A little elbow grease goes a long way!

I decided to bake two whole rabbits for dinner this evening, but my oven had other plans!  It didn't want to light. Instead, it sizzled, crackled, and popped!  Lights out. I contacted PSE and the gas man made an appearance. He advised there was no leak, but our oven ignitor went out and needed to be replaced. Wah wah! I LOVE my gas oven and I will fight until the end of time for it. (I'm looking at you Granmo!) 

Unfortunately, my baked rabbit plan went out the door. I didn't want it to go to waste, so I pulled out the meat grinder! It was work trying to get the raw meat off their tiny little bunny bones, but I did the best I could. I soaked the meat in a teriyaki marinade and proceeded to grind. The results were 3.5 pounds of ground rabbit to be used for jerky (we also have a jerky press waiting for some action too!). I was all set to dehydrate it in the oven, but......MY OVEN IS BROKEN! I'm a dunce. It'll just have to wait. 

In the meantime I've decided to boil up the carcasses of the rabbits to soften the bones. After they're softened, I'll finely grind their bones to make my bread! Ha! Only kidding. I'll grind their bones and feed them to the birds out back. It's good for them. 

Here at El Gallo Blanco Backyard Farm and Garden we appreciate and use the whole animal. ;) 

Long day, full freezer

We have had a long weekend!  After the Harvest Fair yesterday, we processed both of the broilers we showed. We thought we'd break up the job between the two days. Aside from the meat you see in the photo (2 chickens), we harvested THREE more birds and NINE rabbits!!  I also picked a ton of ripe tomatoes and canned 5 pints worth. I lost a pint and a quart in the water bath in the process. One jar busted the bottom clear off and the other blew a seal and a ring!! Of course, I can't have a nice, easy experience canning there always has to be some lesson learned while I do it!  Today's lessons were that some jars are flawed and will break for no reason, never mix pints and quarts- do one or the other, and place my jars into the hot water bath at an angle. 

All in all, we are all exhausted and my poor lover boy still had to go to work. He's amazing and extremely tired every Monday morning! 

Also-- We are searching for a small square freezer and a vacuum sealer for keeping our food. If you know of anyone selling, we are actively looking to buy. Please pass us the info if you have it! Thank you, friends!

YOU'RE INVITED to the Seattle Tilth's 2014 Harvest Fair!

Come visit us at Meridian Park, September 6th!  We will be showcasing our beautiful bunnies and fat ol' birds and encouraging others to raise their own food too!  It can be done!  

The fair is free and is located behind the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave., Seattle 98103) in the Wallingford neighborhood. There will be plenty to take in.  Please visit the Seattle Tilth's event page for more details:

http://seattletilth.org/special_events/seattletilthharvestfair

Kits born this afternoon!

Just this morning Andy placed the nesting box in with one of our does because he remembered it was getting close to her due date, and this afternoon she gave birth!  Evan and Matilde went out to play and noticed lots of fur and movement in the nesting box. We have bunnies!! We are not yet sure how many, but we will know soon enough. The others are getting big and should be ready to harvest soon. I am excited to fill our freezer once again.

(The pink in the photo will be a white bunny!) 

So cute!

These little guys are chubbing up!  They are growing and growing, and today we noticed that they have finally opened their eyes! 

I forgot!

I completely forgot about Power Ranger Ghostbuster Thursday! 

They are getting very big, but still not a HUGE as the white Cornish Cross meat birds we normally buy. I think we'll stick with the CC the next few times around. 

Breeding like rabbits?

Three empty nesting boxes are not exactly what we had in mind when we started with this venture. Our rabbits aren't breeding the way we have heard that rabbits breed. It's frustrating, but we are hoping something happens soon. The does keep building up their nests, so we wait. 

Power Ranger Thursday!

The Red Rangers' visit to SWEL Preschool today was another fun experience!  I was able to explain to the children that there are chickens that lay eggs and chickens that we eat. Matilde blurted out, "We all had chicken for lunch today!" Perfectly timed!  It made it so much easier to explain after they all realized it was CHICKEN. We did have one request for an egg layer to visit, so Donna may be making a trip to the school next week. The kids were also able to feed the Power Ranger/Ghostbusters some chicken scratch. 

It's nice to share this fun part of our lives with Matilde's classmates. It really opens conversations with parents about the importance of knowing where their food is coming from, and the kids are really enjoying watching these birds grow!  

It's Power Ranger Thursday!

Here is my weekly photo of the Red Ranger "Power Ranger-Ghostbuster" chickies. I don't know who enjoys the weekly preschool visits more. The teachers or the students! I didn't get a photo if them in the box, but that is my goal. So you can see just how big they are growing from one week to the next. 

Bartering for beef!

This was 2lbs of the tastiest, leanest ground beef we've had in a long, long time. One of Andy's work buddies recently slaughtered his cow and was selling his beef. Andy bought more than a few pounds and we hope to maybe present our rabbit meat for barter. 

Now, we just need to get these rabbits to breed like RABBITS!  We paired them up again over the weekend. Cross your fingers! 

The Power Rangers, 3 wks old

We have been invited to share our Red Ranger broilers with Matilde's preschool class on a weekly basis. We dropped in with them last Thursday because we were so excited about having just purchased them hours before school started. The kids were excited to see, hear, hold, and smell them!  Matilde's teachers asked us to bring them every Thursday so the children can see how fast they are growing. Miss Amy said the kids are learning about living things right now, and it would be a perfect complement to their current curriculum. 

I just don't know how to handle not bringing them in after their 12 weeks are up!  Andy suggested a bowl of fried chicken!  Terrible!  

I love watching sweet little Tilly's reaction to her friends who have never seen live chickens. It is so normal for her to live with these animals that it didn't occur to her that others do not have chickens at home. A couple friends asked if they are the mommies that lay eggs and Tilly candidly replied, "No. These are the ones we eat."  

This is our normal. :) 

Martha Washington

aka Miss Piggy

Here she is. She was very curious when I opened up the hutch to photograph them. Lady Bird ran to the back of the cage and good ol' Mrs. Washington just about made a break for it!  They've been busy making and then immediately destroying their nests, so we aren't exactly sure if birth is approaching or not. The calendar says it should be anytime, but their actions tell a different story. 

I spy...

...three Red Ranger chicks!  Can you see them? 

We bought three broilers this week. This is a different, larger bird. These guys should grow fast and plump up just as the Cornish Cross birds did. 

Matilde calls them her Power Ranger chickens. :) Again, six chickens is still legal, and we'll be back down to three in about 8-12 weeks. This is the only time of year to buy meat birds, so we'll be raising them as long as we can continue to get our hands on them! 

Meat is meat.

These kids are crazy about legs: turkey legs, chicken legs, AND rabbit legs! Yummy, yummy! 🐰

Sneaky Rabbit

I like to sneak rabbit meat into our meals. This time I added it to our bean soup and no one was the wiser. Unfortunately for me, the kids don't care if it's beef, chicken, or rabbit so my efforts are in vain. I suppose it's a great thing they aren't picky about their meats. It doesn't stop me from pretending they'd be grossed out if they knew the truth. ;) 

11 Pounds

Andy and his pops, Tim, culled six rabbits this afternoon and rendered eleven pounds of meat! 

We ate the first rabbit mixed in with a pot of homemade chicken soup last weekend. No one noticed! That's a terrific sign. I can't wait to substitute it in other recipes. If anyone has any good rabbit recipes, please feel free to pass then along! 

Last one. I promise.

Check out these feet! That's Chacha's hand not Tilly's.  

They're in the freezer waiting to be made into delicious broth.  

More chicken!

I know these raw chicken pictures are getting old, but it's such an exciting feeling to see all of the meat from these birds ready to cook!  Ten pounds of meat from two crowing roosters!  Amazing, and extremely quiet now. 

Oscar's DD's

Giant chicken breasts! 

Harvest Fair!

Today marked the 26th year for the Seattle Tilth's annual Harvest Fair!  We were invited to share our Oscars (broilers) and help educate those attending about the importance of knowing where your food is coming from and how easy it is to raise chickens for meat right here in the city. We were given advice, gave advice, played, danced, and networked with other urban farmers!  It was a long day. It was exhausting to explain the process with every person that walked up. The girls created a display board that said what breed our birds were and a few facts about chickens and broilers. A lot of people read the board and a lot of people were surprised at what they learned. Good job girls!  

The hardest part of the day was being set up right next to the GOATS!  As many of you know, Matilde wants a goat more than any other pet, so being next to them was tough. She would sneak off and I'd panic for a second and realize she was watching the Eloise and Snowflake. She said (more than once), "I'm gonna get a goat, and I'm gonna name him Douglas!" We saw a lady get squirted by milk, so of course she ran over to check it out. When all of the sudden she was squirted too!  The owner was milking Eloise and pointing the teat right at Tilly!  It sprayed a stream of milk from her feet up her leg and on her face!  Tilly was waiting with her mouth open and screamed with excitement when she was hit!  She ran off laughing and told her papa what had happened.  She is such a goof! 

It really was a fun day, and all of us enjoyed being a part of it!