The beginning of the end.

CAUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not read this post if you have a weak stomach, are an animal rights activist, or can't fathom where your food comes from, other than the grocery store.





This post is about my first attempt at dispatching a rabbit...

and how wrong it can go!

I have been arming myself since before we got our meat rabbits on how to humanely dispatch a rabbit, skin, and butcher a rabbit. I learned 90% of it from YouTube. I really was convinced that it was not going to be that hard to do. And I was somewhat right. Once Clover was dispatched it was all downhill from there. Getting to that point, well you could say that there was screeching, bashing, crying, shaking, sweat, and finally blood.

First the screeching. I was so careful not to hurt Clover while I put his hind feet in the rope harness I made. I slowly hung him upside down and calmed him just like the videos show, then everything went wrong! The poor rabbit never made a sound in his life that I know of until he started freaking out. I was so afraid someone was going to call the cops because of the racket, so I quickly picked up the piece of wood, my weapon of choice, and hit him where everyone said it was supposed to be an instant death. But no! Not for me, he just kept screaming! So I hit him 4, yes 4!, more times and it still didn't work. (After skinning him, I realized I was hitting his shoulder blades because there was a HUGE blood clot there). I didn't know what else to do, so I cut him down and saw he was definitely injured, so I couldn't just do this another night. I put him back in the pasture pen and ran to Eric. This is where the shaking and sweating come in. I begged him to come out and help me, so he got the kids preoccupied and came out. This is where the crying comes in. I just broke down. I knew as soon as it was dead I could handle it, but the dispatching is just too much for me. He tried hitting once also, with the same outcome, more (but mild) screeching. So we opted for the broom method and that took 2 tries, but the deed was finally accomplished. This is where the blood came in.

After this I re-tied him to the post, skinned, and gutted him. There was a lot more meat than I had imagined.

We decided to call it a night, since it took us an hour from start to finish for just 1. So, I put the other 2 back and they will just have to be dispatched tomorrow or Saturday.

I hope I haven't offended anyone and am truly sorry for hurting Clover, since that was not my intention. I was just supposed to make a quick hit and it was supposed to be all over.

Being a "Homesteader"

I just found out that our family as a title last week while doing some research before getting our meat rabbits. We are homesteaders. Since we drink raw milk and have made butter, yogurt, and kefir.  We eat fresh pastured eggs, I have garden, and have 3 NZ rabbits for meat raising.  I also sew, make stock, and can different foods.

I am now interested in soap making so that my family can get away for all of those harmful chemicals and preservatives in commercial soaps. It looks very easy. Eric is going to make a block mold for me and hopefully I can get started in the next few weeks. I will be making a basic bar and 2 different shampoo bars.

I will try to keep the blog updated and give the recipes if they turn out wonderful.