Aqrabuamelu
Member
Re-retired. In west-central Pennsylvania, zone 5. Prefer perennial gardening but of course do some annuals.
We live on a 1 1/2 in-town lot. According to town regulations we can raise around 24 rabbits and no more than 3 hens. This spring, 2023, I'm planning on mini-free-ranging some meat mutts in a 50' x 50' fenced area using a haybale bunker hutch on one side, a 50' x 8' Elderberry and American Highbush Cranberry thicket with ferns and a small brush pile on another side, a 10' x 40' patch of Sunchokes on yet another side and not much on the entry side on the north. The thicket is on the north and shady side of a long tile block storage building and will be the south side of the square. There's a neighbor's green apple tree on the east (morning) side that hangs way over the fence dropping lots of small apples from now until early fall and another neighbor's huge Maple on the west side. That should give them plenty of cover and shade.
The lawn has been allowed to naturalize over the past 20 years. Not one dose of lawn 'treatment'. There's lots of plantains both broad and narrow leaf, dandelions, white clover, violets, many-several grasses, heal-all, sorrels and others I can't think of right now.
I'm not sure yet, I think I'll keep them culled down to a population of no more than 12 - 15 adults. I might and probably will do less.
I raised rabbits about 60 years ago. I was raised on a small dairy farm. My wife is a rural kid too, not raised on a farm though and swears she's never tried rabbit. That's gonna change! Heh-Heh! Heh-Heh!
On the line of perennial gardening, we've got a black walnut tree and I've made some nice walnut vinaigrette. We've got field garlic (I love brine fermented garlic, cloves and ripe scapes), chives, horseradish, rhubarb, asparagus (I pronounce it ass-per-AY-jus), several mints, Elderberries, Highbush Cranberries, Lambsquarters and Helianthus Tuberosus ... AKA Jerusalem Artichokes, Sunchokes, Sunroots, Fartychokes and a few other well deserved names. I'm going to feed some 'choke fodder from early summer through fall. In the fall and spring I'll turn up some tubers on occasion for them to enjoy.
I'm not into pedigrees or purty fur or cuddly pets, just good sized meat mutts when they're around 4 months old.
Speaking of fur, I'm going to cut the pelts into strips, braid some, clean some of the other scrap, trim off the ears, dehydrate, or brine and smoke it and have some dog treats on hand. The larger bones we'll probably roast a bit and make bone broth to can. If I was more Appalachian billhilly I might do something with the brains and skulls and feet and tails, but I'm not that much of a billhilly, though I might hand over the frozen heads, tails and feet to a nearby sporting shop for their fly tying customers. I don't plan on having a lot of waste.
If I decide to get a couple chickens I might freeze small portions of the rabbit innards to thaw and give to them. Less treats for the dogs and less fiddle-fart'n for me but good booster feed for those descendants of Velociraptors!
We live on a 1 1/2 in-town lot. According to town regulations we can raise around 24 rabbits and no more than 3 hens. This spring, 2023, I'm planning on mini-free-ranging some meat mutts in a 50' x 50' fenced area using a haybale bunker hutch on one side, a 50' x 8' Elderberry and American Highbush Cranberry thicket with ferns and a small brush pile on another side, a 10' x 40' patch of Sunchokes on yet another side and not much on the entry side on the north. The thicket is on the north and shady side of a long tile block storage building and will be the south side of the square. There's a neighbor's green apple tree on the east (morning) side that hangs way over the fence dropping lots of small apples from now until early fall and another neighbor's huge Maple on the west side. That should give them plenty of cover and shade.
The lawn has been allowed to naturalize over the past 20 years. Not one dose of lawn 'treatment'. There's lots of plantains both broad and narrow leaf, dandelions, white clover, violets, many-several grasses, heal-all, sorrels and others I can't think of right now.
I'm not sure yet, I think I'll keep them culled down to a population of no more than 12 - 15 adults. I might and probably will do less.
I raised rabbits about 60 years ago. I was raised on a small dairy farm. My wife is a rural kid too, not raised on a farm though and swears she's never tried rabbit. That's gonna change! Heh-Heh! Heh-Heh!
On the line of perennial gardening, we've got a black walnut tree and I've made some nice walnut vinaigrette. We've got field garlic (I love brine fermented garlic, cloves and ripe scapes), chives, horseradish, rhubarb, asparagus (I pronounce it ass-per-AY-jus), several mints, Elderberries, Highbush Cranberries, Lambsquarters and Helianthus Tuberosus ... AKA Jerusalem Artichokes, Sunchokes, Sunroots, Fartychokes and a few other well deserved names. I'm going to feed some 'choke fodder from early summer through fall. In the fall and spring I'll turn up some tubers on occasion for them to enjoy.
I'm not into pedigrees or purty fur or cuddly pets, just good sized meat mutts when they're around 4 months old.
Speaking of fur, I'm going to cut the pelts into strips, braid some, clean some of the other scrap, trim off the ears, dehydrate, or brine and smoke it and have some dog treats on hand. The larger bones we'll probably roast a bit and make bone broth to can. If I was more Appalachian billhilly I might do something with the brains and skulls and feet and tails, but I'm not that much of a billhilly, though I might hand over the frozen heads, tails and feet to a nearby sporting shop for their fly tying customers. I don't plan on having a lot of waste.
If I decide to get a couple chickens I might freeze small portions of the rabbit innards to thaw and give to them. Less treats for the dogs and less fiddle-fart'n for me but good booster feed for those descendants of Velociraptors!
