Barefoot Homesteader

Why are names so hard 😩

I have an incredibly difficult time settling on names, I always feel like they’re so important and just picking something random always feels rushed and un-special? Idk. It’s a hard thing to describe my crazy….

Several of our children didn’t have a name until they were up to 3 days old. 😂 I’m telling you, I have a problem.

The name has to fit, not just off of how a person (or animals since that’s what we are really talking about here) looks or feels like the are that name, but sometimes personality comes into play, long term meaning, and maybe theme! Ugh. So hard 😂

Without any further delay in trying to explain my crazy…

Meet “Twix”
April 5, 2024

Let’s talk about purpose.

I’ve kept rabbits my whole life, my first pet rabbit I was 4yrs old and she was a New Zealand White. My parents have on vhs when we were out in the yard with said pet rabbit and a chicken hawk swooped down and hauled off my close to 12lb rabbit away…. My first experience with rabbits and predators… I would experience this in various ways over my childhood, but we can save the trauma sharing for another day.. 😂

As far as a regenerative food source goes, I’m a big proponent of keeping chickens. I can talk to you about them and the whys for hours, but today’s goal is cute little bunnies.. But… a warning, I’m going to talk about them as a meat source among other things.

Rabbits are a wonderful addition to any size homestead, even the smallest backyard homesteader can handle a trio and start there. I decided to get into meat rabbits last year and bought breeding trios of pedigreed Standard Rex for meat and fur. And then pedigreed Holland Lops (pictured) for show, 4-H, and pets. So this spring is our first round of meat rabbits, so we are learning as we go!

Rabbits can quickly be a great rolling protein for your family. Rabbit meat is higher in protein and lower in calories and fats compared to chicken. Rabbit meat is richer in vitamin B12 and a great source of some minerals.

But… Brianna! They’re so cute! Yeah… I know 🫣
I love rabbits, I’ve always kept them! But.. guys, self sustainability skills are important regardless of our emotions. So this is one I feel I need to learn.
We don’t buy meat from the grocery stores if we can avoid it, we go straight to the sources if we don’t raise it ourselves. And rabbits grow out to butcher rate is 8-12wks, So as far as being able to put food on the table for my family if and when we need to, I can! That comfort and knowledge gives me peace. Knowing how to do something, I believe is the most powerful tool in our arsenal for all of our future.

Ok… so what about all that 💩 p**p!?
Oh I’m so glad you asked because for the last 12yrs that’s exactly what our bunnies have added to our homesteading journey! Rabbit poo is brown-gold 🤣
I’m serious! It’s the BEST fertilizer for your garden and plants! I compost a huge majority of all the animal 💩 and it goes right into the garden, I also learned to loam it, I learned to “ferment” it, I put some bunnies in a little bunny tractor and let them go right in the garden where I need it munched, tilled and fertilized! And… I SELL it!!

There’s nothing that goes to waste, organ meats will feed my dogs, babies who don’t make it? They are frozen and fed to our snakes, 🐍, fur is sold to a company that uses Rex fur as the insides of moccasins/slippers and gloves. I’m interested in learning how to cure hides myself someday, but one major adventure at a time 😳

Friends, knowledge is power, and I’m here to share it!
Do you keep rabbits?
As pets or for a meat source?
Maybe both?!
I wanna hear your stories!
And maybe recipes if you’re the meat person 🫣

Hi Friends!

I recently connected my IG and FB to figure this whole thing out, so bare with me as I’m learning to computer 😂

So…. Is “Chicken Tender” what I’d be labeled?? 😂

DID YOU KNOW? 🦆🦆🦆 Ducks submerge their heads to clean out their eyes and nares (nostrils). This unusual trait helps them clean their eyes to avoid eye infections. Two-gallon water buckets are the perfect source for your ducks to do just that.

As a self proclaimed connect the dots specialist, I normally do not like that every device I own “knows me”, but let me tell you, when I open Pinterest, Amazon, Etsy, or Temu and the first things I see are chicken related things?

A girls gonna swoon… 😂

Hurry up spring, I got chicken things to do!!!

New babies on our little farm!!! Go check out my IG stories to see the birth of the new set of twins that arrived last night!!! ❤️

I love the babies 😍😍😍

May 2023 Baby season is in full swing, baby goats make me insanely happy 😊 enjoy the babies ❤️😍❤️

Tasha Tudor gardens are my goals ❤️

If you're the preparing kind, you have till June 11 of this year to be ready..

I do believe it’s important to have a vet in your back pocket, but…. I believe more so on knowledge and experience for yourself, my own vet has helped me through this from the beginning, showing me how to do things, really teaching and helping me be confident in my husbandry skills.

To be honest I’ve used manmade antibiotics on my farm maybe twice in the last decade. A goat with a retained placenta and a calf that needed emergency treatment. Usually I prefer my way.

However. Like I said, preparing is its own form of knowledge, there are a few things on that list I think should be in everyone’s cabinet for emergencies. Sometimes you need it and you need it NOW. Not tomorrow when the vet is in the office.
So… share and be aware.

Happy Mother's Day ❤️