Howdy friends. Nate here, writing you a letter on my blog instead of having Melissa send you all a thousand word message on messenger. Plus, I'll earn a few bucks for farm projects this way too. Be sure and read the whole thing, hopefully it'll be some use to someone.
I hope y'all want some rabbit meat (or animals for pets, Katherine!), we've got five mama rabbits coming up with babies in two weeks with four to ten babies a pop. They'll be ready to eat twelve weeks from now when they're seventy days old and each animal will yield about two pounds of meat and a half a pound of organ meat. That's heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and kidneys. Rabbit is a very lean white meat with more protein and less fat than chicken. Very similar flavor to chicken, but if I fed it to you as chicken you'd think it was the most flavorful chicken you ever had. We use it at our house in recipes that call for chicken, it's fairly versatile and definitely interchangeable. Paul, if there's more than the folks at church want, can Lord Send Me use some rabbit?
Our new American chinchilla doe, Lola, who will be ready to breed in about four months
If anyone wants or needs strawberry plants, I've got plenty of em and you're all welcome to some. The variety I have is called Ozark beauty, and they'll take over a section of your yard around 20x30 feet in about three years starting with four plants. Ask me how I know! I have plenty of em, and if you wanna grow strawberries, come on over and I'll help you dig em up. I'll be propagating many myself into buckets for more convenient harvest. While I love the forager experience of crawling on my hands and knees through a lush patch of berries, I'm getting too old for such things and it's not very efficient. These berries will be great to grow in whatever size place you've got, from a bucket on an apartment balcony to a whole five acre pasture if you have the time, so they're a great way to start growing some food at home for anyone interested.
The root ball on one of our new triple crown blackberry plants
Some young prime ark freedom blackberry plants that we'll likely lose to a vicious chicken attack
Also, I know it's early to be thinking about the hot sweetness of summer, but I've got blackberries on the mind at the moment. This year we should have about double the blackberries from what we had last year, meaning plenty to share. For reference, I had two handfuls of berries a day for two months this last season, so there ought to be enough for my family and one other to have some fresh blackberries. Y'all might wanna do a church competition with jam or cobbler or something, and you're welcome to come pick some when it's time. They're thornless, so it's pain free, no strings (or hypodermic plant needles) attached! This year we're doubling production, next year we'll hopefully have enough for the whole church. I have been working on planting about 35 more canes the last few months. There's tons of thorny wild dewberries all over too. They're super good, but they'll poke the Dickens out of you if you're not careful.
I'm available lately from about 10am to 2pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. My address is in the directory, let us know when you're coming!
Odd question, but does anyone in our church have an egg incubator? I need 15-20 chicken eggs hatched out for new laying stock, and will need a boatload of quail eggs hatched this spring in an attempt to bump up my quail meat and egg production.
Also, does anyone need help getting their gardens ready for spring? It's time to start thinking of such things. I've got a good back, a shovel, and a fair bit of seeds to help out if you need.
What's everyone growing this year? Get ready to plant a few extras, let's try and go to the store less as a community. Increased quality of life, less money going away, and it's great to share food from the garden with friends. Y'know, the difference between a gardener and a farmer is that a farmer feeds more than just their family. You're two extra jalapeño plants away from being a pepper farmer. No such thing as food shortages when your food doesn't come from a thousand miles away too!
Things to think on. Y'all have a blessed week and let me know if you need anything.
Nate