven from the many pounds of tomatoes we have harvested over the past week.
   Even though summer is unofficially over there is still a lot of summer left in which to continue to harvest tomatoes, raspberries and brussel sprouts from the garden. The chicken coop will need to be set up when it arrives and the rabbits should be bred on more time before the cold of fall sets in. The bee hives may have to wait a year or two until we know how the rest of the farm will shape up for space but I will continue to plan for them. The kale, purple beans and snap peas still need to be watered and the ground needs to be prepared for the sun chokes. We can still learn how to make cheese and canning equipment will be saved for. It may be the unofficial end to summer for most people but here on this little urban farm it's the offical start to another season of learning and planning.

Late Summer

  We are now eight weeks in to the thirteen weeks of summer and I can see, smell and hear the difference in the season. Kathy and I had a chance to sit on the patio for a good part of the afternoon and relax, as we did I could feel the change in the season. The sun now rises almost forty-five minutes later and sets thirty-five minutes later than it did on June 21st. The birds no longer hop through the garden and the dominate male no longer sits along the roof top of my house guarding the nest against other lesser males. The swifts are flying higher now and the earlier setting sun catches their wings as they catch the high flying bugs for their evening meal.
   I look across our gardens and see plants beginning to yellow, spent with the heavy production of their fruit during the summer. We have harvested potatoes, onions, beans and squash in abundance and have put up many freezer bags of our produce. There are still beans growing from a second planting and kale will soon go in to the ground for a cold weather harvest but all around there are signs that the growing season is ending. The days are shorter and the shadows are longer, even the trees look different tonight. The maples that surround our yard are less green than they once were, the seedlings are turning brown and the leaves are a lighter green color a beginning of autumn color. The rabbits have had seventeen kits and there is a bit of urgency in their actions these kits must be fed and gain weight quickly as winter is coming soon. The does might have one more litter but they know that it's past high time for the raising kits the days are shorter and nights longer not cold yet but soon.
   This late summer, there is still time to plant a few more crops but that time is ending quickly. I can feel the changes in the season, not because of back to school ads or the fairs now in full swing, but the air smells and feels different. The days feel and taste different and if you are attuned to the nature of things you can feel it too. The plants are tired and the animals are ready for a change of seasons, they know there's a change coming and if I'm wise I'll listen too. There are five more weeks of summer and if I'm wise I'll make the most of them because there's a change in the air and if you still your heart and mind I'll bet you can feel, smell and taste it too.

Putting Up.

   Putting up is an old expression used by farmers, homesteaders and garden growers. It simply means to preserve the produce you have harvested in any of several ways. This is usually done by pickling, canning and freezing; we have chosen pickling and freezing as our methods for putting up our meat and vegetables. Many people are familiar with these methods only because they see the end result in the supermarket not because they possess the skill to do it themselves. It is this disconnect from food that causes people to ingest what ever the large super farms, think Monsanto, give them to eat. They don't know if it's good or not, they don't even know if it tastes right or not. People have grown accustomed to eating tomatoes that taste like cardboard and bread that can be mushed into tiny round balls of sticky gluten. People are disconnected from food and its' source and so are deceived by advertising into believing this is normal.
    The choice we have made is to reconnect to the land and our food sources and to learn the skills required to grow, harvest and put up our food. I can say it's more work, takes more effort and planning but it's worth it. I can walk through the garden and pull a tomato off the vine and taste its freshness, I can see when vegetables are ripe and know when it's time to harvest them. The process is learned but this type of learning is fun. I have blanched and frozen pounds of yellow summer squash and green beans in the last few days, something I've never done before. I made a few errors during the process which cost me time but learn I did and now we have fresh vegetables in the freezer. I have also harvested forty pounds of red skin potatoes and pulled seventy-five onions with great satisfaction. Kathy made mashed potatoes with some of our fresh crop and they tasted incredible.
   I have my shoulder surgery tomorrow and so there has been great urgency in getting everything done that I can. This time of year the gardens start to look tired, everywhere I look I see yellow leaves and spent vines which will soon become compost. I also see unripened fruit and hope for continued warmth so that we can fully harvest everything we planted. There are plots that are empty now and I'm just waiting for the weather to cool and I'll plant some kale and snap peas, with one hand if need be, because they do well in cooler weather. It has been a busy week and a busy summer but I still haven't learned all the skills I wanted to this year. I feel somewhat like the gardens, a little tired but I can't stop because I've chosen to be fully engaged in the urban farm experiment. I'm not sure what this surgery will do to my posts as I'm right handed and I'll not be able to use that hand for some time. I hope you continue to check in because Kathy and I aren't done learning and there's more we want to share.

Looking Forward

       I don't often post more than one time in the same week but there is a lot that is happening on the farm. We were sitting on the patio tonight having dinner and as we ate I looked over at the onions and noticed the top were starting to turn brown. While Kathy was making dinner I had taken a quick tour of the gardens and also noticed that the potato vines are quickly dying off which means potatoes must be harvested soon. Yesterday we picked almost two pounds of green beans and have many yellow squash in to fridge that need to be blanched and frozen this weekend and, of course, more green beans will need to be picked over the next few days. I also will be having rotator cuff surgery in twelve days which will severely hamper my contributions to the farm so looking forward to paramount. I will be focusing on harvesting as much of our produce and freezing what I can. I have trained our middle son Justin to process rabbits but I will do this last group myself but as I look forward I will have to trust him with the next group, under my watchful eye of course.
     There is so much more that needs to be done on the farm as we look forward. We'll need to plant kale once the potatoes are harvested and I'll need to clear an area for the chickens to live. My brother in law will be coming over soon to check over what branches can be cut from our huge Noway maple tree to give more light to the front gardens and afford our future honey bee hives a better take off spot all of which requires more planning, more looking forward. We have so invested ourselves in this project that we must look forward or we will fail or at best sink into a mediocre attempt at our stated goal. Looking forward involves planning and heart, it's not for the faint of heart or easily discouraged because there are so many failures that lay ahead. We can't be discouraged by the fact that failures will occur but only be resigned to learn from them and improve upon our last effort.
     The best thing about our looking forward at the moment is that it is short and medium term right now. The short term involves all the harvesting and preserving that must be done. The medium term involves making space for chickens, clearing a spot for honey bees and planning for sun chokes to be ordered for fall planting. I still want to make cheese and this may or may not happen. I will still get hunting and trapping permission slips signed so that I will be able to deer hunt and fur trap should be shoulder allow it. I know that hunting and trapping doesn't seem to be part of farming but it is part of self-sufficiency. I can save a lot of money on our meat bill if I can bag two or three deer this year. Trapping will provide a bit of money that will go toward buying seeds, plants, and gear for next year. If we don't look ahead with hope we will certainly  look back with regret.

Early Harvest

       I have written a lot lately about the adversity our little farm project has faced and I have written about some of the qualities needed to keep this project going. I'm happy to write about the beginning of success and what this means to us. We are still dealing with problems as any farm will but it feels like we are making headway and by headway I mean we are finally seeing and eating some of the fruits of our labors. Last weekend we picked our first yellow crooked neck squash and now they are coming so plentifully that we have a refrigerator full of them and I will be blanching and freezing a bunch this coming weekend. Our cucumbers are also coming in at a rapid rate and Kathy has made two one quart jars of refrigerator dill pickles and a full container of bread and butter pickles. I was so impressed with the taste and quality of her effort that I suggested we buy more canning jars and sell her pickles at a roadside stand and to friends and facebook fans. The tomato plants have many fruits set and we are waiting for them to ripen to that beautiful red color that makes them look and taste so good. We picked our first batch of green beans the other day and it looks like there will have to be a day dedicated to just picking beans. This accounts for some of the early harvest and while there is more to come it is nice to taste the first fruits of your labor. There are still vegetables to come and we should see winter squash growing well and brussel sprouts shooting up and getting ready to be harvested. I pulled five pounds of potatoes from the ground which we had tonight for dinner and it looks like we'll get about fifty to sixty pounds this year.

     There has been a lot of success lately with the early harvest and the latter harvest of onions, raspberries, bush beans, kale, and squash should be good. I anticipate being to sell many of our vegetables and berries in the next month. There are still some questions regarding our buck rabbit Chase and so I have made a decision to keep one of his sons from the last litter. Chase has been to the vet and is making progress so I haven't given up on the sire of several excellent litters but I have found on the farm better to be safe than sorry. This is especially true as we have more requests for rabbit meat than we have rabbits which may be a difficult but not undesirable place to be in.

       Kathy and I have been researching setting up a honey bee hive or two next year and one of the first things every book recommends is check your town zoning laws to see if it's even allowed in your town. I thought this would be good advise to follow and while checking our zoning laws I found that we are allowed to have chickens which we previously banned in town. This was one of Kathy's desires for our farm and when we were told we couldn't have them it led to us raising rabbits and thus we turned lemons into lemonade. We have found that we can add ice to our lemonade and are planning to add chickens to the farm next year. It turns out that the early harvest has inspired us to grow our farm rather than give in to disappointment and quit. We still have a lot on our plate but we'll can, pickle and sell all we are able to until our plate is clean. Early harvest, what a great time and I can't wait for the latter harvest to come and to continue with excitement of growing our farm.

Tenacity

   We have all heard that word before and it has been used and overused in many situations but I have found the farming and animal husbandry takes tenacity. I have written about persistence which is a cousin to tenacity and both are required in our little project. Tenacity is described as doggedness, stubbornness, the quality or fact of being able to grip something firmly. I like this last definition of the word because that is what our farm project requires. We have gripped onto an idea firmly and are unwilling to let it go regardless of the challenges. Kathy and I believe that we can raise meat and vegetables to feed our family and supplement our income on our little farm regardless of the problems of which there have been many. There are many things going on right now that could discourage us from the project and at times I think that perhaps tilling everything under and planting a new lawn would be our best course of action. I water and plant, I pull weeds and pluck bugs and I cling to the idea that our little farm in the city is worth it.
   We have grasped onto this idea firmly and won't let go. We have had to change our plans and adapt in the face of difficulty. This week I borrowed a buck from a friend to breed our does with and although he doesn't conform to my standard of the rabbit breed he was willing and will provide litters to fill our meat needs. I have also resolved myself to the fact that Chase may never return to prime condition and so have saved one of his offspring for the future, we may not need him but better safe than sorry. I have firmly grasped the idea that our rabbitry will be a success and am taking steps to assure that outcome. I have taken steps to continue our farm and make sure our vision goes on this has required some degree of tenacity. Kathy and I sat on the patio and discussed what we might do differently next year without a thought of giving up. We talked about bee hive placement, crop rotation and weed control and never spoke about a new lawn. We talked about refining our rabbits and getting the best production we could from them but never spoke of selling them off. We have a vision for our little farm project and hope to be an example of what two people with a 1/10 of an acre of land can do to provide for themselves and their community. This vision requires tenacity and if you continue follow us I believe you'll see what this firm grasp of an idea can accomplish.

Persistence

   I have described some of our problems in the last few blogs and while some are being overcome others seem to crop up. I have found myself thinking at times when do we catch a break. It has seemed like a lot of our hard work has gone unrewarded thus far and it has been getting under my skin. I have never thought of myself as a quitter and few people if any would ever think that of me, yet I have certainly had some negative thoughts running through my head. I have struggled with weeds, pests and lack of production from our rabbits and my own production goals. I said in another blog if you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time and while this is true lofty goals can seem daunting when you aren't achieving them. We have certainly set some lofty goals this year and some likely will not be met this year but even as this reality sets in I hate to lose and I hate to give up.
   I have begun to think about the need for persistence in our farming venture. The dictionary defines persistence as a firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition and this is exactly the mind set I need. I walked through the garden tonight and saw plants being chewed up by various pests and then I got upset. I saw numerous squash beetles chewing through our plants and started picking them by hand and bringing them to the road to crush them. I had pulled a fair number of them from the leaves and then not satisfied turned the leaves over and searched for eggs, which upon finding I crushed with great satisfaction. I also had mixed a concoction of vinegar, epsom salts and dish washing liquid to be used as weed killer which I went around attacking the incursion of weeds with. We are committed to staying as organic as possible and so we have refused to use chemical weed treatments this also requires persistence as the organic treatment will require more frequent applications not just the one as many chemicals use. Kathy also bought an organic gardening book which I have been studying like a bible and I have found there's a lot I don't know but I am determined to learn.
  We are fortunate to have other people in our corner pushing us on and cheering for us to succeed. My mom is one of these people and she has come to the table with a visit to the vet for Chase our buck. I have made the appointment which is a week out but hopefully we'll have some answers and a plan to get him on the mend. I have also spoken to a friend about using her buck for at least a few days so we can breed to does and attempt top stay on our production goals. This isn't my first choice but I must persist in our course and do what needs to be done. This urban farming experiment isn't easy, some goals won't be achieved and some skills that we had hoped to learn probably won't be but we will be persistent. I am already planning how next year will be different and I am still grounded in this year. There are plants growing, squash and tomatoes are setting fruit, cabbage heads are forming tight looking globes, and raspberries are blooming. The potatoes are looking good as are the onions so I will focus on what is doing well and learn from what's not. Keep following us because we aren't quitters and you'll find the little farm in the city running on persistence.

Timing

     I have been learning over the last few weeks that, as the saying goes, timing is everything. We waited to plant our gardens because the right time had arrived and so plants went in. I've written about timing and production goals when it comes to breeding the rabbits and producing rabbit meat and while all that theory holds true it doesn't take into account problems. There are problems of weather, problems of conception and then there are problems of the gut. Our buck has experienced slow GI motility which in layman's terms is a slowing of digestion resulting in loss of appetite, weight loss and general decline of health. I have been trying various treatments with limited success but when introduced to a doe Chase, our buck, sat in the corner with no interest. It is a funny thing that a few weeks ago a friend who also has been raising New Zealand White rabbits told me he was getting out of raising rabbits. He said he a large litter ready for processing and asked if I was interested in taking them. I said yes,as I always have more orders than I can fill, and picked them up a few days later. When I went to his rabbitry I saw a doe I wanted and a beautiful buck which I told him I'd love but couldn't use since I was still relying on Chase.
      Well as I learned timing is everything. I processed the kits and then built hutches to accommodate new litters, big litters. I attempted to breed Chase with the does and as I said earlier there was no interest so I thought I need a buck now. I placed the call and my friend did not return my call but I wasn't too concerned as he's a busy man and sometimes it's several days before I hear from him. Well a week went by and I made another call and still no answer. Kathy and I had made arrangements to deliver rabbit meat to her aunt in Massachusetts and I thought we'll stop by after and give him the money owed for the kits and pick up the doe and the buck. We made the promised delivery and stopped by my friend's house only to find that someone had taken every rabbit he had. Needless to say I was disappointed but I gave my friend his share of the money and I learned a hard lesson that day, strike while the iron is hot because timing is everything.
      I will of course continue on the path, I will stay the course and learn from my mistakes. I will at some point catch the break I need and then timing will be on my side. Kathy and I will find the right place in Vermont to start our farm and things will fall into place. I have to think this way because farming is difficult and nothing is guaranteed. We are determined to learn our lessons and gain our experience so that when the timing is right we'll be ready because timing is everything.

In The Weeds

   Several days ago I wrote about the challenges we have been facing on our little farm and it appears we are not out of the weeds yet. Most people say they aren't out of the woods yet but weeds seems more appropriate to our situation. We have recently been battling a major incursion of weeds and pests in our garden plots. We are determined not to go to Monsanto for help by using Round Up or other pest controls but have been looking for more organic means of pest and weed control. The most organic method and the most tedious is, of course doing this all by hand. This means hours spent on hands and knees pulling weeds both big and small from the ground. It also means almost as much time picking caterpillars and other creeping pests off of leaves while bent over at the waist, think sore back. While some plants are growing well our cucumber vine seeds seem to have been decimated by squirrels, which we have declared war on and at a total sixteen removed felt we winning the war. It would appear they have won this round.
   I had also written about our buck having issues and although he seems to be on the mend I'm still not sure if he'll ever be in the condition he was before. This again leaves me somewhat in the weeds as I'm conflicted as to what I should do. You see a friend who is going out of the rabbit business has a good producing doe which I will likely take in a week or two but this is not my dilemma. The dilemma is that he also has a beautiful buck that I would love to add to my herd but I don't have room for two bucks at the moment and I'm not so sure I want to give up on Chase just yet.
   We are still learning this farming thing and I know in the midst of farming and ranching hard choices have to be made but I'm just not there yet. I am attached to this buck which we have raised from ten weeks old and that has been a good sire, yet I must do what's best for the future of my rabbit herd. I thought that we would be in a better place with the gardens and the rabbits at this stage and I would be able to concentrate my efforts on learning new skills. I had hoped to be building a root cellar and learning to make cheese at this  point but it seems I am still learning the basics like how to get out of the weeds.

Challenges

   I almost didn't write this week, after all who wants to write about their failures. That was my mind set as I mulled over the past week but even as my heart was sinking I realized that I could quit or learn. There has been a series of events that have led up to this point which I will talk about just a little so that you may understand where I'm coming from. Last weekend we planted just about our entire garden as you may have read this was followed by a hailstorm, which in and of itself isn't a deal breaker, but Monday morning as I made my rounds in the garden plots I noticed a lot of digging where we had planted corn and cucumber seeds. I investigated further and found that gray squirrels had dug up nearly every seed we had planted along with some uprooted plants in containers. I was unsure about a course of action but being a trapper I decided the bast thing to do would be to set some cage traps and round up as many of these little tree rats as I could. This again wasn't enough to get me down as I was still excited about our upcoming litters of rabbits to be born in the next few days and I had a plan for dealing with our garden pests so I felt a little better. Tuesday arrived, which was the day I expected our doe Isis to kindle and kindle she did. Yet she pulled almost nor fur to cover the kits in the nest box and the temperature had dipped to a cold thirty-eight degrees; ridiculous for the end of May but enough to doom to new born kits to a frozen fate. Isis is a great mother and generally pulls enough fur for two nests so this again lent a somber tone to the week. The expected day for Iris and Sissy to kindle came and went and I slowly determined to Iris had not been pregnant. Sissy on the other hand went two extra days and had a very small litter of three, she normally has seven or eight kits and the week seemed more gloomy. My buck Chase also had been losing weight and not looking so good and I was struggling to find answers for his condition with little result. All of these things were beginning to add up to a feeling of failure and disappointment.
     As I reviewed the week I decided I could give up or accept the challenge of farming. We have decided to tell you about our experiences with this urban farm project and that included for good and bad, successes and failures or as many motivational speakers call them opportunities for improvement. We had began an all out war on the squirrels and after catching two skunks we were on the squirrels and after catching several of them we noticed a drop in the squirrel activity. I replanted some of the seeds and also added some cayenne pepper for good measure. Kathy and I also attended a rabbit show on Sunday and it was a really good experience. I was also fortunate to find a judge who listened to the symptoms Chase was having and he suggested a fur ball was the cause, he also suggested some remedies. This at least pointed me in the right direction and as I researched on the internet I found better information and more treatment suggestions. I have bought the items suggested and started treatment, Chase is very weak now and I hope he will respond. There is a chance, a good chance he won't, but we have accepted the challenge.

The Time Has Come and then Surprise!

    Well the time has finally come to put plants and seeds in the ground. We have been waiting for this day with great anticipation and it seemed that it took forever to get here, but the day had finally arrived. Kathy and I awoke at our usual time since we both had to work on Saturday, but it was with more excitement than usual as today was planting day. We had been watching the weather forecasts all week to assure that we would have good weather for planting and although there was a possibility of scattered showers or thunder storms we planned to get home as soon as possible and start planting. The morning passed slowly as time usually does when you're anticipating an event that means a lot to you. We arrived home to sunny and warm weather with a few scattered clouds and I thought you couldn't ask for a better day for putting plants and seeds in the ground. We had already discussed where the various plants would go in each of the garden plots so things progressed rather quickly. We put in habanero and green bell pepper plants, beefsteak and cherry tomato plants, kale plants, yellow crooked neck squash, green bean and several varieties of cucumber seeds. Our little farm in the city was finally starting to look like one.

This is just one of our garden plots and you can see we also have two large containers at one side of the garden these were planted with container corn from Burpee. We have wanted to grow sweet corn but with our limited space we've always decided that we could make better use of this space with smaller plants but this year we were able to get some hybrid corn made just for container gardening.
   We had put in other plants earlier, such as lettuce, potatoes, onions, snap peas and bok choi all of which are doing well. The raspberry plants are growing by leaps and bounds and we are expecting a nice late summer harvest of these tasty fruits. Sunday morning came and the weather was nice once again and I thought the severe thunderstorms which were forecast would probably not materialize so we took the opportunity to to some more work in the gardens such as putting down weed block cloth and setting up the a-frame trellises for the cucumber vines to grow on. We ate lunch on the patio and noticed black clouds rolling in from the north and after hearing some thunder in the distance we decided to beat a hasty retreat to the house. We listened to the claps of thunder and estimated this storm cell would slip to our east and so we took up spots on the front steps to watch lightening strikes in the distance. We noticed that clouds were building quickly in our direction and the wind was now blowing strongly. I made a decision to pull tarps over the rabbit hutches and while I was going this I could hear Kathy and Justin shouting to hurry. I had the last tarp pulled down and felt a sting on my lower back and then another and another. I looked out from under the hutch overhang and saw hail the size of marbles pommeling the freshly planted garden. I was really worried now that all our planting would be for nothing. After the storm we surveyed the the gardens and were relieved to find the most of the plants were small enough to avoid being damaged and only a few leaves on the cabbage and brussel sprouts were shredded. So our urban farm made it through the first surprise thrown by nature but I know there'll be more. I hope you continue to follow us during our growing season as we share what's going on with the gardens, the rabbits and the other projects which we'll be starting soon.

                                                           We made it through!!!

Waiting is Hard

  I have written that the old farmers guide is don't plant until after the last full moon in May, which has come and gone. I know that in New England and in Connecticut in particular we can see frost until about the 20th of the month so we'll have to wait past the full moon. We often wait until Memorial Day to plant and even that is about as early as it can be this year but we have to wait. Kathy purchased bell peppers, tomatoes, habanero peppers, kale and patio tomatoes to be planted next weekend. I prepared the ground for putting in the seeds we have purchased and this coming weekend we will plant corn, green beans, pickling cucumbers, crooked neck squash and winter squash in the garden. It was so nice this weekend that I wanted to put plants in the ground but I knew I should wait. The weather forecasts are for low temperatures in the 40's and even though that won't kill the plants they won't grow that well either so waiting is hard.
   There is still a lot to do on our little farm and the rabbits which were marked and weighed last weekend were remarked and weighed again this weekend. They have all gained weight, some more than others, and so the time to process them is coming up rather quickly. I have more orders than I can fill which is a good thing and all the does appear to be pregnant again. There is a method for assuring that the does are pregnant which is called palpation. Palpation is somewhat of an art as you are feeling for structures hidden deep or shallow in tissue. I am a certified phlebotomist and am familiar with palpation and in fact I'm really good at it. When I was going through my course in blood drawing my instructor said I was a natural of which he'd only worked with one before me. I worked at the Red Cross and because of this ability to feel veins other people couldn't I became a hard stick specialist, in other words if there was a vein other people couldn't feel I could. Palpating rabbits is a bit different, they're not sitting patiently while you probe them, they bounce all over the place and resist your attempts at feeling for the kits which are the size of an olive at this point. So I do my best, having had no formal instruction on this type of palpation, and I think I feel something so now I wait for the date they are to kindle and waiting is hard.
   I know we have only a few followers of this blog and I really want it to grow. I want more people to see this blog not out of pride but because I want more people to realize that they can do what we are doing. There are other people who have the same amount of land or more or less but I want them to know it's possible to raise your own meat and vegetables on a very little piece of land and have a dream of bigger things. I want other people to know that we don't have to live off of the terrible offerings of factory farms or be beholden to corporate boardroom decisions about how our food is grown. I want people to know we can change how and what we eat in our back yards but waiting is hard.
    So here's a look at what we're doing. Hopefully you'll find that you'll be looking for our next post and you'll find that waiting s hard.

Planning

   I've written about working, living and listening to the rhythms of nature so this blog may seem like a bit of a departure from that sense of living. Planning sounds like a word full of structure and discipline. Planning is what goes on in corporate boardrooms all over the world and it sounds like the thought process that goes into the next huge ad campaign. It has often been said that if you fail to plan then you can plan to fail and while that may be true to some extent if you raise animals or grow vegetables you know that plans change or fail. If you want to do any type of farming you must plan and also plan to change or plan to adapt.
   The coming planting season is almost upon us and we have to plan where things will be planted. I often pull out a tape measure to check the recommended distance between plants and rows. This type of thing has to be done when you only have a tenth of an acre to plant. We are learning to maximize every inch of our land for production and planning and inches matter. I have found the same applies to rabbit breeding, I plan so many litters per doe per year and nature plans something different. I can only make the introduction of the doe to the buck and then nature takes over. Oh I have studied rabbit anatomy and I know how things work, rabbits don't have a real cycle like many other animals. The does are stimulated to ovulate by the act of mating and the eggs descend eight or so hours later so I must breed to doe again to insure to best chance of conception. Yep you guessed it this takes planning especially when you are breeding three or four does in one weekend to one buck but conception is still up to nature. I have orders for rabbits that haven't been kindled yet and so I plan my does breeding cycles and hope nature agrees with my plan. This all falls under planning but guided by nature.
   So in the next few weeks the orders for rabbits will be filled with orders already ahead and so the next litters are spoken for and the planning goes on. The time for planting is coming and this weekend we'll purchase all the plants to go in the ground and the week after that the seeds and transplants will find themselves in our rich soil. All this requires planning but we'll rely on God and nature to make a success of our plans. So most of my posts have been a bit philosophical in nature and I have written about the theory of farming but the next posts you read will be about our experiences as we plant, grow and harvest what we have planned for. I hope to share both in words and pictures our successes and failures and the things we learn along the way. I hope to share new skills learned and perhaps you will learn a bit from us that you can use or perhaps you'll have a chance to laugh at the crazy things we try to do.

Dirty Hands

    Today was a productive day at Late Bloomer Farm. All the winter debris was removed and taken to the local transfer station, the garden plots were tilled, cabbage and brussel sprout plants were planted. The front garden plot was tilled and a small trench was dug to receive the seed potatoes that will grow there for the last time for a few years. I had been thinking about the things I wanted to accomplish today and even took some personal time from work to get it all done. During the week I made a mental list of things to get done while I was working at my regular job. My full time job is in the large commercial tire business, we change tractor trailer, farm equipment and construction equipment tires. I have also spent a number of years in the auto service trade and both involve getting your hands dirty.

    I hate the dirty hands that accompany both those jobs and wear latex gloves to protect my hands from the grime that soils my hands while I perform my job. Many people look down on people with dirty hands as it indicates that you work a menial job and who knows what's under your fingernails! I tend to hate that kind of grime myself, there is something I really dislike about having grease or oil on my skin. The fact that this man made stuff  is contaminating my skin dives me crazy, who knows what these carcinogenic materials are doing to me. 

    Then there is real dirt, not man made but God made, the stuff that the earth is made of and really it's not even dirt. Dirt is devoid of value, the dust created by over use and blasted by chemical fertilizers. Dirt is what our factory farms are creating but soil is something different. Soil is that dark rich smelling stuff that makes plants grow well. Soil is rich with microorganisms, holds water droplets on each little facet, smells sweet when crumbled and makes the plants grown in it thrive. While I was tilling and planting today I looked at the at the soil I've rehabilitated from dirt, it's had garden compost and rabbit manure added to it for a number of years now, and I could finally detect that rich sweet smell coming up from the freshly tilled earth. I looked at my dirty hands and felt proud, my hands were covered with a layer of that rich soil and I didn't feel dirty. I felt instead a deep sense of accomplishment and had no urge to wear some protective hand covering. This was God's soil just as He meant it to be, healthy, vibrant, rich, sweet and able to grow the best of what He has given us to grow and enjoy. I think that given the choice I'd choose hands dirty with God's soil any time.

To Do Lists by Rhythm

   Most people have to do lists, some are self imposed others are work imposed and yet some have to do lists dictated to them by nature. If you have a garden, raise animals or run a farm you know what I mean by nature dictating your to do list and I find myself in this place at this very moment. The weather is turning a bit warmer now and the pressure of things that need to be done is starting to build. There is the pile of raspberry canes, old flower canes, last years Christmas tree and winter debris that must be moved from one of the garden plots before it can be tilled. There are other garden plots covered with the winter's accumulation of rabbit manure and now spouting unwanted weeds that also need to be tilled before all the years vegetables can be planted.
    Nature has a rhythm of its own that we must bend our to do lists around. The rabbits have their own rhythm as well, there are so many weeks the does are pregnant, so many weeks they nurse the kits and so many weeks between being bred again and the weening of the kits. We are learning those rhythms slowly but surely and we are making our to do lists based on those rhythms. I can see the trees beginning to bud and leaves are slowly unfurling in their bright greenness, lawns are turning green too and weeds are making their presence known. I see all the signs of an impending growing season and the pressure is starting to build as my to do list grows and the urgency of getting it all done grows ever greater. The time to breed the does again is here and so is the time to move all that brush and debris. The plans for the weekends are being made and a truck has been arranged for to remove the brush pile, plants and seeds are ready for planting and the pressure builds.
    There are bags of mulch for the blueberry and raspberry plants still sitting in the back of my Jeep and the pressure builds some more as I see weather forecasts of an uncooperative and rainy Saturday. I have to remind myself that there is still time yet and nature's rhythm of planting is not yet in full swing. The weather is still swinging to the colder side at night and there are still four weeks left until we really need to plant like crazy but the to do list is still growing. As I look at the list and then look outside at what needs to be done I calm myself and try to attune myself to that rhythm that nature sets, everything goes at its pace and everything grows as it should when it should. So I'll take a deep breath and relax and settle into that rhythm that I've determined to become attuned to and this weekend I'll breed the rabbits and next week the brush will be gone, the ground tilled and if I'm lucky potatoes will be in the ground. I'm a product of the Baby Boomer generation we get things done whatever it takes but I've found that many of my generation have lost that smooth quiet rhythm. I hope the longer this small farm goes on and the dream of a bigger farm is fulfilled that my to do lists will settle into the rhythm which  Kathy and I are learning to love.
   

Patience

    Kathy and I had done some planting of a few cold weather plants such as lettuce and onions in the gardens the first week of this month and the weather was warm and beautiful. We had gone to Home Depot for some potting mix and a few other small supplies and noticed tomato plants and other warm weather vegetables being put on the shelves. I commented that it was pretty early for those plants and Kathy agreed but also noted that eager gardeners would probably buy and plant them since the weather was so nice. I agreed and we headed home to do some planting knowing full well that we might have to cover our plants with a floating row cover to keep them from getting nipped by the frost. I have to admit that I was also getting that planting bug, as I turned over soil and smelled fresh earth I felt a twinge of urgency about getting more in the ground.
    There is an old farmers guide to planting in New England and Connecticut in particular that no warm weather plants such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and the like shouldn't be put in the ground until after the last full moon in May. There is certainly a validity to this guide and when the weather seems warm enough and the ground workable it serves as a warning to resist the urge to be impatient. We live in a society of instant gratification, where faster is better and the slow moving are left to the wayside. We have microwave meals, fast food restaurants, drive through coffee lines and we rate our experience based on how fast our wants are satisfied. Farming is different, farming requires patience something that we are quickly losing touch with today. Patience once considered a virtue is being replaced by convenience and instant gratification. When you are in touch with your little plot of land and you watch the angle of the sun and the effect of the rain on the soil you learn patience. You patiently watch for the signs that its time to plant and you wait and wait and wait. You learn to wait when you want to plow forward, when you want to till, plant and reap in the same instant.
    This past Wednesday made me thankful for the patience we have learned. After a day and evening of much needed rain the weather turned colder Tuesday night. Weathermen talked of snow in the northwest hills and I had taken some comfort that this weather wouldn't likely affect us in the southeast part of the state. I walked down the stairs after arising Wednesday morning and saw a covering of granulated ice and snow covering the ground, the lettuce in pots and the onions in the garden and I thought about those old farmer guidelines and took comfort that we had adhered to them. There were probably some tomato plants purchased the day we saw them and most likely other plants that shouldn't have been were put in the ground. No matter since more can be bought again and paid for again and that will the cost of impatience. We want to get planting, we want to get things growing but we have learned patience and we will wait until the  last full moon in May so that we may reap what we have so patiently waited to plant.