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This World is Not Our Homestead

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This World is Not Our Homestead

This is where I share about homesteading on .22 of an acre in central Arkansas with my family of ten.
(6)

11/20/2024

Thank you, Ruskabel Rabbitry and Homestead! When I posted about having abdominal muscle cramp spasms with my last dispatching and how I needed to find a new method, I mentioned considering Emily's method as an option. She commented on my post and let me know that she does have these available for people to order them directly from her (which will save you the time of trying to figure out how to make them yourself, although if you want to do that, she has given instructions on videos on her page of how to do that).

As a homesteading and homeschooling mom of seven, to say that I am busy is an understatement. I was happy to support a fellow homesteader and to save myself some time. She sent me some beautiful bunny earrings too! If you'd like to see more of her creations you can browse them at Another Broken Wing Boutique and if you'd like to follow her rabbitry, you can do so at Ruskabel Rabbitry (linked at the beginning of this post).

Thank you, Emily! I'm excited to try it, I'll definitely update everyone with how it goes! It'll probably be a month or two before I get to try it for the first time, my current grow outs are still growing.

11/19/2024

I took Three Strands Acres suggestion and took new conformation pictures with more "smoosh." I think it did make a difference. I'm looking forward to seeing the next generation!

11/18/2024

Not everything turns out amazing. This breakfast from the garden was... "Meh." I oversalted it a little and it had a touch of bitterness from the turnip greens.

It was Indian Giant Snake Bean, basil, kokobu turnip greens, sweet potato greens, and a duck egg. It wasn't phenomenal like I had hoped, but it fed me and Naomi and that's something to be thankful for. Plus it was fresh and nutritious.

I just wanted to share because it's easy to think that everyone "else's" homemade food turns out perfectly every time, but that's nonsense. We all live in the same world, no one seasons or cooks everything perfectly every time and that's okay. We're all learning as we go, have grace for yourself and keep trying.

11/17/2024

Keeping records isn't my forte, but it's an extremely good practice in just about everything. Here are the conformation pictures and weights of the two kits I kept back from Penny's last litter.

I look forward to comparing Bluebelle's kits to these pictures when they turn 12 weeks old.

An important thing to remember when raising rabbits is to compare your stock, with your stock, and breed the best. I see some incredible rabbits pictured on some of the rabbit pages I follow that all of my rabbits would be culls if put up against them, but I don't own those rabbits. Work with what you have or invest in better stock, but don't be discouraged. Rabbits with amazing conformation weren't bred in a day.

11/16/2024

Penny went to a new rabbitry yesterday. I think she produced a doe kit qualified to take her place and I'm impressed with the growth and conformation of her biggest buck kit. I'm "trying" not to shop because I need to build a new and improved three hole rabbit cage, invest in a quality camera and tripod for recording videos for "the other platform," and I really think that I can end up with rabbits with improved conformation and growth rate using what I currently have to work with.

Sometimes I have to remind myself, "I like having a small rabbitry."

11/16/2024

"Treat yourself" can mean very different things for different people. Tonight for me it meant making myself a homemade stuffed crust pizza (mozzarella for the stuffing), shredded pepper jack as the main cheese, and topped with a sliced homegrown kokobu turnip and greens.

Was it good?

Yes, it absolutely was.

11/15/2024

Handsome went hunting this morning with two of the girls... now we have five squirrels.

It looks like it's going to be a busy Friday.

To do:

Wash, rinse, and NuTan rabbit hides.

Process squirrels.

Drive a friend home from the hospital.

Prepare for the Sabbath (by cleaning house).

Have a doe ready for pickup tonight.

As well as the usual responsibilities that come from having seven children.

It'll be nice to rest tonight and tomorrow!

11/14/2024

I harvested the dried Ozark Razorback Cowpeas with Hannah earlier and Handsome and I shelled them at the table (our son Dean helped too). It was quite peaceful and enjoyable. We sorted them a bit and saved seeds from the longest pods to use for when I grow them again. My "hope" is that the seeds from the longest pods will be more likely produce plants that grow long pods... this is theory, but I figure it won't hurt any to try.

Does anyone know of any good articles or videos about selectively breeding plants to improve traits for the next generation?

11/13/2024

I'm going to have to make a change. This morning I tried to dispatch a rabbit and it wasn't being very still which led to my abs threatening me. I waited for a moment for the threatening spasm to subside and thought, "I'll try again and be quick about it, maybe if it goes quickly it'll be okay," spoiler alert, it was not okay. The rabbit was dispatched, but after I stood up my abdominal muscles turned on me, everything went almost completely black, the world went quiet, and I was worried that if it got any worse I would pass out (which I've never done before and would like to keep that way).

I sat down on the kids play slide and waited for the cramp to subside and for my eyesight and hearing to return. It did after a little while. Aelia, Corabell, and Handsome took care of the dispatching for the other rabbits. I'm a bit sad, I love the simplicity of the broomstick/CD method, but I can't consistently dispatching them without having these muscle spasms (I'm sure 7 full term pregnancies have something to do with it). So, I need a new dispatching method so I can handle dispatching without help when I need to. I'm thinking of buying or having Handsome build me a hopper popper or of using Ruskabel Rabbitry and Homestead 's choke chain/noose method. Both methods are still cervical dislocation, they're just done a bit differently and should use less abdominal muscle strength.

Jill, my beautiful doe pictured below and in my page profile picture went to a new home today. She was bred to Solomon yesterday and should have a litter in about a month. I'm glad she's helping a friend get into meat rabbits and expect it to be a smooth introduction.

11/12/2024

I think the Dutch oven will forever be my favorite way of baking bread.

11/12/2024

Scarface is recovering well so far by the look of things! I'm impressed that it looks so much better after just one day.

I have two proven does going to new homes this week and a group of grow outs going to freezer camp. The rabbit area is about to be much more empty! I am amazed by people that manage large rabbitries, but I'm quite happy keeping mine small.

11/12/2024

I think Penny has done it! The broken black otter doe will be kept back to be a breeding doe and the beefy blue otter buck might be kept as a breeding buck. I'll try to get pictures of these two again soon and check their weights as well. I'm more impressed with the buck, but still not 100% sure that I will keep him. I'm expecting some great kits from Bluebelle's litter if her previous litter was an indication of what she will typically produce.

11/12/2024

A happy little accident...

I tried to make cowboy candy the other day with my aji mango peppers, but remembered partway through the process that we were out of sugar, so I dumped my aji mango pepper vinegar mixture into the extra hot honey I had in a jar. What am I going to use this for? I sure don't want to waste it.

Well, let me tell you, I have found out how to use it! This stuff is NOT balanced, it is HOT! It'll make your lips tingle and your nose run, but it sure is good in rice and on meat. I add a little cream to the rice to tone it down a touch and it is deeeelicious.

I'll give cowboy candy another go soon. Am I the only person who thought it was some sort of "jelly" that used pectin? I avoided making it for so long because I'm still a little intimidated by jelly.

Anyway, this was my latest "happy little accident."

I'd love to hear one of your "happy little accident" stories!

11/11/2024

We have an injured baby this morning. This cutie ended up out of the nest box somehow and I think the rabbit in the neighboring cage may have bit his face when was feeling around by the wire near her side of the cage. I put some comfrey infused oil onthe cut and expect it to make a full recovery as long as the wound doesn't get infected.

I need to do a gender and conformation check on the 11 week olds to decide who might stay and who goes to freezer camp. Cold weather is supposed to be coming next week, I'm not looking forward to it.

Have you had your first frost yet?

11/10/2024

The bottom half of this rabbit hide has had the flesh removed, the top half does not. Creating beautiful things takes dirty-hard work. My thumb is still bruised from fleshing so many hides, but I'll finally have enough to make something with them!

What is a skill that you're learning right now or one you'd like to learn?

11/10/2024

Handsome told me today that when we move to the country, I need to raise bees for honey because we use so much (and it's expensive). I told him, "I'm up for that!" Especially after watching some of OFF GRID with DOUG and STACY 's bee videos. They really made it seem doable.

(Yes, I realize this little visitor is not a honeybee.)

11/09/2024

I was standing here holding Hannah and I explained to her that I am making bread. She doesn't understand, but someday she will, long before she understands she will enjoy the incredible aroma of homemade bread and she'll get to sniff the ye**ty rising dough.

Parenting children is hard, but what a blessing it is. As the saying goes, "The days are long, but the years are short." May Yahweh give me wisdom to spend them well.

11/07/2024

To see maturation is a beautiful thing.

My eldest daughter is our poultry caretaker and she loves basically all birds. A nearby friend and I occasionally exchange poultry for various reasons. Extra roosters get sent here to be "dog food," but she always wants them to be welcomed as a new special pet. Sometimes I indulge her and let her "keep them."

This morning she came inside upset and holding one of her "dog food" pet roosters. He was feeling his feathers and had been beating up one of the other roosters. His bloody beak and the other roosters bare and bloody neck were proof. I asked her if she was ready for him to become "dog food." She acknowledged that she was.

I'm proud of her for recognizing the right course of action was culling for peace instead of pleading for separate individual pens to keep everyone separated and unable to attack each other. These banty roosters are not serving any purpose for us at the moment. They aren't part of any breeding program, they just look cute and crow their little crows. Animal hoarding is a serious problem that hurts animals as well as their caretakers, I've seen its affects and it is heartbreaking for those who suffer from it.

This rooster was beautiful, lived a great life, his end was swift without fear or stress, and Roman has an extremely nutritious, natural, and fresh breakfast. Life goes on.

These wings are going to look gorgeous preserved!

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Bryant, AR
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Videos

Rex Rabbit Kit #Rabbit #rabbits #bunny #baby #babyrabbit #Rex #rexrabbit #blue #rabbitry #cute #Arkansas #homesteading #homestead

Hannah Trying Cucumber

Hannah tasting the suyo long cucumber.

Inside the Indian Giant Snake Bean #indiangiantsnakebean #snakebeans #snakebean #unique #odd #gourd #fruit #gardening #homesteading

Part 2 of smoking out the rat. Success!

Smoking Out the Rat

Part 1 of smoking the rat out of my garden bed. It was very surreal to see the smoke coming up through the bed in various places. Insects and worms also crawled up out of the soil. I'll have to post part two separately, it won't let me post two videos in one post.

Chickens + Strawberries #chickens #backyardchickens #ducks #strawberries #strawberry #sweet #homesteading #happy

Ovi passed away today. We took Ovi in because he was too friendly and unafraid of people. The plan was to raise him and process him if he became aggressive or dangerous. But this friendly goof ball won my heart. I loved his friendly in your pocket (or on my head as the case may be) personality. I loved his constant friendly chirps. I'm seriously crying over this turkey. I buried him in the garden bed. Before having Ovi, I didn't want full sized turkeys, I'd been attacked by one before and it was a very unpleasant experience, but after having this guy around, I love the thought of getting more turkeys once we are able to move to the country and if we do, I hope they're just like Ovi. "Grief is an expression of love." - Jessica Sowards

Silly Turkey #turkey #friendly #silly #homesteading #heritage #heritagebronzeturkey

I've had chickens do this before, but this was my first time having a turkey fly and climb up onto my head.

I'm currently rendering lard from Chimi and Changa our Meishan pigs. This morning I had an epiphany on how to potentially speed up the process a little bit. I'm excited to use this. It will help reduce the amount of butter we use (I love butter, but we don't currently have the land to raise a dairy animal). #makeminemeishan #lard

Meet Ovi! A literal and proverbial turkey. #turkey #heritage #bronze

Today I posted one picture and three videos about cooking a pig head in the instant pot for my chickens for page subscribers. "If" what I've heard is correct, I can post content for subscribers that I cannot typically post without experiencing the usual ramifications. I am testing this theory, but only time will tell. Here's a rundown on the subscriber videos: 1. Pig head cooked in IP for 80 minutes. 2. IP opened and I test how tender it is... (spoiler alert) it was very tender. 3. Pig head given to chickens and their reaction to it. This is video 4 and the finale. Enjoy!