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It’s done, and I have the 7 megapixel shot to prove it!
Finished Hutch
It really helps to have the right tools for this thing. Let’s see, to get started:
An electric drill (AC!! We used a battery powered one last time and had to quit several evenings only because we ran out of charge)
jigsaw
rotary saw
level
measuring tape
a ton of screws of different sizes
Devin thinks building the rabbit hutch is boring
We got a new rabbit. A Californian doe. Our buck is a Californian too so we’ll have pure breeds in case someone wants to pick up a pet from us.
She loves it. So roomy in here!
Anyway, we resorted to making our own, not only because it’s cheaper, but because you can’t really find a good double-decker design on the market. With limited square space, going vertical is a very good idea.
The upgrades from the last one: the color. Andrea pick the last one and it almost caused a divorce. Terracotta my left hemisphere. Also, bigger shelter, a 10 degree roof slope instead of 30 degrees, which is more than plenty in a climate that gets no snow. And as you can see below, we’ve installed bins at the base that we intend to use for vermicomposting.
our last hutch of 2 years is holding up just fine
TIME INVESTMENT: Approximately 16 hours. I wish I had tracked the number of hours spent building this for you, but I didn’t think that far ahead. I would say a solid two days (8 hour shifts) sounds about right, counting extra trips back to the hardware store in case you also just don’t know how to buy everything at once.
For detailed instruction on how to construct this hutch, click on the “quail hutch” tag to the left.
Next time I think I’ll post on fruit trees. See you then!
-J
We just started getting into meat rabbits (a post for a later date, when I can speak…err…write more confidently on the matter). Raising animals for meat always seems to be a sensitive subject, and this was brought again sharply into my thoughts today when I was backed into a bit of a conversational corner regarding our new acquisitions. So I thought I’d share with you an essay I wrote regarding the matter…
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Behind the Curtain
Sustainability. Whether because of rising temperatures or rising prices, more and more people are looking for ways to cut costs and reduce their carbon footprints. No longer is it considered embarrassingly agrarian to cultivate a vegetable garden, now magazines and news articles tout the benefits. My husband and I have hopped onto the bandwagon wholeheartedly, our backyard a mess of garden beds, fruit trees, and the occasional chicken. And then there’s the hutch off to the side of the house, filled with adorable little brown birds.
“What do you use the quails for?” I’m often asked.
“Well, we eat their eggs…” I reply. Sometimes, depending on who has asked, and gauging their potential reaction, I stop there. We nod, smile, and continue on to other topics. Other times, if I sense a sympathetic soul, I forge on ahead. “…and we eat them.”
I’ve judged wrongly before. My conversation partner cringes, and before I know it, I’m digging my own social faux pas grave. “We knock them out before we kill them, it’s very humane.” “They live happy lives before they die.” “They’re really tasty!” I can literally feel myself sinking, their estimation of my civility placing me somewhere above a murderer but not by much.
Hello readers,
In an effort to provide more frequent updates to you on sustainability activities, I’ll be adding myself as a poster to this blog. For the past two years I’ve worked in the background of our backyard operation. You might have seen pictures of me before – the guy with his hands and knees in the mud while his wife talks to the chickens and puts dresses on the dog. But I’ve decided: No More. I won’t play second fiddle to this orchestra anymore.
There are a lot of ideas I hope to experiment with, and a lot of things I could talk about on this introductory post, but the past few trials I’ve endured in the past few weeks brings one topic especially to mind: FAILURE.
For every success we share, I have to say there is a failure. I’ve been pampering and coddling a selection of seedlings through the late winter, each struggling for survival in the extended cold spell we’ve had. Finally the sun rises and I place them in the shelving cabinet outside. What happens? Overnight an army (ok, it was more like a gang) of slugs sacked the plants, cutting almost all of them off at the head, and left nothing but a trail of snot-which begged the question: is slug slime compostable?
Anyway, I had nothing to plant mid-April, and against my current for SELF-sufficiency, had to scoot over to Lowe’s and buy a grip of seedlings, so that we would at least have some roasted peppers this summer. At least I had the option-some fanatics believe that the day will come when we only can rely on ourselves. But don’t worry, I’m not one of them and I’m not one to preach.
It’s a way of life, whether it’s for your health or to save money or for the environment or simply to have better tasting food, the world would be a better place if everyone did at least one thing that was sustainable. Even a single tomato plant would be an excellent start.
This weekend we started building a second rabbit hutch, which proves my point to you that some weeks are going to be harder than others. But if you pride your home and your work, and you strive for a greener, cheaper lifestyle, I think you will find there is a lot of fun to be had.
Building another rabbit hutch
Look forward to talking to you soon
Brewing sake from scratch, though enjoyable, turned out to be more of a chore than expected. So when we went to brew beer, we did a little research and decided to buy the Mr. Beer Deluxe Edition Home Microbrewery System
So…this is not brewing beer from scratch.
Yes, it comes in cans
You get this cute plastic beer keg to brew beer in, plus the ingredients for your first batch (which is just ok, admittedly – the ones we tried later were better). After further research, we joined the Mr. Beer club on their website, which allows you to get $5.00 shipping as long as you buy $30 worth every few months. It works out to about $0.70 – $1.00 per beer, which is pretty darn cheap if you like a good beer. Each batch is supposed to make 20 bottles, but we find we squeeze out 22 on average.
Brewing beer with this kit consists of only a few steps. You follow the directions for each recipe, but they mostly consist of mixing what’s in the can with water, heating it up, mixing it with more water, and dropping the yeast in. This tends to take about half an hour. Two-three weeks later, you bring it out and bottle it. We use old beer bottles for our brew, washed out and sanitized (reduce, reuse, recycle!). The capping equipment we already have from our sake. Bottling takes us about forty-five minutes and also involves adding sugar to the bottles for carbonation. Depending on the recipe, you let it sit for another four weeks to six months, and then you are ready to enjoy!
This one is actually an apple cider, which is why theres no head on it
Time-wise this has worked out pretty well for us. We always check the flavor profile and reviews before buying recipes on the site, and are now considering a little experimentation with our beers. It’s not brewing beer from scratch though, so depending on how much of a purist you are, this may not be for you. Cost-wise, this has also worked for us. It’s cheaper than buying the beers we really like at the store, and it’s fun to have a little something we brewed ourselves (sort of). In addition, we always manage to hit a sale on the Mr. Beer site before we buy.
We’re considering trying to brew from scratch at some point so we can do a comparison.
TIME INVESTMENT: Approximately 1.5 hours per 22 bottles
COST: $30 for the kit, $15+ per recipe, $15 for capper (if you don’t have one already), and $3.75 for a bag of errr…a lot of caps…
$48.75 to get going and brew your first batch
In the end, it’s a money-wise venture for premium beer lovers. It feels a little chintzy when you’re pouring things out of cans and adding water, but this is counter-balanced by the fact that the beer is actually tasty, and you can still say you home-brewed it without quite lying.
