Becoming self sufficient

[Anna6]

I have caught wild rabbits a lot in the past, so have many people I know, and used them for food. Some of this next part will possibly freak you out a bit, but hear me out. The odds of running into a sick animal is almost unheard of, still here is the dark side. You can check your local animal control the see if any wild mammals in your area are having disease problems. The main thing you have to worry about is rabies. You cant afford to get bit by a rabid animal. I know in Arizona some of the jack rabbits have the bubonic plague, it is a simple bacteria that is killed with antibiotic, it was deadly 500 years ago. Anyway, if you cage them and feed them for a few weeks sort of a quarantine it is extra safe. It they have any bad bug they die, pretty fast. People have been shooting them for ever and eating them, never knowing their health. If one is sick, actually skinning and cleaning them is when you are in danger. Eating any animal with an infection, (a nasty idea) wont hurt you because cooking kills the pathogen, and that makes it harmless. Rabbit and dumplings is superb. Fried rabbit is good too, boil it first to make it tender, then bread and fry it, so so good. I do know one guy that raises wild caught rabbits. He says keep them in small cages because they are turbocharged, you will never catch the otherwise.

My husband brought up eating wild rabbits too. Since there are so many housing developments the rabbit population is out of control because their natural predators are almost all gone. We know of at least two people who eat wild rabbits regularly. This whole eating wild rabbits came up because I am interested in getting a buck and two doe rabbits for breeding. I am just not sure which type to get. any thoughts or input there?

We already have a small herd of Nubian milk goats and are getting set up with chickens. I have not been the best gardener over the last 10 plus yrs but I should really look into that too.

 

[MoonShadows]

New Zealands and Californians are the most popular breeds of meat rabbits.

 

[Anna6]

New Zealands and Californians are the most popular breeds of meat rabbits.

That is what I came to also. I am leaning towards the New Zealand. Now what set up? If I have 2 does and 1 buck I think I need 4 cages, one for each rabbit and one for the baby rabbits once they are weaned.

 

[bachbach1]

New Zealands and Californians are the standard meat breeds. You can raise wild rabbits too, but they do better in large pens as opposed to cages. Catch them in the live capture traps, like the haveaheart traps. Harbor freight tools on the internet has generic live capture traps. The wild rabbits are a lot smaller (cottontails) , they eat a lot less and can be caught, especially if your area is having over population problems. The jack rabbits, and swamp rabbits are pretty big. The swamp rabbits are a breed of huge cottontails they weigh up to 6 pounds. Always isolate any freshly caught rabbits, and wait 20 days or so before exposing them to any others you have. Of course wild rabbits have been shot and eaten for century's, so the isolation is a precaution. Adult wild rabbits are very jumpy as a general rule. If you take weened young wild rabbits and put them in a cage they do a lot better than rabbits caught wild as adults.

 

[shmooborp]

A few things for this year that I would like to learn how to do ( or learn more about) without spending an arm and a leg-

-apiculture ( bee keeping)
-home made cleaners and soaps
-Working with wool / fibers- shearing/cleaning/spinning etc
-gardening more! ( efficiency in small spaces)
-sewing ( quilts anyone?)
-Herbs for homeopathic
-CHEESE MAKING
-Slow cooker meals

and probably a whole bunch of other things that I will discover and geek out about.

 

[Anna6]

A few things for this year that I would like to learn how to do ( or learn more about) without spending an arm and a leg-

-apiculture ( bee keeping)
-home made cleaners and soaps
-Working with wool / fibers- shearing/cleaning/spinning etc
-gardening more! ( efficiency in small spaces)
-sewing ( quilts anyone?)
-Herbs for homeopathic
-CHEESE MAKING
-Slow cooker meals

and probably a whole bunch of other things that I will discover and geek out about.

I am an avid quilter and have plenty of supplies in that department too.

We did some cleaning of wool and spinning in the past but the need for wool items is less now we live in Socal, just too hot. We also do not keep sheep any more.

I am also into making soap and want to spend more time on that especially making a more utilitarian soap instead of fancy. It has been awhile since I made some so I need to work on relearning and perfecting some of these skills. I also want to look at maybe making some wood soap making boxes or if I want to stick with garbage bags and card box boxes that soda comes in.

 

[shmooborp]

I have never really quilted before, but I love the way they look, and my bed spread is AWFUL LONELY! I feel like a good quilt is something a person can have for decades. I also have yet to make my own soap. Wood soap? that sounds neat! As far as wool items go, living in the northwest it gets cold and wet in the winter so spinning wool into yarn and knitting hats would be way too much fun. I haven't the slightest idea as where to start. I don't have sheep or alpaca or anything, and I don't know anyone who has any, but the year has only just started so who knows who i will cross paths with!

 

[Anna6]

When we lived in Oregon I was more into wool but since we moved down south that was it. I do not like having it stuck to me when working with it. Somethings to look for are a spinning wheel and a carding machine or you can hand card and do a drop spindle if you want to start low cost and simple. You can buy a fleece from some one. Be sure to buy one that they used a coat on the sheep else it might be near impossible to clean. Not all wool is the same and some fleece will be scratchy. Merino fleece seemed the nicest to me.

Quilting might be easier to start with, especially if you have a sewing machine already. Of course you can always hand sew. I have several treadles and hand cranks too just for the fun but if the electric is out I could still quilt on a machine.

Oh I am sorry I mean wood boxes to pour the hot lye soap into when setting it. So far I have only used card board with a trash bag in it as liner. worked well enough.

Something else I have not done for some time is cooking in Dutch ovens. when we used to camp I would make everything in it from bread to dessert. I plan to take some weeks this summer just working on recipes for them again and doing all the cooking in them for 2 weeks or so even though it is just in my back yard. I lost all my recipes so I want to work on putting some together again and I am not talking about throwing cans into it to make a stew.

 

[shmooborp]

When we lived in Oregon I was more into wool but since we moved down south that was it. I do not like having it stuck to me when working with it. Somethings to look for are a spinning wheel and a carding machine or you can hand card and do a drop spindle if you want to start low cost and simple. You can buy a fleece from some one. Be sure to buy one that they used a coat on the sheep else it might be near impossible to clean. Not all wool is the same and some fleece will be scratchy. Merino fleece seemed the nicest to me.

Quilting might be easier to start with, especially if you have a sewing machine already. Of course you can always hand sew. I have several treadles and hand cranks too just for the fun but if the electric is out I could still quilt on a machine.

Oh I am sorry I mean wood boxes to pour the hot lye soap into when setting it. So far I have only used card board with a trash bag in it as liner. worked well enough.

Something else I have not done for some time is cooking in Dutch ovens. when we used to camp I would make everything in it from bread to dessert. I plan to take some weeks this summer just working on recipes for them again and doing all the cooking in them for 2 weeks or so even though it is just in my back yard. I lost all my recipes so I want to work on putting some together again and I am not talking about throwing cans into it to make a stew.

oh i love dutch ovens! we always make peach cobbler when we go camping.

I also want to make a micro-aquaponics system. something small enough to just grow some fresh Herbs in that will self sustain itself. As far as wool goes I might just have to take a class or something. There are a lot of farms in the Valley, if I poke around enough i might be able to find something.

 

[MoonShadows]

Our main project this year will be building a greenhouse to extend our growing season. The nights stay cool early in the season and get cool just before harvest time. I found one that I like, and planning on building it with some modifications.