Settling into our new place in OR before we leave for WV

Once set up at our new spot in Eugene, we headed to the farm store to get supplies to make our temporary space feel more like home for our 3 months of Oregon living.

We discovered the poly-wire electric fence, a small white polyester cording with metal strands running through it. We were able to run the fence using 4 T-posts and about 10 plastic fence line holders (only $2.99 each).

Little Pauly nursing.  No wonder she is growing so quick!
(Portable electric fencing in background.)

We let the sheep out in to their new pasture and watched them go crazy eating all the new grass. (Which here in Eugene there is no lack of grass and other greens to eat for the sheep.) However, they began escaping almost immediately, and Rocky was the first walking around the yard.

“Rocky! Go home.” We yelled at him (he’s not a good listener) as we walked toward him he ran back under a high spot in the fence. So we turned off the fence, lowered the high spot, turned the fence back on, and went back inside to keep setting the place up.

Good job herding Rocky back, JB. 

“BBllllaaaaaattttt.” we heard from outside and we saw Pauly walking around outside the fence and eating weeds right outside the door. We walked toward Pauly and she snuck under a different spot in the fence. This would go on the rest of the day as the sheep pointed out all the weak spots in the fence for us.

Look at that cute lil face!

After a nice day of running fence and setting up rabbit hutches, we packed it in at around 8PM and slept for about 13 hours.

The next couple of months would prove to be a similar experience to our first day. Days seem to consist of at least one animal escaping (cats bolting out of the RV, dog figuring out how to escape his first lead setup, Pauly in the driveway yelling at 4am, etc.) To be fair, the rabbits did not escape once.

However, during our first month, we experienced our first loss of an adult animal. One of the younger rabbits, little Edward, fell ill with mucoid enteritis. It is a tough disease for rabbits to recover from, and the antibiotics that you give can often be as tough on the body as the disease. After trying what we could, we decided it was time to try the antibiotics. We knew that they can wreak havoc on the intestinal system, so we gave her yogurt and enzymes to try and offset the antibiotics. Unfortunately, either the antibiotics or the illness got the better of her, and we had to say goodbye.

Edward and I in the Cali sun before the move. 

It is crazy to think that we have already spent almost 4 months here in Eugene.  We have been working, taking care of our crazy critters, and preparing for the big move in the beginning of August to our new home on the border of Ohio and WV!

More on that move soon...

-Ric and Ash

Playing in dirt and prepping for winter-

It is most definitely Fall!  It has finally started to cool off, and it feels like it is time to begin chores to ready ourselves for the winter.  In our area, we hope the winter will bring more rain than usual, hopefully with a little help from El Nino.  That means weatherproofing, planting, etc.

Our friends at Vicarious Ranch have been in need of help to prepare for the rains, and I have been happy to help.  It has been a great deal of fun to play in the dirt, see all the farm animals, and learn more about the workings of farm life.  My part in the project involved fertilizing and mulching each tree, and then spreading compost down the rows between the trees. Then Mike came in with the tractor to till up the very hard earth and mix in the compost so they can plant peas as a cover crop.  I learned much about fruiting trees, as well as some of the timing involved in planting in our area. 

I am a helper!

At Vicarious Ranch, they are conserving water as much as is possible.  By mulching, water as allowed better absorption into the soil with less evaporation.  The cover crop will be watered by the rains and what the trees don't use.  And in turn, these peas will replace much needed nitrogen into the soil and can also be used as food for people and their animals.  Like these wooly pigs!  I couldn't help taking some pictures of the piglets...

Here at Fiberton, we are taking all the cues and pointers we can from our friends at Vicarious.  It has been inspiring to see what they are working on (as well as getting actual experience) and I am hoping to get our few beds readied for the winter and add a few more.  I would love to plant more of the greens that both myself and the rabbits love for the winter, and use this winter as an opportunity to learn our local growing season better.  

Speaking of the rabbits, this week Penny and Rory got their 3 month trims.  Look at this before and after!

Super fluffy Penny! 

Ok...so not a great haircut, but look how much smaller she looks!

This is a typical 'after grooming' scene.  I'm a bunny barber!

Sadly, Penny has taken a bit ill.  One of the things that angora rabbits can get is fur block or wool block.  Her trim was much needed not only to get the fiber off her for us to spin, but also because as it gets longer, the fur gets harder for them to pass and clogs their digestive tract.  Today I am starting her on some higher powered enzymes that can be found in papaya (papain) and pineapple (bromelain).  I usually give them some pineapple juice in their water to help maintain their digestive health, but Penny is at a point where eating and drinking are difficult for her, so we will be going with a strong enzymatic supplement mixed into a nutritional drink (the suggestion we have read about is using Ensure) and feeding it to her with a dropper, and keeping her on hay and greens.  Hopefully we will have her out of the woods asap.  More on her status soon!

What are you doing to prepare for winter?

Ash

It's Fall! That means apples and yarn!

Guess what? It is Fall now!  Today!  (Even though the temperature it is still in the 100's here...) And to help usher in the new season, this past Sunday we went out to our local 'you-pick' orchard and collected a bunch of apples!  Which means soon I will be making and canning apple sauce, apple butter and apple pie filling.  Although I may have to go get more apples if I want to do all that....

Our local 'you-pick' orchard...we braved the 105 degree
afternoon for our apples.

But oh, Sundays really are quite lovely for a drive in the country!

The hubby enjoyed the drive, too.

Not a bad haul for our quick afternoon out.  

Fall is also the perfect time for lots of cuddly yarn!  We have been trying to spin up a bunch and I just loved this nice plush pile of freshly plied and washed alpaca yarn.

Cozy, comfy yarn!

I am trying to spin a bunch up for a show that we are heading to in mid-October.  You can, of course, find our selection of yarn here at our etsy shop!

And we recently gave these little cuties a trim so I now have some super soft baby angora fiber to blend into our yarn.  Look at this face!

Little Jet is too cute! 

Soon I will share our stacks of yarn and pics of our freshly canned goods with some recipes, too!

Ash

Adventures in Raising Angora Rabbits Part 3 - Breeding

What is cuter than a baby bunny?  Not much is the answer.  When we got our breeding pair, we knew we would be breeding them later in the year.  But as I mentioned in the first post, they sped that timeline up quite a bit (or we did with having a not-so-secure barrier between the two rabbits.)  We were thrown into getting ready for babies, and let's just say, both Penny and I were not ready.  We didn't know our stuff.

I hadn't been sure that she was pregnant until I was doing our 3 month full trim.  She did seem a bit heavier, but not that much.  But there were the nipples, quite prominent and it seemed that there were small lumps in the belly.  "Oh, crap."  I said to Ric.  I ran to the calendar and checked dates of when they first escaped to be together.  "Oh, crap...." I said again.  I hurriedly read up more on what to do when you are expecting, and threw together a nesting box.  The resources I found said that the mom would likely start pulling out her hair for the nesting box to help keep the babies warm, since they are born with no fur.  I thought, "Ok, maybe I have a bit more time..."

Penny just after being trimmed and moving out from the babies.

That night I could not sleep.  At about 4am I went out to check on her and she had pulled out a bunch of hair.  Another "oh, crap" left my lips, and I tried to calm myself back to bed.  In the morning I ran out, and lo and behold, there were 8 babies.  But none of which were in the nesting box.  They all looked cold and dead.  I rushed them inside with mom, placing them all in the bathtub with a hot water bottle and heating pad.  Two started breathing. But what now?  I watched and tried to be calm, but a few hours later they were all gone.  It was a rough morning. 

I read a lot more, and found that the first litter can often be still born and/or the mother, also being inexperienced, may leave them to die. While it made me feel a little better, it made me realize that this was not nearly as easy as everyone makes breeding rabbits sound.

We let Penny recoup for a couple months, all the while I did more research.  In the meantime, Rory seemed to be such a sad guy.  I felt like he really missed Penny.  They were finally reunited and we were so much more prepared for this go round.  We had a special hutch for Penny to have the babies in, and she started nesting much earlier.  Gestation for a larger rabbit is anywhere from 28-32 days, and right at 30 days she gave birth to 10 babies.

The 10 little pinkies.

I also learned in the meantime that because of how rich rabbits' milk is, they will only feed the babies once or maybe twice a day, usually at night, and that their instincts are to leave the babies alone most of the time so as not to draw attention to them from predators.  Because of this, it is hard to know if they are taking care of the babies.  Everyday I would go out and give them a quick and gentle inspection, to make sure they seems like they were gaining weight and to remove any dead.  Unfortunately, we slowly lost babies until we ended up with 4.  It is hard to know for sure why we lost so many, other than the fact that Penny was still a new mom and 10 babies does seem like an awful lot to feed.

Look at all that fluff at just 6 weeks!

Getting so big!  About 8 weeks here...

Bunny pile!  Hey...so we might want a bigger home soon...

At about 5 weeks it was time to ween them already.  They had started eating hay at about 3 weeks and then started nibbling at the pellets at 4.  But 5 they were eating no problem and Penny with the babies were certainly outgrowing their space.  Penny seemed quite ready to take a break.  

Penny and Rory often lay 'together' in their cages.

As I mentioned in our first post on the rabbits, it was during this time that we had set up the new lodging for the rabbits.  We gave Penny and Rory their own spaces, but adjoining cages so they could see each other and hang out.  They both seem much happier now.

The male babies we plan on getting neutered, as we will not be planning on breeding them.  We will keep the females in tact, though.  We are working this week on the new living quarters for the babies, now a little over 2 months old, where they can have more space to move around.  As you can see, these are larger rabbits, in the 8-10 pound range, so they need more space than most other domestics.

Whew!  That was a long post, and I feel like I could say even more, but it is the general gist of the fun of breeding.  Hope our little mini series on raising Angoras has been helpful or interesting!  We would love to hear your thoughts!  Leave us a comment!

Ash

Adventures in raising Angora rabbits Part 2 - Grooming

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been learning by doing with our Angora rabbits.  We have had them now for just about 7 months.  You can ask my hubby, the first couple months I was convinced they were dying any time one of them did anything abnormal in my eyes.  "Is Penny breathing too fast?" I'd ask.  "I think something is wrong with Rory, he seems funny." I'd state to Ric, who would assure me that he was just fine.  

Penny showing off her moves...

So needless to say, this has ALL been a learning experience for me.  Thankfully, I have been able to go online and find resources (however, this can also be bad, as many resources provide scarier answers than needed...) and ask questions of the folks we got the rabbits from.  But there are very differing views on grooming.  For Angora rabbits, this is a very important part of keeping the rabbits.  They are more work than other domestic rabbits.  This is something I let folks know of every time I am asked if I will breed to sell.  The only way I will sell is if the person fully understands that these rabbits will be much more work to care for than they think.

 For us, we have fallen into a grooming schedule that consists of a once weekly full body brushing, trimming the underside of the rabbit, around it's face, the bottoms of the paws, and nail trimming. 

Penny a week or so after her first trimming with us.
And Rory needing a trim.

This is where getting them used to being belly up is pretty important.  They need to be inspected...down there....fairly frequently to make sure all seems to be ok and keep fur trimmed to keep clean.  Penny was well trained on her back when we got her, so she is my piece of cake.  Rory however...well, let's just say he is always a handful, and a handful of scratches seems to just be par for the course.

Thanks a lot Rory.  You little booger.

I am working with the babies often to be held and turned on their backs.  They are still squirmy about it, but getting better.  

D'aaawwww!  So cuuuttee!

I have my set of clothes that I wear on the big grooming day of the week....and this is usually the aftermath...

Then throughout the week I try to make sure I check them for any other grooming issues.  Rabbits are pretty clean animals, and will clean themselves often, kind of like cats.  But that comes with another set of issues for Angoras.  They can't just work up a hairball like a cat does, so it gets caught in their intestinal system.  It is fairly easy to spot with them in the cage...let's just say that the bottom of the cage has 'ornaments' dangling down (aka poos connected by hairs.)  I have learned that if it is serious, you can use cat hairball goo you would buy at the pet store to help work stuff out.  But I prefer to keep a good stock of timothy hay (fiber!) for them, and every couple weeks or so supplement their water with 100% pineapple juice.  Apparently it has enzymes that help breakdown the hair in their system.

"Feed me more grass!"

In addition to the once weekly grooming, every 3 months (and more frequently in the summer) we give them a full trim.  After just 3 months their hair is to about 3 or more inches long, which is what we need to spin it.  We just use sharp scissors to trim them, which works well but gives them a funny hairdo for a couple weeks.  They don't seem to mind, since they are nice and cool without all that hair.

3 inches long already Rory?

Kinda hard to see, but the right side is trimmed and the left is next!

Next time I will share with you the ups and downs we have learned so far about breeding....and it is a lot of both for sure!

Ash

Adventures in keeping Angora rabbits - Part 1 - Living Quarters

I thought rather than another update on baby bunnies, I would share a little more with you about Angora rabbits and some of the little tidbits I have learned thus far.  Believe you me, I am still learning so much all the time, but we definitely took a crash course with these little ones, and doing is always the best way to learn, or at least that's what I like to think.

And as I started typing, I realized that it would be a very long post if I just shared everything I want to share with you.  So...this will be part one of a small series on our adventures keeping Angora rabbits.

1) Living Quarters:

We got Penny and Rory back in February.  Penny was about 2 years old, and Rory was just 7 months at that point.  First thing we thought we ought to do was build them an outdoor mansion.  Space to run outside and in, and a divider so they could see each other but not get *ahem* too intimate.

Penny looking a little camera shy...

But not Mr Rory...silly boy!

They loved it, but as we soon found out, there were some flaws.  First and foremost, our attempts to keep the lovebirds apart were futile.  The way we had built the enclosure had more vulnerable spots than initially thought.  So, our breeding plans had been sped up dramatically.  (More on that in the next post.)

Rory is always mugging for the camera.

Yup...I figured out how to get to Penny, why do you ask?

Second, we found that something that we had hoped would give them relief from the Central Cali heat was also not working for us.  Digging.  Man, are rabbits good diggers.  The tunnels that we had hoped they would create in the dirt to keep them cool were deeper and more extensive than we thought, and there were several occasions in which we found ourselves chasing rabbits around the yard.

This is one of the more extensive tunnels they dug right out of their caged area.

And third was grooming.  Most of the time it was fine.  But if it got muddy, or they escaped into the weeds and brush, they would be covered in mud or burs or foxtails.  Think long fur on any animals and then you know why that is a problem, so even more so when you plan on using that fiber later to make yarn.

After removing Penny from the enclosure, we would
walk her around on her silly bunny leash and she always
wanted to go see Rory.

And of course the heat was a constant issue.  So we packed them back up into their initial cages with some modifications.  Well....kind of.  At this point, Penny was caring for her second litter (the first was unsuccessful, but again, this is for another post) and she and the babies were tucked away in their special hutch.  So we set up the old cages inside this lovely little lattice work structure already on the property right by our house, equipped with a box fan and misters.  We moved everyone inside of it, which came with the security both they and I needed (you can ask the hubby, I was a constant wreck while they were outside that they would be eaten) and we were able to keep them cool without them digging, kept clean and separated from each other.

We are outgrowing our little hutch! Also, feed us.

Now that the babies are getting bigger, we are about to add a new cage structure inside this area for them.  I know it is probably just my human feelings and not an actual rabbit need, but I like that they will be set up where they can see each other and with the new cages, will be able to play together some (except for poor Rory who will be our only unaltered male, so he has to be separate, but does live right next to Penny so they snuggle up against the cage to each other.)

So we have eventually figured out a living situation that seems to work well for the rabbits as well as us humans. As for the mansion we built, it will make quite a lovely chicken coop with a few minor alterations.

Ash

Our exciting yarn release!

This has been a day I have been quite excited about...our yarn release day!  So, without further delay, I would like to introduce you to our new line of completely hand processed and hand spun yarns!

Ok...maybe a little further delay...I feel like I should give a little background.  But skip down if you don't want the backstory and just want to drool over yarn.  I will completely understand!

I have been into yarn for a large part of my life.  My great grandmother taught me how to crochet from a very young age (I think I was 11) and I loved it.  Later I taught myself how to knit so I could make a variety of fabrics with my yarn crafting.  It was always really quite difficult for me to leave any yarn store without at least one skien of yarn.  So when we started talking about starting our own business, I was quick to pitch the fiber farm with hand processed yarn idea.  And that was before I'd even learned how to spin yarn.  I knew that I would love spinning, because the end product was YARN!  How could I not love it?

And after a great shearing season with all the wonderful alpaca folks in the area, and after successfully breeding 4 more angora rabbits, it was time to get down to business and spin us some yarn.  And even though it has been a bit slower than I would have liked, I am excited to release the first of our lovely line of yarns, with many more to come.  It has taught me so much about the animals we get our fiber from, the extensive process it takes to hand make yarn from start to finish, the qualities of each fiber and how they work together.  I must say that I am most excited about our alpaca and angora blends.  So soft, with a lovely halo, and as close to hypoallergenic as you can get when you have natural fiber from animals.

    

    

These are our blends so far of 50/50 angora and alpaca fiber.  I love the colors...the brownish red alpaca or light grey alpaca with the white angora are just too much fun.   These ones are both a worsted weight.  The hubby has been helping with the winding them into lovely center pull balls and packaging them up so they are all ready to go when they find their new home.

    

This brown is straight alpaca and is a neat light brown with red hues.  It is a bulky weight yarn.

   

And this lovely black yarn is 100% llama fiber.  While it has a slightly courser feel, it is still surprisingly soft.  I would compare it more to the feel of a sheep's wool with a little more guard hairs. It would make a very warm scarf or squishy rug or addition to a lovely blanket.  I am currently knitting a shawl out of some single ply and can't wait to try it out.  It is turning out quite nice!

If you are interested in learning more about any of the yarns, we have linked all the pictures to their corresponding listing.  We would love to hear your feedback, too!

What is on the horizon?  Some lovely black and white blend of angora and alpaca, and in a month or so we will be shearing bunnies to get some new angora colors to blend...stay tuned!

Ash

Updates Galore!

Well, rather than make this post about one subject, I am so behind, I figured I'd give some quick updates and share some pics to get us all caught up.

First, the important stuff - bunny update.  Since I last reported, we lost a few more babies.  We now have 4 little ones that are now almost 6 weeks old, and already quite the curious fluff balls!

Line up for grub!

How can I feed you when you're in the bowl?

They have been weened, so mom has moved out and the kids have their own home now.  They are doing so well that we will finally be giving them names very soon!  We are big fans of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, and since we have Penny, we may be adding other bunnies to the cast.

4 Healthy Little Babies!

Look how big and fluffy we are!

In other baby news, the kittens are doing well...but how can kittens be so cute yet so destructive? We have had a few interesting mishaps with the kittens, including them somehow opening screens on our second story windows and jumping from them, and wanting to "help" with yarn making and sewing.

I'm a helper!  I can shred your patterns!

What's up?

Faceplant.

 But all in all, they are little sweeties, and when they curl up in your lap and (finally) fall asleep, it doesn't get much better than that!

Finally passed out with ol' JB.

I was able to collaborate on a really fun project with our friend/landlord.  Her grandmother had made her this super sweet crochet barn bag filled with adorable amigurumi farm animals.  We wanted to recreate it so my friend could give it as a gift to her friend's newborn baby.  It was such a blast to make!  And if it strikes your fancy, let us know, we can make one of your very own!

What a cute and happy bunch of farm animals, waiting to meet their new owner!

We have also begun regularly setting up a table at an artisan's boutique and it has been great to hone how we want to do our booths at events.  Here is the most recent set up (sorry it's a bad pic...).  

Our recent table at Vines RV Artisan's Boutique.
More work to do, but not a bad start!

If you are in the San Luis Obispo area on a Friday, come say hello at the Vines RV Park!  All are welcome.  And soon we hope to join the Paso Robles Saturday Farmer's Market and Craft Faire!

We have also been working away on getting new product made and on our site, including our most popular item, our organizing rolls, like this one!  

We had a great suggestion from a customer that we should also make makeup brush rolls, so ask and you shall receive!  I am just loving these organic fabrics!

And in the next post, we will be revealing our new yarn line!  Those bunnies I keep talking about will be put to work, helping us make some yummy yarns for all of you to enjoy!  Stay tuned!

Ash