The Tiny Homesteaders
Reconnecting with agriculture on a domestic level.
Homeschooling, homesteading, and travel with geeky hobbies in the mix.
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A small farm in rural Montana.
...because each step forward is one step closer
Live, Learn, and Grow...Naturally.
Where life slows down
Some things that got my attention
the contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the peace corps
Base Camp for your Mountain Loop Experience
"Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths." -- Goethe
who is auntie chelle
close to the earth in the city
Politics, Ham Radio, Prepping, Homesteading and the Bible
Heritage food for a sustainable future.
Everything chickens in towns and cities!
Keeping the garden in the Garden State.
An interested and invested perspective of my economy
Living self-sufficiently and close to nature.
four decades of organic vegetable gardening and barely a clue
Beekeeping with the bees best interest in mind
A Journey into the world of Beekeeping
Changing our world one dollar, one meal, one chapter at a time
Tales of an urban bee farmer
Downtown, home gardening, using biodynamic and permaculture methods to produce as much of our own food at 6600 ft. in the Rocky Mountains as possible, then preparing it Weston A. Price style, leaning toward Paleo!
Letting Bees Thrive
Crafts, Gardening, Recipes
Back Yard Gardening - From My Backyard
We are an urban homestead based on natural, holistic and sustainable principles. Our livestock includes chickens & honey bees and we cultivate fruits, vegetables and kitchen herbs.
A Family Builds A Homestead In The Rain
My blog about my house, garden, and goings on.
Joining the Tiny House Movement
An urban homesteading family move to the country; still a story of trial and error...a lot of error!
Weaving together the threads of life
Maine Health + Wellness
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The art of reclaiming daily life.
Fiction, Essays, Family, and Rabbit Trails...
The Johnson Family Homesteading Journal
Pursing holiness with constantly dirty feet ~ Thurston County, Washington
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A Blog by Novella Carpenter
Get your prep on...no matter what comes your way!
The Tiny Homesteaders 
“schizophrenic crack whores on bath salts” — hahaha!!!
yeah, they’re not just cute furry critters; we had a couple silkies (??) awhile back and they were a bit weird, too… 🙂
They’re great until they reach sexual maturity. After that, forget it! The only rabbits I really like so far are our angoras. The buck is veeeery relaxed and the doe, well, she’s a lot like the Mrs.. She puts up with me.
Yeah, my meat rabbits are pretty crazy too. This is not to say that meaties can’t be loving but most of them are far twitchier than pet rabbits because a loving nature hasn’t been bred in. In that respect they’re almost like wild animals. Also rabbit tastes a lot like chicken and you cook it the same way. :3 So if you like chicken you’ll probably like rabbit.
I’ve worked hard over the past year to get rabbits that are more sane. For the most part, I’ve been successful. I’ve noticed that while most are twitchy, there’s usually one in each litter that is a little more laid back. Those are the ones I keep. 😉
What breed are your meat rabbits? We have Champagne d’Argent, Silver Fox, and Silver Martens. They’re all very laid back. We just got mini satins in a cage purchase (the rabbits came with the cages!) and we’re giving them a try but I think they’re insane… no comparison to our others!
Ha! I’ve heard them called mini “satans”, but haven’t personally experienced it. Ours are Californians and New Zealands Most of them are crazy, but I’ve bred it out of my breeding stock. Believe it or not, in the Denver metro are, you can’t find Champagnes or Silver Martens. Silver Foxes are hard to come by, but they’re around. I’d like to add all of them to our list and ditch the Ne Zealands!
haha, Yeah I raise Satins and AmChins. (Along with Giant Chins, etc…) And yes Satins can be crazy and high tempered. But they are probably some of the easiest breeders and have quality meat to them.
Is there a reason for getting rid of your NZs? I heard that they are nice for meat production and fairly easy to keep to the ARBA standards.
The biggest reason to get rid of the NZ would be that there’s a glut of hem in this area. I’m sure they are all distant cousins of each other. Californian’s are the same story. If I could get into Champagnes and Silvers, I’d have the market cornered for a bit and could probably sell some at decent prices. Still tempted by the Satins. They are less common around here, but they’re still out there.
Hahaha, I love rabbits. Sheep too, although I have a fancy for the goats. Of course, I cannot forget the chickens, gotta “love” them too. I suppose I love almost every animal… lol. Well, wish you luck with all of your animals!
Thanks for stopping by, Grace. We ant goats, but they are mountain lion magnets. Maybe someday!
Oh goats, I never even thought of having a GOAT until… we got one, actually. Now they are my favorite things on the farm. Such wonderful personalities. We have a problem with coyotes here, not mountain lions. All of our animals get locked up in a building at night for that very reason.
I raise the New Zealands and have gone out of state to find unrelated stock. I have bred and culled hard for not only good meat/show qualities…but also for personality. Where as My NZ are not pet friendly…they will usually come up for some lovins when I feed them so they are pretty good natured for the breed. (Maybe they have figured out that crazy buns get eaten!!) If you want a REALLY friendly dual purpose breed the Standard Rex are ridiculously friendly. And unlike the NZ at least their pelts are worth something. Another good dual purpose is the French Angora’s. They are bigger than the english…easier to keep up on, really laid back and are of a commercial type. I tend to only eat the ones that are culled for serious defects… it does kill me to eat a 60.00 bunny! hehehehe
I have a buddy that is into Rex rabbits. They are beautiful! I’d really like to get into something different. Corner the market, you know?
i stumbled upon your page a few months ago and just want to say I LOVE reading your posts and it gives me ideas about our own little homestead. It’s interesting to hear I’m not the first person to want to give meat rabbits a try without having to try rabbit meat! My boyfriend’s only concern is that the cost to keep them won’t be worth what we get out of them. Me–I’ve wanted rabbits my whole life, so just keeping them sounds nice to me.
What Angora breeds did/do you have? Was it worth it at all? I saw you’re getting rid of two of your three…. I ask as I’ve been thinking of getting angoras (I think reading your blog put the idea in my head), but I’m not sure yet.
I’m really glad you like the page. It is the only thing that keeps me accountable here on the H.H.A.. We have English Angoras. I’d suggest French, mostly because you won’t get mats of hair on the neck/head area.
Angoras are more work than your average rabbit. You should plan to spend at least a half hour a week grooming them. The only other real issue is to have the right cage set up. If you don’t have the right set up, they shed. When they shed, it gets tangled with their poo on the bottom of the cage. It’s a disaster!
As far as it being worth it – check the craigslist farm & garden section in your area for a month straight. See if people are selling them. Why? We made some decent money selling them for awhile. Now the market is flooded and they are hard to get rid of.
If I could go back, I’d put the Mrs. in a spinning class before we purchased. It was always the plan for her to learn to spin. Life happened. She is a domestic super hero and simply doesn’t have time to spin or take care of the angoras. I understand (really – she makes ALL of our food from scratch due to my multiple food allergies, plus 4 kids, etc.). So, yeah. That’s my advice. They are fun, cute (sometimes) sweet little animals. But they are a commitment.
For the record, chickens are much easier to raise than rabbits. 😉
All very good to know 🙂 I’m taking your advice very seriously! I think I may start with a meat breed first, and search for a spinning class in the mean time 🙂 I like that idea.
And I’d hope so! Though the chickens are impossibly easy. I think the only easier thing we have is the bees!
We have a Champagne, a Red New Zealand, and a Palomino. We cross-breed for our meat because of the hybrid vigor.
Three very good breeds. We don’t see many Champagnes, Reds or Palominos in this area (at least not in my circles). Can’t wait to read more about yours.