Farm Fresh: First 2 Litters of Rabbit Kits

We successfully mated our two does with our buck on September 30th. That was our second try mating Alice (pictured below) with him.  She just ran away from him the first time. Rabbits almost always kindle 30-32 days after mating. On day 27 I put the nest boxes in each doe's cage.  I planned on some Halloween kits, but did not see any the morning of the 31st. When we came back from co-op school that afternoon I saw 2 kits laying on the floor of Scarlett's cage and one had wiggled over into Alice's cage. I was terribly upset because one was in bad shape, but somehow still alive.  After a lot of panicking type drama, I put the two that could possibly survive into the nest box and sent hubby to help the third off to a quick demise. Scarlett did not make a nest like she was supposed to.  And she ignored the babies completely.  They both died of starvation.

Alice on the other hand, had her babies some time Halloween night after we had gone in from trick-or-treating.  She make a picture perfect fuzzy nest and had 8 babies. They have all been well-fed and well cared for by their mama.  Alice got a treat every day until the babies started hopping out (day 17).

 Here they are on day 13:

 Here is a video of them on day 16:

Here are some pictures from day 19:

All the babies eyes are open and they are hopping out of the nest box from time to time.  Next week they will start eating some hay and pellets.  Then they will slowly be weened around 6 weeks of age. 

Two of the kits are already spoken for and I will begin advertising them on craigslist in a couple weeks. Hopefully, we can sell them all as show and pet rabbits. Any remaining will probably become roasters. 

Family Schooling Summary: Class Fair, Visiting Great Grandpa, and Aunt L's Funeral

This variety of monkey is frequently found climbing trees in my yard. 

We had the class fair exhibits for co-op school this week. All the classes and students are allowed to display projects that they have been working on.  M & S participated in a puppet show... sort of. 

 M played a guitar solo of his scales.

 Big Sis A played the Beatles "Love Me Do" on her guitar.

Here is the display that I made to illustrate some of the things we talked about in my preschool science class. 

 A & M took a cool class called "Mysteries of the Unseen World".  They used microscopes, telescopes, and learned that visible light is only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

 Their class did a skit to illustrate the electromagnetic spectrum.

 A also took a class called "See how they run" about elections.  As part of the class she wrote a letter to our state senator.  She requested sidewalks along our road AND received a kind letter in response. Such a great way to learn about how democracy works.

We spent Tuesday-Thursday in New Jersey attending my aunt's viewing and funeral.  We had some additional lessons on electro magnetism from my grandpa.

 He is an inventor and has about 70 + patents on all kinds of cool gadgets. He is the most amazing person to talk to. He always seems to know how things work, or could work.

 Here we are at the viewing.

 This is how the kids entertained themselves during that event.

The funeral was nice. I don't have any pictures from that event.  The kids sang "I am a child of God" and Grandpa said that it was his favorite part and the only time that he cried. Aunt C did the eulogy and a lot of Aunt L's friends shared funny stories and memories of her. I said the closing prayer.

Farm Fresh: Thanksgiving Birds

I loved raising these turkeys.  They were curious and would always come and see what I was doing in the yard. They made cute yipping and gobbling noises. They ran to me when I fed them. People say that they are ugly, but I thought they were handsome in a dinosaur type way. The turkeys were allowed to grow about 3 weeks longer than was necessary because I wanted them to be freshly dressed for Thanksgiving.

Butchering day was sad, but we all knew that these commercial breeds (double breasted white and broad breasted bronze) would no longer be able to walk in a few weeks. I was glad to have some friends who wanted to come help with the work.
**Warning: Graphic pictures ahead*** Stop here if you don't want to see turkeys being butchered**
This is exactly why I wanted help with butchering these turkeys.  Look at this strong guy struggling to carry my hefty bird!

 Then we string it up (also a two man job).

 Put the burlap sack over it to secure its wings.  J got hurt by one of the birds flapping around.

  I was glad that J was willing to do the killings.  I can do it, but I hate doing it, especially on my birds.  They have trusted me so long. I can do the rest of the processing without any trouble though. 1. Dip the bird in 155 degree water.

 2. Hang it back up and start plucking.

 While we plucked J got the next bird ready.

  3. Finish plucking and begin gutting the carcass.  I start at the back end and get it all ready to pullout and then come around the front and cut out the crop.  Then I pull all the rest of the innards out from the back.

 Putting my hand in the chest cavity to pull out the innards.

S, C, and K, who were helping that day attend the homeschool co-op with us.  We did several turkey anatomy lessons along the way. They dissected the heart and a foot. 

Then we packed the birds in coolers of ice so that they cool down for 24 hours. My friends took some home, we brought one to the family that gave me a deer, and we kept two.  Processing the 4 turkeys took about 2-2.5 hours plus time for set-up and clean-up.  

Family Schooling Summary: Pilgrim Day and a Tour of the Snyders Pretzel Factory

One of the farms near our home hosts a Pilgrim reenactment for homeschool kids. They had 4 different stations that we rotated through, followed by a hay ride, a corn maze, and a pick-your-own popcorn field.  The first pilgrim we met talked to us about chores. It was hilarious when she spoke about chickens, M raised his hand and said, "That is my chore too. I let the chickens out in the morning and gather the eggs."  While she was talking about how the pilgrims learned to plant the 3 sisters (corn, beans, and squash) together I realised something new.  The groundhog and other animals don't like the squash vines so by planting the squash in a circle around the corn and beans, they deterred the groundhogs from eating those tasty bean plants that they love so much! I can't wait to try that next spring.

The American Indians near Plymouth were called Wampanoag or Massasoit. This chief spoke to the kids about how the pilgrims arrival looked from his perspective and why they eventually decided to help the poor whites.

We met some very tame farm animals along the way.

The kids played pilgrim games and learned about the kinds of toys that children might have had back then.  

  The get the ball in the cup game was one of them.

  Corn husk dolls were another toy.

This is the popcorn field.  We also saw two bald eagles while we were on the hayride, but I did not get my camera ready fast enough.

This popcorn is excellent.  Unlike that batch that we grew a couple years ago, nearly every kernel popped.  We are saving some of the kernels for seeds to see whether this type works better. 

Then the next day some fellow homeschoolers had organized a tour of Snyders Pretzel Factory.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside.  I found a couple online that show the same machines, though they were making tortilla chips instead of potato chips the day we were there.

 It was amazing how fast everything goes through. Our tour guide told us that if all the machines are working at once, they can make one million mini pretzels per hour!  We tried free samples of some new flavors like s'mores and chili garlic. 

Then on Thursday we had a playdate with some friends. The weather was perfect for getting our energy out at the park.

 

 

Happy Birthday to My Hot Wheels Boy

S requested pizza for dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Big Sister A helped me make an angel food cake.

S was so kind about sharing his new things with M.  He did not make a bit of fuss about everyone rushing in to play with his new toys with him.

Big Sister A and Brother S also had their first fillings at the dentist last week.  They had a big treat and then came home to brush and floss their teeth.