All I can say is WOW! I’ve arrived for my adventure of 4 and half months as a backyard farmer. I met the animals that I will be looking after. There are rabbits, including one that is probably pregnant. There are a rooster and seven hens in the chook pen. And soldier fly larvae growing up in an old bathtub full of kitchen scraps. They become chook food once they crawl out of the tub.
Oh and I nearly forgot to mention the worms in the bin under the rabbits cages. They live on rabbit poo. I don’t have to do anything with the worms. Except feed a handful to the chooks some days. And empty the bucket of worm juice regularly. The same goes for the juice that drains out of the soldier fly farm. It gets diluted and fed to the trees. Spreading the love around.
But it’s the rabbits and chooks that need the most attention morning and afternoon. (I don’t know how they feel about being called chooks?)I am starting to get a sense of their different personalities and what they do with their days and nights. The chooks are hilarious. One of the rabbits is a bit of an escape artist and will try her luck while I am cleaning her cage. She is looking to see what better food might be lurking around on top of the cages. Always on the lookout for treats even though there is always food in the cage for her. Lucky she hasn’t got far yet. It would be embarrassing to lose a rabbit in my first week.
The other rabbits seem content to sunbathe or jump playfully on the brush as I am cleaning.
Oh and I did forget to mention the guinea pigs. They live in a movable pen and get moved to fresh grass each day and get fresh vegies or fruit, and they get a muck out of their nesting boxes some days. It is hard to get to know them as they run and hide. Skittery things that I’m not really looking forward to eating.
Did I mention that all of the animals have at least one purpose. Some are for me to eat, some become food for other animals and some create food for the vegies and fruit trees in the garden.
Each day this week, I’ve also been helping out in the other gardens here. With about eight hours of weeding. That’s where the sore muscles have come from.
I’m eating super healthy food here. My body is re-mineralising. I’ve also learnt how to use a sewing machine so I could sew curtains for the caravan I’m staying in. an attempt to lift the internal temperature one or two degrees above the outside frosty air. There have been a couple of frosty mornings freezing my fingers as I pick half a sack full of grass and leaves for the rabbit’s breakfast.
The big thing about this week has been getting used to being busy with one thing after another and most things being new to me. I’m looking forward to some of the work becoming routine. So I can enjoy the surroundings more as I saunter through the work. I’ll let you know how that goes….
abackyardfarmer 