Trees (falling), bees, hugel clover, Hooey & roaming rabbits. Oh, and lentil soup. Yummo.
FCL :: Day in the Life :: 11 Aug, 2018 (Hugelkultur Rabbit Habitat: Step 1, Building the Hugel)
Found a 6 pound cantaloupe in my compost bin, which motivated me to get off my butt and actually transplant 25 cantaloupe seedlings from the soil block greenhouse into the row garden.
Then, I got a wild hair and decided to build a hugelkultur-based rabbit habitat out in the woods, so I can start migrating my young rabbits out of their cages and back into a more natural setting.
Beautiful day. Forecasted thunderstorms have not arrived (yet).
FCL :: Day in the Life :: Aug 06, 2018
One day in the FCL life: deer, dog, donkeys, ducks, disease, chickens, rabbits, donkey-on-dog bullying, mosquitoes, squirrels (monkeys).
Yup, that’s about it. That’s (mostly) what we’re about. Today’s cast of characters didn’t include: geodesic domes, rabbit cages, garden, soil blocks & greenhouse, pond, coyotes, hawks, snakes, bees …
… but the week is young. 😉
FCL :: Day in the Life :: Aug 4, 2018
I filmed the first few segments of this video specifically to update my niece McKenna on the status of her baby chickens (Kenna’s Krew) and the baby bunnies she helped me nurse for a week. But, I decided to share them will all.
Hooey? Well, she’s just Hooey … my chicken eat’n sidekick. 😉
Another Rabbit Lost to Snake
Okay, this is getting kind of old … losing baby rabbits to snakes.
Earlier in the day, I found a different — medium sized — black snake in one of the chicken coops in the garden pasture. Did I kill it? No! I caught it and released it closer to the house. Why? To eat mice that are always trying to sneak into the house.
Did I kill THIS rabbit-eating snake? No — but I sure as hell thought about it. Instead, I moved it into the vacant geo-dome #2 so it could eat the rabbit in peace.
OBVIOUSLY — it pains me a great deal to lose a baby rabbit to a snake, but that’s one of many prices of admission to — say it with me — FINE COUNTRY LIVING!
Without getting too graphic or gross here, about an hour after I put the snake in Dome-2, I poked my head in to see what it was doing. I found the snake completely coiled around the bunny. My guess is, the snake uses its constrictive power to … soften (think about it, or don’t!) … the rabbit so it can more easily get the whole rabbit into it’s gut.
Next morning … no snake, no rabbit. Hopefully it won’t be hungry for a few weeks. I can’t (and don’t wanna) imagine how it poops that thing back out. But, that might be something to see.
FCL :: Day in the Life :: 23-24 Jul, 2018
For anybody interested in the RSOE website I feature at the beginning of this video, see RSOE EDIS.
I observed the drake (male duck) mating with one of the black ducks (female) … which bodes well for some baby ducklings perhaps later in the season. I haven’t researched duck procreation details yet (e.g. nesting habits, gestation cycles, etc.), so I better get off my butt and do so.
Drives me absolutely NUTS that $%^&* ticks figure out a way to climb into my rabbit cages and parasitically prey upon my bunnies. If I could wave a magic wand and make three species immediately go extinct … ticks would be on my list.
More deer. More rain. No specific correlation, except maybe the Muscatine grapes they plunder from Hooey’s horde. 😉
FCL :: Day in the Life :: Jul 22, 2018
Big thunderstorm last night (3.3 inches of rain). A few showers during the day, and another major T-Storm in the evening hours.
Saved a turtle from getting squashed by my tractor.
Setup a ‘play date’ for my baby bunnies to visit the 18 new baby chickens in their brooder for a bit. Very cute.
FCL :: Day in the Life :: June 18, 2018
Got the first couple of raised bed rows covered (tarps) in the garden plot to kill the remaining cover crop in preparation for transplanting the seeds I sowed in the soil block mini-greenhouse the other day in about 4 to 6 weeks.
Got too hot … so I spent some time in the workshop getting a Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10×44 scope with EBR-1 reticle (MRAD) mounted on the new Springfield Armory M1A rifle, after installing a SADLAK M14/M1A Airborne Scope Mount and lapping a set of Burris Extreme Tactical 30mm rings. Wow, that’s a mouthful.
Finally caught one of the two rabbit does nursing the baby kits, so now I know which one is the mother, and which one is … NEXT … (as my buck rabbit is prone to saying!).
FCL :: Day in the Life :: June 17, 2018
There’s a bit of backstory to the first clip. I called my Dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day, during which he mentioned the “Let It Ride” movie that is centered on horse racing (comedy). We both love that movie, and said we were going to watch it for Father’s Day. So, in the first clip, I’m watching Let It Ride … while Hooey snoozes on the couch (not her brand of humor, I guess). I still LMAO at some of the classic scenes from the movie (e.g. “Nobody move! I have peripheral vision … it’s a gift … I can see me ears …”)
Broody hens …
Garden tilling in the dark (after it cools down) …
Cute baby chickens roosting …
Boom. Another day in the can! 😉
FCL :: Day in the Life :: June 16, 2018
All the young ones (rabbits, chickens) are doing well.
We planted 320 veggie / melon seeds in the new soil block mini-greenhouse.
Added a new Springfield Armory M1A chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor to the inventory. Can never have too many M1As.
That young doe seems to be visiting us every day now, and getting progressively closer to the house. I think she likes baiting Hooey into the chase (SCUD-mode).
Hunter was kind enough to share her rotisserie chicken with me.
It is supposed to be oppressively hot & humid for the next few days … so we’re looking for indoor projects to tackle. 😉