Big Plans 2

With homeschooling the girls, our time expanded enormously. Better yet, we got to enjoy the girls throughout our projects, from the planning to placement and the joys and obstacles that both brought with them. They were learning in a way that reminded me of their younger years, a way I had missed miserably. When they were little, explaining why's and why nots was a way of life. Now, being able to explain the steps helped me concrete them in my mind and find the issues that might arise. They had a lot of hands on learning the first year, a lot of change that swept through not only their new home, but in their minds as well. Maturity was overcoming them, but it was a nice change for the most part. They are in the middle of learning so many new things, cooking and sewing, planting and taking care of our animals. Death became reality.

We decided to raise rabbits as both a secondary meat source and money from babies. We chose two Californian mixed rabbits known for their meat, and have been raising them almost a year now. The first time we put our female, fritters, into litter- she gave birth to 5 babies. We planned out almost everything, and when the 21st day came, no babies came. It wasn't until the 27th day, a day no one was home, that she gave birth. We had her on metal fabric, and three babes still fell through to their deaths. My youngest daughter found them, there was no saving them. The other two we attempted to put with mama in a dog crate in the house. Fritters decided to make a snack out of them. Poor things didn't make the night. We are attempting it again soon, with a little more preparedness towards the week of the birth instead of the day.

Our plans are simple- use the money we get from wages to pay bills and only get things we cannot make. Have several  plans for disastrous weather, both the mother nature kind and society. Meat is a staple. We have the rabbits for one source (back up source) we raise feeder pigs for pork products (main source one) and have chickens as our other main source. The only thing we have not nailed down is beef, but it is on our agenda.