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Friday, September 14, 2012

The Keepers

All of the bunnies from this years litters have gone to their new spinning homes.  The closest bunnies went to Paradise and Marquette, while three others took a ride to Chicago land.  My friend Erin in Marquette took three kits that are going to be spoiled brats as she and her husband Pete are doting on them.  I'm so happy that they have gone to such good and loving homes.  Pet and Erin are also buildling a "Tiny House"...visit them at their blog to see the bunnies and their humorous and insightful adventures in simple living.

Here are the bunnies we decided to keep:

This little doe is a tort.  She has a lovely personality and loves to play on the bed!
I didn't have a regular tort (except for a vienna marked doe) so thought I should keep her
(I have a soft spot for torts).

Nice wooly coat too.  No name yet.

I'm not sure why bunnies like jumping up on the window sill...probably just because they can.


This is the chocolate agouti buck.  I think his name might be Bramble. 


See his nice banded fiber?  Characteristic of an agouti.  I didn't have one of this color either.


He also has a nice personality! 


This is Spinner's End Thistledown.  Our first litter of REW's so we just had to keep one of those too!
Lila is quite attached to Ms.Thistle and is considering entering her into the 4H circuit. 


Thistle is very tolerant of lap holding and ear stroking.  Bronwyn visits regularly to give all of the animals their needed pats and to gather the collective rabbit wisdom into her soul.

We have been busy dealing with tomatoes!   It seemed like a great idea to plant 60 of them at the time...  I've made gallons of tomato puree,  1.5 gallons of dried tomatoes, 20 some odd pints of salsa, ketchup, and pizza sauce.  The remaining Roma's and Amish Paste will go to tomato paste.  Maybe another batch of ketchup; the first one was a bit too sweet for our taste
(Will says it tastes like New Zealand ketchup which he evidently didn't like).

Beets, eggplant and basil are still awaiting processing as well.  Brussel sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower are safe for the time being and the onions are in and safely stored away.  I think we'll have to pick the pumpkins and winter squash soon to keep them safe from maurading deer. 
Nights are getting chilly and into the low to mid 40's which has been great for sleeping!

3 comments:

  1. I think you should consider naming the little tort doe Koala. She looks more like a koala than a rabbit. What a beautiful bunch of bunnies! I love them all! Very hectic here...Zeke has been to summer camp where he was pronounced not crazy.Patrick is another matter. Tiger Moon got his tail shut in the door and has endured a 3 week saga which involved a lot of blood twice in an attempt to first save the tail , a first partial amputation which gave way at about the 38th hour mark , a second partial amputation at the emergency vets where we went in the middle of the night. Tomorrow marks 2 weeks since the last attempt. Stitches are out, the big scab is off--pray for healing and no infection. Then there was the Primary election --5 weeks of training and a 16 hour grueling day which included an inspection by a representative from the AG's office. Now you see why rabbits look so comforting. I want to bunny snuggle. Also the deer ate every single one of my tomatoes--stripped the plants. No sauce or ketchup here. Mike & Bev's groundhog has dug a hole in my garden and taken up residence where he has been dining on the cabbages, carrots, beets and whatever else remained safe from the Bambino family . Crawling under a rock now. Maybe next year will improve...

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  2. Sounds like the same tomato problem as I have. All my conserves are done; and I'm presently in the process of doing green tom pickles. The rest will soon have to go on a dump (not on the compost heap); they are just overwhelming me.

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  3. I agree with Will on sweetness of tomatoe sauce-I still buy Heinz from Oz and stay away from Watties a even after 39 years here. Planting strawberry plants and other mundane lifestyle chores such as splitting firewwod, stacking same, turning over a bit of veggie patch, digging in lupens, mowing etc. One compass this week and pick up Syl from Auckland on Saturday.

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