Friday, November 29, 2013

Unfortunately, we're having a lot of misses in the rabbitry. Bad time of the year to have babies. IF the doe breeds at all, they seem to not get pregnant. I know this is very common during the winter. Oh well. Another day at Changing Winds. We'll keep trying.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Just got the new Mini Rex torts bred. New litter due December 27!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Brought home our new additions to the Mini Rex herd yesterday. We now have torts! Welcome home Kyle's Warrior and Kyle's Stacy (Macy). I know you will give us some awesome babies in the future!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Checked Violet's new litter and it looks like we have 3 brokens, possibly one solid and the rest are OTTERS!! Love those otters!!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

McCabe's Glory was added to the Mini Rex herd today. She is a beautiful Broken Blue Otter and will be a great match to Turbo, our Blue buck.
Went to the Peoria show today and brought home some wins. Changing Winds Casper won Best of Variety AND Best Opposite Sex! Woo Hoo!! So excited!

Saturday, November 16, 2013

We have nest boxes going in today and tomorrow. WOO HOO!!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Got one of the new Cal does bred last night. Californians on the way:)

Got one of the new Opal Mini Rex does bred to Turbo, our Blue.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Brought home a trio of Californians yesterday along with three new Opals Mini Rex does. Very excited about the new additions. A long 350 mile round trip but well worth it.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

     As some of you know, a few years ago, I lost my job due to "downsizing" of the company I worked for. I had been there almost five years, was a manager of one of the stores, and was third in line of seniority in the whole company. Needless to say, that it was a huge shock to us and quite the adjustment. We, like so many others these days, had to make a lot of changes.
     We are not die hard preppers by any means. We do what we can. We raise and grow as much as we can each year and add to it the following year. We learn new skills. When we make any kind of purchase, we make sure that we both agree to it and it is a needed purchase that will be worth the money and will benefit this farm and to help us to maintain it.
     I was let go at the end of August, so the garden growing didn't start until the following year. We started our own seedlings, guessing on how much we would need. Usually in the past, we would have a garden, but just some tomato and green pepper plants that we would buy and throw in the garden. If they grew, great. If not, oh well. This time, things were more serious. We worked the ground, tended the garden and weeded it like our lives depended on it--because it did! We now grow more each year, can everything possible, work the ground, and plan for the next year to be even bigger.
     We've always been animal people. We've had chickens, ducks, turkeys, horses, goats, dogs, rabbits and even a pig or two. We've learned over the years how to take of them, from daily chores to tending wounds, illnesses and even birthing. There were always a few types of  animals that ended up back on the farm, rabbits being one of them. Rabbits are an inexpensive animal to keep, reaches processing weight faster, and takes little time or effort to raise. They are quiet, don't smell and are still great to talk to. They have their own personalities, like other animals. Some are grumpy, some are funny, some could care less if you are there or not. Some are very loving and want your attention as soon as they see you. If they could wag their tail, they would. Rabbits are awesome!
     Over the years, we've been brought back to reality. No spending the money that we have stupidly, everything fits the "big picture", everything fits in to what we want to see here on this farm. To us, losing the job I had, made us realize how much we wanted to make changes, we just hadn't done it. We were going through the motions of everyday living and the stress involved in trying to keep up with everything, at home and at work. Now, we enjoy LIFE. We want QUALITY of life. To us, making some very needed changes in our lives has given us so much more that money could ever buy.
   
Peoria Show is NEXT WEEKEND!!! I'm getting excited but also nervous since we haven't done one for so long. We've been to a few shows to check them out, but to actually show at one, the boys were still in school. Long time ago!
Another dreary rainy day, UGH!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

We got the rabbitry cleaned out today. LOTS of new black gold put out in the garden. It was nice to have our four year old little helper today too. Our grandson, Camden, is such a hard worker. He thought it was loads of fun to take the poop to the garden in his little wheel barrow. He's such a good kid:)
Twenty-three less mouths to feed in the rabbitry today. Looks like I will be canning for the next few days:)