Saturday, January 30, 2010

Duncan. Our one and only Livestock

We got a French/English Angora mixed rabbit a few weeks ago. He's our first venture into livestock for the farm. He'll provide us with wool a few times a year that we'll sell on Etsy and possibly locally for a nice bit I hope. It all depends on the market.

Here he is. Duncan McCloud.

Awww, so fluffy and cute! It's hard to tell how big he actually is so here's a photo that shows him compared to a 32oz water bottle.


Yeah, he's huge. But most of it's 3-4" strands of the softest, fluffiest cloudy material I've ever felt. It's going to be funny seeing him shaved come spring. We're looking for a mate for him and will be building him a larger hutch more off the ground this weekend.

And just because he's so cute...


We might have more livestock news coming soon. Cross your fingers!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Actual progress...I hope

Next month we'll actually get some progress done on our five acres. Income Tax time has come and while most get a little nauesous over it, we get a little giddy. One of the perks for having 5 kids is a nice sized credit, add to that Rob's untaxable income from being in Iraq and we've got a nice little nest egg for the land.

We'll be setting up a hotel room for late February. The first day we'll meet with someone to clear the land with a tractor and bush hog. The next we'll have an eight by twenty shipping container delivered. We already have a few things to put in it for later. We've decided to go with a wood frame house, using recycled materials throughout, and using the shipping container for one side of a pole barn.

It's not a lot of progress but it's something! Stay tuned for more information on the land clearing and shipping container delivery.