August on the Mountain

Seeing Success

It’s easy to worry about what’s ahead and forget what was just accomplished. I think a lot of people can relate - always striving for the next big thing. We forget to take time to revel in our achievements. Looking back through last month’s pictures reminds me of all of the things that were just accomplished and to give myself a little pat on the back - before moving on into the next month.

The bays in this hutch are very small, don’t worry - when they don’t have babies they get much more space.

My first rabbit hutch had some flaws. It works for adult rabbits, but is dangerous for rabbit ‘kits’. Two mornings I came out to find a baby bunny, eyes not even open yet - with its head stuck in the chicken wire. Why they’d wandered from their cozy nest, I have no idea. They seemed dead and cold, but after some time warming up in my shirt they were okay. I designed a slightly different hutch for the ‘does’ that are about to give birth - with safer wood dividers.

Thai Basil

The greenhouse is thriving! Tomatoes, beans, lettuce, basil, oh my! After a ton of failures. (Uh, I mean, learning...) It’s good to finally have success growing things. Tomatoes are a personal favourite and I’m super excited to have many varieties growing and nearly ripe. Also, an exciting wild edible popped up in the greenhouse. Lambs quarters! It’s known as a noxious weed, but actually tastes like spinach and is welcome in my greenhouse any day.

Lambs Quarters

In May, Dash the goat developed a bit of a limp. My theory is that he jumped off of the roof of the rabbit hutch and sprained his ankle or knee. He’s not the most nimble creature (strange, for a goat) and it wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve prescribed daily walks to help strengthen his sore leg. It seems to be working! He limps along happily, munching on everything and occasionally picking fights with Feta.

Dash, the black goat and Feta. Chomp, chomp, chomp

As I was moving a barrel of water, the tractor broke. It just ceased to move. We depend on the tractor a lot and having it immobile felt like a crisis! After some troubleshooting, I was able to identify a small, common issue with the throttle linkage and got it going again! Crisis averted. While at it I also figured out another common issue that had been plaguing us both. Last year while clearing a road, the parking brake ceased to work. A rod was twisted - after a simple twist back she’s good as new!

This picture turned out weirdly good, for having sawdust in my pants and mud in my ears.

While going up a steep, dusty logging cut we heard a strange noise and Shibby became 2-wheel drive. We knew then that something major in the front end was busted. At best a bearing, at worst, the whole differential. After some troubleshooting, Curt decided to bring in the front differential to be re-set. He also decided that it was time to install a ‘TG Longfield 43/40 Chromoly Superset’. Long story short, he made the whole front end ultra strong and like new.

I think we’d better add building a workshop to the list!

Suddenly the huckleberries, strawberries, raspberries and thimbleberries all became ripe. We picked them every morning, eating them as we went. The tiny wild strawberries pack all of the flavours of a big berry. The thimbleberries have a flavour much like a raspberry but are uniquely different and hard to describe. These huckleberries are much like a blueberry. To preserve them we dehydrated some and soaked others in alcohol. They’ll be SO nice to enjoy in the winter months!

I can’t choose a favourite- they’re all SO good!

Summer 2022 might be remembered as ‘the year of the rabbit’. I’m surprised by how much success we’ve seen with rabbits so far. Now for the hard part - some came ready for processing. Figuring out when they’re ready to go to ‘freezer camp’ is a bit tricky. I weigh the bunnies every week to chart their growth. When they slow down, it’s time. For a few reasons, you don’t want to keep them around after then.

1. Food consumption - I feed both hay and pellets, and grass. As they stop growing they continue to eat, costing time and money.

2. Accidental pregnancy - Rabbits don’t usually get pregnant before 3 months of age, but can.

3. Fighting - This is something that I never came across in my research. After puberty, rabbits fight. Badly and regardless of how much space they have. They can hurt each other and wreck the hides. Fighting is a sign that it’s time to process them.

Transporting a litter to the rabbit tractor, to ‘grow out’

Water moving on its own, meat in the freezer, berries preserved and food growing on the roof! Learning from mistakes is great, but it’s nice to be learning from successes for a change. As August came to a close, the nights have begun to cool. I can feel the bite in the air, nipping at my nose and reminding me that winter is quickly approaching. Soon the snow will blanket our yard making it a whole new world.