Kits and Pups!

If it weren't for all the leaves on the ground and the stark blue sky, I would think that it was spring here!  It does seem that the animals have chosen fall this year to multiply and give us quite a surprise.  A couple weeks ago, as Jon was removing the panel that separates the back of the insulated outdoor hutch for cleaning, he saw two new little fuzzy faces looking at him.  This was a complete shock, as we were sure that the mother was a male!  She had recently molted so we didn't notice when her belly fiber went missing and was made into a little nest way back in the darkest corner of the hutch box.

I won't know what gender they are for a while, but now that I am certain that Firari is a female and Tavie has proved to be the male that I knew he was, I now have a breeding pair, both with really nice fiber.  So, oops!  I'm breeding angoras once again!  Now to be strong and not keep them all!

As for the guinea pigs, they couldn't help themselves, either.

Gary Busey the guinea pig had been living with other male guinea pigs.  The pet store had sworn that it was male, and we had them check before we left to be sure.  Wrong again!  Busey, as she is now called, gave birth to just one pup, but it is healthy and cute and I'm going to have a really hard time not giving this one away.  Look at the face!

To complicate the situation, we took another look at one of the newer angoras that we got over the summer, and are pretty sure that this one is female, not male like we thought.  It is VERY difficult to tell when they're young.  Two other people had agreed that Pika was a boy.  Now there is every possibility that she has been bred as well.  No wonder Tavie was so happy with his living situation!  So far there is no sign of pregnancy, but she is going to be isolated for a month just to be sure.  It also wouldn't be tragic for another little to appear, a bit more expected and planned for, with another few little balls of fluff to play with.

I'm a bit overwhelmed at this point with trying to figure out the new living situation.  I am still grateful for each of these new little creatures.  They all have their own personalities and quirks!

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We have started to have frosts here at night, and there is even a chance of snow this weekend.  The garden is almost done.  There are only a few root vegetables and onions left out there, and they will be fine through even harsher weather.  I harvested corn last week and hung the cobs up to dry in the basement.  The kernels will be ground into meal later this winter (once I figure out how to do that...).  The stalks decorate our front door.

The canning jar shelf is nearly full.  I still haven't done any applesauce yet, either.  The freezer is full of local pork.  The mini fridge is full of pickles.  Extremely sour mustard pickles, to be specific.

Time to go having another cup of coffee and rake some leaves!

Harvest

Waking up with a migraine, I've allowed myself to be cozy on the couch with a cup of my new favorite tea- The Tea Guy's Coconut Truffle Black Tea.

This has been a busy summer.  Once again, I quit my job (unsafe work environment!), so I have had a bit more time to keep up with the garden and fiber arts.  Somehow, all of this 'free time' does seem free at all!  I've been busy canning tomato sauce and pickles, harvesting dried beans, playing with baby rabbits...

I've named the grey one Sterling and the blue and cream one Pika, both males from the same litter.  We also got another grey male, Firari (runaway in Turkish after he nearly escaped!), who is six months old now.

Firari has bonded with the two kits, and I think they will do well together.  Tavie, our two and half year old male, is kept separate due to his age and inability to bond well with other males.

Why do we have so many males?  Our large outdoor hutch originally had three separate pens, but when we moved, we took those out so that everyone could have a large run and keep each other warm.  We couldn't keep any does with our male without the inevitable happening!  It turned out that our original male was too old or his personality didn't allow him to bond well with our new ones, but these new rabbits seem to be happy and carefree, so I now get to have four angora rabbits =)  I do plan on breeding them in the future.

The garden has been producing well, especially since we had only amended the newly overturned soil with loam.  I've never seen so many cucumbers!

I have probably 20+ pints of pickle slices and three gallons of sour mustard whole pickles in the basement fridge.  Tomatoes had late blight and didn't produce well at all, but I was able to buy 60 lbs of canning tomatoes from Sapowsky Farms and I put up 8 pints of ketchup and 7 pints of sauce from that.  Canning a couple pints of sauce at a time from my own heirlooms, I think we will have enough to last at least into the next year.  Next summer, I hope to have 30-40 tomato plants instead of 15, and I will find a drier spot to ward off rot and blight.  I have also put up 40 lbs of peaches (sliced and jam) from Breezeland Orchards.  If I can get another couple bushels of apple drops from Mt. Pleasant Orchard, I think we will eat well this winter!

One last summer market on the 23rd, and then I might been a vendor at Northampton's winter market!

I think the rest of today should be spent avoiding shelling more turtle beans, finishing the hat that I've been knitting, and watching classic Doctor Who.  Also eating cupcakes because it was someone's birthday and I made sure there would be leftovers.

Next post will be about buying half a freezer pig from Mockingbird Farm!

Exhaustion.

A thunderstorm is coming.  I can hear the rumbling in the distance, and of course this is the first time in months that I have the time and energy to write here.  Every day seems like a rush, getting chores done, going to work, building up my new business.  I have an actual business now, White Mountain Fibers.  I've even gone to two farmers markets and have an ebay shop!

At Northampton Farmers Market

(I have a much better black tablecloth now)

I still work at the bakery.  That job is slowly sucking away my baking creativity...I have very little enthusiasm when I come home to come up with new recipes or even make meals.  I won't go into details, but I will say that there is more drama there than at the ice cream shop from last year.

However, I have still managed to feed us and not loose my sanity.  The garden helps.

 Potato and cheese pirogi, before going into the pot of boiling water

 Roasted rooster with vegetables and gravy.  I butchered the rooster myself.

 Paskha and spread for Easter.

 Another spice bread.

 Fiddlehead pizza.

 Fiddlehead, sprout, bok choi, mushroom, and shrimp stir fry.

Applesauce muffins and the first strawberries of the season!

 Today's harvest: peas, dragon's tongue beans, mizuna, brune d'hiver lettuce, strawberries, basil, lovage, and ground cherries

Someone should make this in to a painting for me =)

And because I've been promising pictures of my garden, here they are.  The thunder is getting closer, so I'm off to watch the clouds roll in.  Oh, and we got two more angora rabbits and another guinea pig!

 radishes and bok choi going to seed (I save seed), brune d'hiver lettuce and lettuce mix

 Japanese burdock (for the medicinal root)

 strawberries, yellow beans, and potatoes

 alpine strawberries

 kidney and yin yang dried beans

 carrots and peas, chives in corner not pictured

 loads of heirloom tomatoes

 ground cherries, peppers, hot peppers, eggplant

 basil in the back

 herbs and pansies

 mizuna

 Amish pie pumpkins

 butternut squash

 bloody butcher corn

 sunflowers in the back

 crookneck summer squash

 I planted so many cucumbers I couldn't get them all in the shot

 replanted zucchini just coming up

 garlic, which is taking forever

 dried turtle beans

 onions, which you can't see for the weeds

 tatsoi and yukina savoy, going to seed

 beets

 cabbage

 dragon's tongue beans

 slowly setting in a perennial herb garden

 Güzel (handsome, good, in Turkish)

 Jon named the new guinea pig Gary Busey

 Firari on the left (runaway, escapee in Turkish, because he got away once and made a run for it)

 Tavie.  Just shed his coat again, thinks he's still the most handsome

 Quwi has an attitude