butchering a rabbit

I'm trying to learn the basics of living - this week I've tried butchering my own rabbit (it was already skinned and gutted a bit, I just had to cut the whole thing into bits and take out the kidneys) but it was a real experience. I know nothing about anatomy and I made a mess of it, but it still tastes fine. We cooked the kidneys separately and ate them too - my first taste of offal - and I have to say they were quite nice!

I also tried buying dried beans and processing them myself instead of buying canned ones. I like the idea of not buying so many cans, as we use heaps of them. It took about an hour and a half to cook three cans' worth of beans (but I could have done more in the same pot) and they taste horrible, but I've realised that's because the canned ones are full of salt! We'll try them tomorrow night and I'll decide if it's worth the effort.

I also cooked a second batch of quince paste. I can't believe how expensive quince paste is, becuase the ingredients are pretty cheap and it's easy to make - having said that, my first try didn't set properly (I didn't cook it long enough). It's still tastes amazing, but you scoop rather than slice it. I think the second lot will be fine. Watch out friends and family, any social visits will be accompanied by biscuits, cheese and quince paste for a while!

As for the chickens, I got more sawdust from a joinery and they now have a complete sawdust floor in their house. I realised today that the water I changed yesterday had leaked out completely (oops!) there's plenty of rain and the chooks don't seem dehydrated, but they also ran out of food the other day so I need to be more vigilant. They get plenty of snails, kitchen sraps and self-sown greens from the vegit patch though, so they won't starve any time soon!

Gotta get the bread out of the oven and then bath the baby
x

This is me with my 'practice' chickens when house-sitting about 2 years ago. I haven't let mine out yet as I've seen how destructive they can be!

Urban Farming in Tassie

I'm a mum to a 1 year old boy, 3 chickens, a worm farm and many vegetables.

I want to give up the rat race (I've started by taking maternity leave and now work one day a week) and live a simple, environmentally-friendly life. There's no time limit to this, I'm just making changes when I have the time (pretty limited when you're a new mum).

My husband and I both love cooking (proper cooking, not just opening a few jars and putting it all together) and I have almost always had a veggie garden, but buying chickens 2 weeks ago was a big step, and I can't believe why I didn't do it before - I'm in love with my chickens!!! They're so easy to look after and they are far more responsive than I thought they would be (only becuase I have food, but it's still gratifying).

Now that we have the chicken farming sorted, I'm going to start making my own cleaning products. I'll let you know how I go...