Eggnog Fail

I love eggnog. Plain and simple. Unfortunately, eggnog is in short supply to begin with and guaranteed to be non-existent the day after Christmas. So what did I do? I made my own.

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but my nog was far from delicious. Since we have two laying hens now I used fresh Frühlingskabine eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and spices. Not only did it come out chunky... it was flavorless. We drank as much as we could and threw out the rest. Good thing I only made half of a batch! I guess I'll have to wait for next Christmas to get my fix.

Homemade eggnog? Fail.

Rabbitry Tour

Follow the tour through the Rabbitry and meet the cast...

Caring for Animals

I've been having weird dreams about our animals lately. I dream mostly of chickens escaping or rabbits not eating, both of which would be terrible. Have you ever tried to catch a chicken determined to be free? It's hard.

So last night I dreamt that I went into the rabbit shed to feed them their evening pellets, but when I looked in the cages the rabbits were no where to be found. All of the cage doors were still locked and there was no way to escape, but somehow they did. Frantic, I looked everywhere to find all three sitting on top of their cages looking at me. It seemed to be one of those things where you look once, not there, look twice, aha! Anyway-- when I woke up I was a little confused as to what was dream and what was reality.

I think I may be overly concerned with their welfare. Of course I did plenty of research before buying these rabbits, but the actual daily care is a little more than I anticipated. Angora rabbits require LOTS of grooming to prevent them from getting mats or eating too much of their own wool. Thistle's coat is twice as long as the two does so he is much more prone to mats. I've had to pick out quite a few already near his feet and on his side.

The constant worry of loosing such a valuable animal to something as stupid as ingested wool is apparently bleeding into my sub-conscience. At least all I have to worry about with chickens is frozen water... and brain-dead Honey flipping the nest box onto herself leaving her trapped. Other than that.

Merry Merry!

Trevor, Sarah, Cami,
Myrtle, Pearl, Agatha, Henrietta, Honey, Butterscotch,
Thistle, Clementine, Dandelion, and all the Bees...

Wish you all the happiest of holidays and joy into the New Year!

Eggs!

Yesterday morning I went about my morning chores as usual. Feed the rabbits. Thaw the rabbit water bottles. Open the door for the chickens to come out into their run. Throw hot water on the chicken waterer to thaw it out. Check to see if their feeder was full. Glance around for eggs. Eggs? I didn't put brown golf balls in there to trick the chickens... that's an EGG! Holy crap! There are three eggs!

Needless to say, we fried them right up. I have never had an egg that was not from a grocery store, so this was a very exciting experience for me. They tasted delightfully rich and were fantastic even without salt or pepper. I didn't bother using either because I wanted my first real egg to stand on its own. And it did. If you've never tasted a "homegrown" egg... you should!

If you look closely at the picture you can see that all three eggs are slightly different colors. One egg was really long an narrow, the second was fairly average shaped, and the third was average shaped but had white speckles all over. It's amazing how hens can lay eggs that look so different from each other.

When I cracked the eggs open I noticed how thick the shells felt. Compared to market eggs, those suckers were difficult to crack open. Just look at how orange those yolks are! They even look fresh. I bet these would really turn a hollandaise sauce into something special.

- Sarah

Rabbits and Long Walks on the Beach

This past week we have all been getting to know our new rabbits better.


Some of us more than others. Anyway-- we seem to have discovered their little personalities. Or at least they are beginning to shine through.

Thistle, our ruby-eyed white buck is a charming but lazy boy. When I go in their shed I often find him laying around practically lounging. I half expect to catch him eating potato chips in front of a secret television. Silly rabbit. Despite his obvious love of afternoon napping, he always rushes up to the cage door to greet me. Although I'd like to think it was just me he is happy to see I do know better. He is always looking for hay to snack on and he has smartly made the connection between me... and hay. Silly rabbit.

Dandelion is our fawn colored doe. She is shy, but sweet. I can tell. She is still getting used to us. An almost two-year old is a lot to handle in your face everyday. Believe me... I know. But Dandelion is coming around. She let's me pet her more and more each day, each time I pick her up it gets a little easier, and today she even let Cami stroke her head. She may have even enjoyed it. She'll come around.

And lastly, Clementine, she is our chocolate tort doe. Of all three rabbits I think Clementine is the most outgoing. She is always cheerful and happy to see us (even if it is under the guise of hunger) and is more than happy to receive her share of love. Clementine will let Cami pet her as long as she likes which is the best kind of rabbit for an almost two-year old to interact with.

I am even beginning to think that Clementine will be our first doe to breed in two months. She seems up to the job as far as temperament goes and this will give Dandelion a little more time to warm up to us. Which brings me to my next task... figuring out rabbit color genetics. What do you get when you breed a ruby-eyed white to a chocolate tort? I'll let you know when I've mastered Punnett squares.

- Sarah

Our Real Rabbitry

Wow! Our first real, official rabbit post. It's not all thinking and planning and plotting anymore. We actually have rabbits now. After a 15-hour trip to Eureka and back... we have our three new rabbits home and safe in their custom shed.

Introducing:


"Dandelion" the fawn colored doe. She is very calm, but shy. Dandelion is almost 6 months old.



"Clementine" the chocolate tort colored doe. She is a bit skittish, bit she is very sweet once she feels safe. Clementine is also 6 months old.



"Thistle" the ruby-eyed white buck. He is super snuggly and potentially my favorite so far. Thistle is 1 year old. We were both surprised when we first saw Thistle because of his size. He is certainly two whole arms full when you hold him.

None of the rabbits are related so I should have a pretty good breeding program for a few years before I need some fresh stock. Well, out to give them their evening meal!


- Sarah

Frühlingskabine GIVEAWAY [closed]

We aren't too sure how many people actually read our blog and we aren't too sure how many people will enter this giveaway, but if you're reading this... your chances are probably pretty good.

Here's what we have for you here at the Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm. Drum roll please!

A set of twelve (12) hand stamped cards that feature my own carvings of assorted birds, a honey bee, and a rabbit. They are stamped using archival inks on nice, thick, cream-colored watercolor paper and paired with matching envelopes (not pictured).



Here are the rules:
- Leave a comment here letting us know if you are a new reader or have been following us for awhile.
- Be sure to include an email address to contact you at. It can even look like this if you're worried about spammers: fmicrofarm at gmail dot com
- This giveaway is open to all countries.
- This giveaway closes Friday, December 16, 2011 at 8:00pm Pacific Daylight Time when I announce the winner!

That's it! No pesky Facebook stuff... No pesky Twitter stuff. Just say hi.

The Gears Are Turning

So, we survived. We are pretty used to snow and heavy rain fall, but we are not used to wind. I mean, where did that even come from? What the?!

Most of our area (about 6,000 residences) was out of power for 24-hours which is normally not so bad, but we weren't ready. Any other time you can see the storm coming up to the mountain, you stock up on some non-perishables, get out the oil lamps and camp stove and you're good to go. But when the weather report says windy... it just isn't taken seriously. That is no longer the case!

Trees split buildings in two like a knife through hot butter, power lines were knocked out, trees were across the road. Crazy.

In other news, we are gearing up for a GIVEAWAY here on the Frühlingskabine blog. You heard me right! Keep an eye out for the post on Wednesday.



- Sarah

Sonora, The Windy City

It has certainly earned that title overnight. Yesterday we had 80-mile an hour winds here and it's not slowing down today. It wouldn't be so bad if it were constant, but the wind comes in short gusts so right when you may think it's over, SWOOOSH!

This will be a true test of the animal shelters we have built over the last few months. Both the chicken coop and the rabbit shed have withstood rain already, but a heavy wind is another story. We'll see...


- Sarah