Learning in the Deep Cold

   It's been nearly a month since my last post and this is not because there has been nothing to write about but rather I have felt less than inspired to write. My last post was a bit of a recap of our year on Late Bloomer Farm and I mentioned the faltering of Chase's line quite a bit. I typically do an accounting of how well the rabbits did at the end of December, recording such things of number of litters per doe, loses of kits, food costs and so on. I do this to see how well I'm doing as a herdsman, to get a feel of what I should be charging for the rabbits sold and to try and learn from my successes and failures. I did this accounting and felt that I lost too many rabbits compared to those produced; many were lost without my knowing the cause. My rabbit business has certainly been less successful than I hoped it would be but if I want to make this a full time venture I need to learn and so learn I have.
     January is a difficult time for the gardener as there is only planning for spring to occupy his time and if you have honey bees you bite your nails hoping that your hives made it through the difficult New England weather. Raising rabbits during this time of year is difficult as well and often kits are lost to the bitter cold of the winter. I mentioned in my last post that neither Iris nor Isis were pregnant and I lamented the lose of Chase's line but Sissy kindled two weeks later with a litter of nine kits which was the largest we've ever had. They weren't from Issac but I was pleased none the less and watched vigilantly over the kits. I took them in every night during the deep cold of January until they had their fur coat but I still lost three kits which I found frozen on the wire floor of the hutch. I blamed Sissy for being a poor mother and brought them back in the house at night to keep them warm and keep them from their " evil" mother. I was pleasantly surprised on morning when I came down stairs in the morning to find all the kits out of the nest box because this proved Sissy was not at fault but rather the kits had crawled out of the nest box during the night, something I didn't think they could do at this age, and met their demise. I have since changed my management strategy and the remaining six kits are thriving.
       As you know from my other posts we not only raise rabbits and garden but we also are trying to rely on other means to support our way of life, this includes fishing, hunting and trapping for both meat and fur. I received a request from a friend to remove a colony of beavers which were chewing down every tree on his newly purchased property. Trapping is difficult in winter because everything is frozen but beaver, however, move freely under the iced over water of their homes. I took a look at the property damage and immediately agreed to remove the beavers which had taken down at least twelve trees and nearly dropped one on their shed. It has been a few years since I trapped beaver and the sets that I normally use wouldn't work in this situation. I reached out to a few trapper friends and they arrived at a consensus at what set would work. I agreed and immediately set two traps in the manner recommended and within three days had three large beaver. Beaver pelts are much lower in value than many other furs but much harder to process so I have decided, in typical live off the land fashion, to have them tanned and make a beaver fur blanket. The carcasses will be butchered and either donated to the owl, hawk and eagle preservation society or consumed by folks at our next game supper. The winter is often slow for all but dairy farmers but we're busy at Late Bloomer Farm and learning lots of lesson in the deep cold of the full wolf moon winter.