Good-Bye Sunfire, It's Been a Privilege

I buried Sunfire this week in the cold, the grey and the mist. She was the last of my original four rabbits. Sunfire was a Palomino, bought almost as an afterthought, just to add a little 'hybrid vigor' to the trio of Creme D'Argents I had purchased. When breeding the same breed of rabbits, there's a tendency to inbreed and line breed a lot which means after a while, the litters are smaller. Introducing a new breed usually results in big, robust and healthy litters. This is what what you want if you are breeding for meat.

Sunfire was unique and pushed the line between livestock and pet until it was no longer thick and black but a grey, smudgy blur. She was a big rabbit, around 15 pounds and glowing orange. She looked like an overgrown pumpkin. From the start, she let everyone know she was no ordinary being. She'd greet me with grunts in the morning and loved her head rubs. She didn't socialize much with the other rabbits preferring the human touch. When I cleaned her cage, I'd let her out and she'd follow me around, grunting and sniffing. I had to be really careful when she was out. Unlike the other rabbits who would go off to explore corners or visit other rabbits, Sunfire followed behind me like a puppy and inadvertently kicking her was always a danger.

Sunfire and I learned together the whole process of having bunnies. Her first litter was a disaster. She had 9 bunnies all in nest box but 5 were born dead. I found all 5 in the front of the box, cleaned and covered with fresh straw. She tried her best to care for them even if it was in vain and my heart went out to her. She raised the remaining 4 beautifully. She seemed to really enjoy the whole mom thing. Her second litter was a whopping 11 kits. She, herself, became very ill afterwards and I nursed her with herbals and homeopathy. She did recover and went on to have more litters, staying healthy and raising healthy kits. With her last litter, she became stiff in the hindquarters and I knew soon her breeding days would be over. I decided to breed her one last time and then let her live out the rest of her life in the colony setting with her daughter Solstice, the one rabbit Sunfire really did enjoy being with. She never had a litter and I figured that was enough for her. I was happy to keep my little grunter around. In January she became ill and nothing I did helped her very much. So I put her down. I have Solstice, Sunfire's daughter and Flare, Sunfire's granddaughter so there's a little Sunfire in the rabbitry.

I couldn't bear to process or just put her out in the compost. So I froze her, whole, in the freezer I have exclusively to keep the dog food in. And when the ground warmed up, I buried her next to the raspberries. Raspberry canes and leaves were her favorite. Good-bye dear bunny, you shall be missed.

A Long, Cold Week, And It Ain't Done Yet

I doubt if the temperature has hit any higher than 18 C since Sunday. We've actually run the wood furnace at night to warm up the house a bit. It's been cool and dry which is a little unusual, usually when it's cool and cloudy like this, we'd have a lot of rain. I do want rain, with all the new seeds and plants, it takes regular waterings for a while to establish them. So I'm hauling out the hose and sprinkler to water every other day or so. The sprinkler is the type that goes back and forth. I have to move it four times to cover the main garden. Takes about 2 1/2 hours to water both the main garden and the annex.

The weather network has been calling for rain all week but other than a couple of drops just to annoy the chickens, there hasn't been any. The weatherman (person?) keeps promising, but the reality doesn't quite live up to the expectations. Pretty much like our politicians, except the weather people are generally much more likable.

Other than the lack of rain, the cool temperatures are concerning. I believe seeds need warmth and sunshine to sprout. I think the garden will be off to a late start. But that doesn't mean that everything is a wash. It's been my observation that once the warm, sunny weather kicks in, the garden makes up for lost time.

Today started cool and cloudy, not a big surprise there. By the time I had finished collecting the greens for my rabbits, there was a gentle, consistent (that being the operative word, spurts, spats and dribbles don't count as real rain. ) rain falling. Now if it would only warm up!

Planting The Veggie Garden 2009

I have spent the last two beautiful days in the garden and will be in there for a couple more days at least getting the seeds and plants in. I started by lining our fence that backs the garden with snow peas. I also will plant some more snow peas with the corn once the corn is up 4 - 5 inches. I thought I'd try waiting a bit because I find the corn struggles for the first little while because the peas overtake it. It all works out in the end, the corn does eventually get bigger than the peas but it may be less hassle to do it this way, at least I will avoid the frustration of trying to get a four inch corn stalk to support 12 inches of snow pea vine. Considering I have at least 50 or so stalks, that's a lot of accumulative frustration. The corn is from a couple of cobs that I saved last year so I'm hoping they'll sprout. The snow peas are actually called "snow wind" and they are supposed to produce more pods and less foliage. If they work out, I'll save some pods for next year, I really want to get away from buying seeds/plants as much as possible.

Around the area of my corn which is in the back at the top of the garden I put in my zucchini plants. The seeds are called 'Black Beauty' and they are not suppose to vine out all over the place.

In front of the Three Sisters, I have short rows of yellow bush beans and carrots. That combo worked really well last year. Once I harvested the beans and pulled the plants, the carrots had a lot more room to grow so I thin the carrots less. The yellow beans are "Super Wax" bush beans and the carrots are "Nantes half long".

Today, I'm plant my tomatoes, Roma and Beefsteak, and my basil with them. I will also put in my green peppers and see what else I can get in.

Early Morning Heron

The summer always brings an old friend back. I noticed him within weeks of moving to the DaM Farm. He's an early, early visitor and I hear him above me before I see him. The first time I heard him, I wondered what was making that horrible squawk. Turned out to be a heron on his way to the little dam. He fishes there every morning. And every morning he will greet me with his hoarse call as he flies overhead.

I enjoy watching him in the early morning before everything gets busy and noisy. There's nothing to break the silence except for the occasional splash in the water. Sometimes the splash is made by a fish jumping, blissfully unaware that a hunter is just inches away. Sometimes the splash is an announcement of a pair of loons who will fish with the heron. I love watching them in the stillness of a day about to be.

It's a nice way to start the day. On my porch with a cup of coffee before the heat and the mosquitoes make their presence felt. The sun is just touching the water, bejeweling the tiny crests with diamonds that disappear in a wave only to return in seconds. The living jewels are the most precious. You can't buy this kind of peace.

Sick Rooster

Yesterday morning I found a mixed roo not up to snuff. He was sitting behind the nest box area and didn't get up to run outside. He also had his eyes closed. I hate when any of my animals get sick, I always feel so helpless. Gingerly I picked him up; I didn't want to hurt him if he had a physical injury. He didn't even bother to try to get away from me, he kept his eyes closed and his head was drooping a bit; not good. The list of 'not goods' is getting longer and longer with this rooster.

I checked him out and could find no wounds on the guy and his bottom looked fine. Holding a rooster upside down to check his netherlands is generally taken as a great affront to roosters. And this guy did convey his displeasure by clucking fairly adamantly. So now I have a bit of a list of good signs, which is also a good sign.

I secluded him and started calling him Micheal Moore, after the directer who makes documentaries including one about the American medicare crisis called "Sicko". Well, I had to call the roo something, and I already have about thirty chickens called "Hey You". I watched him all day and he just sat with his eyes closed. I think he might have drank a little but his food remained untouched. I wasn't feeling all that hopeful. You can never tell with chickens; it could have been something he ate, it could be a number of ailments chickens can get. All I can do is watch and if I find something specific, like wheezing or a wound, I can treat it with home remedies. Basically, I just watched him do nothing and hope he wasn't about to fade away.

At bed check, Micheal Moore had eaten some of his food, but was still really quiet and lying down. This morning when I went in, he was standing up and both eyes were open. His eyes were bright and he had eaten more food. He was also clucking at me. So there is a pretty big improvement. I let him out of the cage. While he did walk around and seem interested in his surroundings, he didn't seem much inclined to go into the main coop area and mix with the other chickens. So I'm going to leaving him walking around in the storage area today, getting a little fresh air and some exercise and see how it goes. Hopefully it was just something he ate. Chickens can get botulism very easily from something as innocuous as a moldy leaf. They do tend to get over it if it's just a mild case. Hopefully that's the case with Micheal Moore.

More Layers

The little chicks hatched out last January have started laying eggs. I recognise the eggs from the new hens because the eggs are so small, just a little bigger than Mandellas'. I found the first one last Sunday. When I went into the coop that morning, I did find a new hen sitting in an actual nest box. At the time,I doubted that she was actually laying an egg. I figured she was practicing for the big event or may-be just pretending to be a big girl. Later in the day, I found a little roundish brown egg where she had been setting. I guess she showed me. I was a little surprised because I didn't expect then to be laying much before June.

Since then, I have been finding the little eggs mostly behind the nest boxes in wee little nests the hens build. It's a very cramped space but I suppose the hens felt secure and comfortable there. As long as they're happy and laying, I'm happy.

The Changing Garden

The weekend, while fairly cool, was sunny and breezy. So, of course, I spent most of it outside doing gardening preparations. I've decided to dismantle my herb garden. Since I'm doing so much companion planting, the herb garden is redundant not to mention quite sparse. One less garden to weed is always a perk. I began work on the herb garden by transplanting the big, bushy mint plants to line the dog pen fence. They look quite nice there, with my moms' peonies nestled in between them. Mint has a habit of overtaking a garden, yard, neighbourhood, etc. Now the lawn mower will be able to keep the invading mint army in check. I've moved my sage, comfrey and oregano into the butterfly garden. With the exception of planting Calendula, the butterfly garden is completely perennial now.

The butterfly garden has a couple of other changes as well. I gave up on the stone path and covered it with wood shavings in the hopes that the weeds will finally give up. Hanging above the garden is a humming bird feeder. Suspended above the garden, it's a bright red beacon bobbing gently on its branch. The hummingbirds are steadfastly ignoring it. I'll give it a bit.

I was very happy to see that my lavender plants made it through the winter again. Lavender is one of my favorite herbs; whenever I weed in my lavender patch, the plants thank me by perfuming the air with a scent that is both calming and reminiscent of my paternal grandmother's house. Nanny liked her lavender. I'm debating whether to put the parsley in the butterfly garden or just plant it in the veggie garden. I will likely do both. Parsley can come back every year but in the veggie garden it is an iffy proposition because of the roto-tilling in the spring. So if I have a bit in the butterfly garden, I know it will survive.

Now to start on the main gardens! Whoot.