Rabbits

We have our next additions to the farm now. Rabbits - both cuddly pets and meat rabbits.

It all began a month ago. Zoe has stayed friends with her supervisor from Upper Clements Park. Zoe has housesat and babysat for her over the past year.  This summer as Zoe came out of quarantine, she was asked by Elizabeth to housesit again. Elizabeth has bunnies with whom Zoe, obviously, falls in love with!

We have conversations with Elizabeth about bunnies. What breed they are, why she has them, and what she does with them. This next sentence is becoming my mantra "I then go and research!" I have collected a number of books, add in google, and I agreed with Zoe that bunnies could be our next farm additions.

WILLOW

IVY

I was able to quickly put up three "stalls" in the barn to hold some bunnies. The goal was one for each female and her kits (when she had them) the third for the male.

We then chose two females from Elizabeth's bunnies. Zoe loved this little 4 week old grey possibly eastern cottontail whose babies will be adorable pets, and I selected a white New Zealand 8 week old whose babies will be sold for meat. Yesterday, we drove to a different farm to get a red New Zealand male who will be daddy!

THUMPER

I smile at how my life has changed. I remember being an18 years old vegetarian and going into a barn where there were bunnies. My friend and I sat in the hay and began cuddling and loving on these little bundles of fluff when the owner came in and advised us not to name supper. I was so sad and in so much shock that anyone could eat a bunny...yet here I am a few decades later ready to recite how rabbit has the highest percentage of protein, the lowest percentage of fat, and the fewest calories per pound. Will I butcher them...no, not yet anyway, will I eat them, maybe, will I love them and give them the best life they can have before someone else butchers them...most definitely!

Dixie's Week

What a week Dixie had!

It started on such a high note. We have a new access to St. Mary's Bay right across the street from our house. So we had a fun, exhausting day at the beach. Zoe has wanted to go swimming since she came back, and Dixie being part Lab, has never turned down an opportunity to swim! 

Unfortunately, her week took a turn for the worse when, on Tuesday, she tried to make friends with a porcupine. I am sure you know how this story ends. 

Dixie was such a trooper and allowed Zoe and I to pull 6 quills out of her face and over 20 quills out of her paw. (Probably had something to do with the adrenaline running through her body!) We weren’t sure if we got everything out of her paw so it meant a trip to the vets the next morning.

The vet asked to keep her for a few hours so they could sedate her and work away at digging out any remaining quill tips. Two hours later when we went to pick her up we were told how amazing she was. (Hardly news to us, but heart warming to hear from professionals). She was so calm and quiet they didn’t need to sedate her. Part of the reason she was so calm was that Zoe and I had done a great job the night before and there weren’t any quills left to dig out!

A few days later she is still limping but has not slowed down and hasn’t stopped wanting to be friends with every new critter she meets.

Anniversary

 This week marks the two year anniversary of starting this blog.

When I began this journey which signified the start of the next phase of my life, I was hearing both excitement and scepticism from the people surrounding me. I decided to start a blog to share my stories with people "back home". I wanted to reassure friends and family who were nervous about my decision that it was the right one. I wanted to share the excitement of my everyday life with those who were living vicariously through me. And I wanted to record all the ups and downs and crazy that was to be my chosen path. And there have certainly been ups and downs and crazy! There are times when I feel writing this blog has run its course. I am just living my best life now and what more can people really want to hear. Every time I voice that opinion, I am met with distress as apparently some people still enjoying signing in every week to read about our adventures and misadventures. I was actually shocked to see that this little blog that was meant for me to keep in touch with my people in Ontario has over 10,000 views from around the world. So thank you to everyone who has supported me and loved me regardless of the decision I made to run away searching for a better, more natural, less stress filled life for Zoe and me.

Zoe and I enjoyed a fantastic day in celebration of her 19th birthday last Monday. We started bright and early with pedicures at 8:30am. Continued with a small Frenchy's shopping tour. For those of you who have not been here, Guy's Frenchy's is a staple of used clothing shopping in the Atlantic provinces! It was the first place Zoe asked to go to when she returned and it almost killed her to have to wait the 14 days of quarantine. We rounded out the day with an incredible meal at The Union Street Pub in Berwick. Our waitress was phenomenal, the food was sensational, and Zoe's first legal drink of Pink Lemonade was perfect!

As far as the great outdoors goes...we have had some beautiful sunset skys this week and I have discovered a new fruit growing in the yard. I knew I had a quince bush. But I thought it was an ornamental variety, but no....this year it is bearing fruit!! Now the recipe search begins to figure out what to do with this new find.

Again I want to thank you for following my journey. I have loved sharing my crazy chicken stories with you all💕

                        

The Barn

 It has taken over a year, a new roof, framing a new wall, board and battening that wall, and today I decided what better way to come out of quarantine than with a little demolition! Finally, with the help of some terrific neighbours, we were able to bring down the old, rotten, end of the barn. Hopefully it won't be too many years and the new metal roof will fade to match the older sheeting, and the new wall with develop that grey patina and match the shingles (which will eventually also be updated to board and batten).

Zoe's Home!!

What a great week it has been, with three more to look forward to.

Zoe is here for the month of August!! Talk about a happy mommy.

I am very fortunate to have a job that is allowing me to work from home so I can quarantine with Zoe and enjoy the hugs and laughter and fun times. I am selfishly, loving the quarantine because I get her all to myself for two weeks without having to share her with anyone!

So what do we do in quarantine? We are all such experts now it really was not difficult to plan. Zoe told me about "Diamond Art" crafting. So I went out and got us two kits. It is like paint by numbers but with thousands of miniscule diamond like beads. Never mind our two weeks of quarantine, I will be very impressed if we get these done in the month. 

Netflix is of course our good friend, and I have unfortunately reverted back to the COVID snacks. (Just as I started to loose the first COVID "19" pounds.)

I also have the pleasure now of eating from the garden, which was not an option in March when we had to plan two weeks of grocery shopping at a time. Remember a few weeks ago when I was complaining the garden was so slow to start and I was afraid I would run out of growing time before winter hit? Well
today I harvested over 5 pounds of beans, which brings me just over 10 pounds eaten and frozen with more still out there!

You know I love you all but.... I'm cutting this short to get back to Zoe.