Around the Microfarm

In December, Koenigland is also home to four new and strange creatures, a fall/winter garden, and an activie forager who is trying to find things for themselves and rabbits despite the muggy yet chilly Alabama weather (me).

The four new creatures? Dinosaurs, clearly. That is, creatures directly descended from dinosaurs and, thus, still dinosaurs. Their common name? Chicken. We have three hens and a rooster, a mere month and a half old. The hens are a tiny yet plucky Black Maran (McNugget), a cuddly Lavender Orpington (Peep), and an aloof Rhode Island Red (Chiclet). Formerly thought of as a hen and thus named Henrietta, Henry started crowing a couple of weeks ago. The sound is adorable and I do wish we can keep him, despite our current location in a suburban area; however, we do intend on moving and, with luck, we'll find a locale with enough green space that nobody will be bothered by the delightful calls of a rooster. Of course, my mother worries that Henry will become an attack bird and we will likely trade him for another Orpington. Drat? (I always wanted an attack dinosaur.)

The fall/winter garden has taken root (puns!) quite nicely. We have flourishing wheat, kale, and Austrian winter peas. The Dixon Red beets haven't had the best of luck, but all I can see are the tiny pair of leaves and bright red stems. For all I know, we have a mess of beets under the brown dirt and rabbit manure. I probably should look into that. From all I've seen, the leaves and stems never get too large, so with luck, we may in fact have beets to pickle for Christmas gifts. The singular cabbage plant stands proud beside two rain barrels and the young raspberry plants has stuck out the unusually quickly cold fall. We've only used the cabbage insofar and you can't tell me it isn't the best tasting cabbage ever.

 While it's been too cold with fibromyalgia for me to forage much, I still have a mess of at least three different types of acorns I intend to make into flour and candies and, to my utter surprise, dandelions, purple dead-nettle, wood sorrel, and clover are still growing well despite the cold. There's even an unknown plant with triangular leaves that has sprouted up all around my home. Luckily for me and my rabbits, I never use anything I cannot identify (and thus no Darwin Awards); however, they are loving the occasional bite of greenery.

I have recently heard arguments over what is the proper feeding of a rabbit. I, personally, think a good grass hay like timothy or bermuda is all important. You should always give your rabbits a supply. Treat it as much like fresh water as you can. I also think a good protein source, like alfalfa or clover hay and/or beet pulp, are very important. Beyond that, a good quality pellet, preferably with no corn or soybeans and NO animal-based products, or natural diet dry food (such as whole grains) should be a staple. Some people are against the feeding of forage or vegetables, but they can act as good gut lubrication. Just make sure you feed rabbit safe greenery and take note of rules (example: mint is good, but not to nursing does because it dries up milk) and don't overfeed (can cause diarrhea).

You can find great information at natural feeding over at the Rabbit Talk forum, seen here: http://rabbittalk.com/natural-feeding-for-rabbits-f11.html