Once again it's been a while since my last post, almost a month to the day if I'm not mistaken. The winter has been brutal this year with crazy amounts of snow and brutally cold temperatures. These factors all add up to difficult farming. My last post reported about the nature of the problems with our kits and the remedies we found and I'm glad to report all the remaining kits have not only survived but are thriving. I have received several calls about rabbit meat and have had to respond that my faithful customers will receive what they ordered and all others will have to wait. I must admit that I may have printed business cards a bit too early. We are entering the last week of February and the cold full moon has long since waxed and waned and we are eagerly awaiting a sign of spring. February is a difficult month because, although the days are now noticeably longer the cold of winter remains and may even deepen. Native Americans often called the moon of this month the full hungry moon because many resources had been used up and there was little in the way of harvest or hunting to supplement the food supply. I have found this to be true this winter, my trapping lines are shut down and I dare not breed the rabbits as I had planned, the deep cold has changed my breeding plans for the farm.
As I sit and write this next entry to the window of our little farm I look out the bay window and see uncut raspberry canes and consider what needs to be done. I had planned to let those canes die off in the brutal cold and then trim them back but then the blizzard came, now trimming may have to wait well into spring and I'm concerned about our future raspberry harvest. The gardens needed more rabbit manure for fertilizer but it froze and so that too will wait until the snow pack is gone. I walk outside and see that all of our garden plots are buried under at least three feet of snow and wonder if we'll ever plant a garden again. The chicken house and coop are buried and next month I will put a deposit on six Golden Comet pullets, I think to myself where will they live? The rabbits have had the heat lamps on longer now than they've had them off this winter and I wonder when will this end.
The moon guides a farmers choices and it guides mine. There are rhythms to the lunar calender and we have learned to watch and follow those rhythms. I have mentioned full moons of all types, full beaver, full wolf, full cold and so on and now I will wait for the soon to be full worm moon and after that the full flower moon. The Farmer's Almanac says that you need to wait until the last full moon in May to plant the garden and wait we will. We measure our chores by lunar rhythms and are waiting for the worms to awaken and chew through our garden plots. We are waiting for the last full moon of May to begin our planting season but I may just try to begin our newest litter of rabbits in the shadows of the New Worm Moon.
I was taught that Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Spring. We even chart our most sacred holidays based on the moon.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the calendar, spring arrives on March 20 - less than 4 weeks away. Spring will come. Easter will come. And with all this snow the soil will be well watered for planting in May.
This isn't the first time that farmers have gone through this type of winter, so you are not alone. I rather think that when the time comes, you may be pleasantly surprised. And, it may be a good thing that your does have had a good break from bearing more kits; the does may be healthier in the long run. I always look forward to your blog and this one was informative.....I'm thinking about the moons now. We got eggs today from a place nearby and they had packets of seeds all over.....they are planning, too. They try to grow healthy veg, too!!
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of May and my garden. I will start my seedlings soon and plant them in May.. after reading this, I will watch for May's full moon and plant the seedlings then. My raised beds are buried so deep, though, that I wonder if they will survive. Thoughtful post, Thanks. And blessings on your farm.
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