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
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