Captain.... there be duck eggs here!

Sorry, bad Star Trek reference.............

So last year we bought an incubator and hatched chicks from our Delawares, gooslings from our Buff geese and some turkey eggs from a fiend. I was HOOKED!

Last year I purchased 11 Pekin ducklings with the intention of keeping a few breeders and harvesting the rest. Fast forward almost a year and the ducks are laying eggs and we are seeing mating behavior. Last week we started saving duck eggs.

Doesn't everyone butcher roosters when school is cancelled?

Happiness is finding out your peds class is cancelled on a day it is sunny and warm enough to butcher those extra roosters that really need to be relocated to the freezer. I am in my last semester of RN school and homesteading tends to take a back seat to school these days. Having a whole day to devote to the farm is extra special.

**** Advance warning, there are actual butchering day photos to follow. If this bothers you hit the back arrow now.......

Before pictures..... AKA the cute and fuzzy side of rabbit farming........

These are our current cuties. There is just something adorable and sumo wrestleresk about fat baby bunnies. These three are extra special because they are the last litter from Blossom one of our two founding does. The other founding doe and our founding buck were retired a week ago and after this litter is weened Blossom will retire as well.

As The Garden Grows ......... 1/11/2014

I am a few days late on posting this week thanks to some really cold weather and the beds staying closed for several days. We had a couple of nights in the low teens and twenties with a daytime temps that didn't break freezing if you factored in the wind chill. Normally the bed covers are only held shut on the ends with bricks but due to wind predicted to accompany the low temps we stapled the ends closed. In this buttoned up state there was no peeking until the temps returned to normal and the covers could be opened. This was our first REAL test of how well the hoop covers were going to protect the garden.

Drum roll please........................

Homemade Pizza in 30 minutes.... Start to finish..... Crust and All........

This is the easiest crust I have ever made and it was good! Before you get too excited, I have not made many. I make bread all the time, even made some darn good 45 minute yeast rolls New Years day but, pizza crust requires planning ahead, or so I thought.

Rabbit Rabbit Everywhere...........

This is a continuation of rabbit processing day. In the past we have cut up and frozen our rabbit meat the same day it was harvested but this time we are trying something different. This time we let the carcasses chill in the fridge for a couple of days until they were past the rigor stage. This is supposed to make the meat more tender.

I debone the backs and most of the hind legs (I leave a few hind legs whole). The forelegs, rib cages backbones and hind leg bones all go in the stock pot.

Happy New Year..... 2014.... a look ahead.....

Wow, its January 1st 2014, time does fly!

We are not big on New Years resolutions around here, more of a goal and lifestyle list for us.  

We have been working on stepping off the mass consumerism, everything has to be bigger, faster and more convenient bandwagon. The main plan for 2014 is to be more diligent in this endeavor.  Our instant gratification throw away society is out of control.