Melonie Corder

Hi! I currently raise tractor rabbits for building soil. It's all experimental and I lost many records in a house fire but so far I'm happy with results and I'm still moving forward.

First and foremost is having rabbits capable of eating food other than pellets and timothy hay. Many have sensitive guts and cannot handle diet change. That said I've worked to develop rabbits who can eat pretty much any vegetation and have not lost any due to disgestive issues yet.

For the fresh greens under tractors the rabbits LOVE apple tree sprouts, dandelions, plantain, lambsquarters. I've scattered peas, clovers and radish with success. Oats are another favorite. Anything green really. Beets, comfrey, strawberries, raspberries...they like it all. If they don't they won't eat it as long as other options are presentl My thought was the rabbits are recycling the nutrients in place, putting them right back where they found them.
I've observed loose and wild rabbits, they escape here and there. They prefer the fresh greens during growing seasons and then transition to dried hay, roots, bark and seeds in the cold months. Last year one dug up all my carrots overwintering and had a nice buffet to snack on. If I put fresh romaine in my rabbits cage, along with an apple leaves/sticks, wheat berries, dried alfalfa and pellets, almost guaranteed they'll eat in the following order: apple leaves, alfalfa hay, wheatberres and then pellets.  I'll find the lettuce frozen in the cage later. In the Spring they'll flip and go opposite, they leafy greens being the first choice.

I also give the tractor rabbits (they aren't all in tractors, some are in cages because I'm still expanding.) dried tree hay. Apple, honey locust, mulberry, elm. Amongst all our other leaves and shrubs. Especially when all the grass is fresh green, they need some variety to stay healthy.  I'm on my fourth generation of "everything" hardy rabbits. I don't worry if they get out and eat the chicken food. I feed them bindweed mixed with other plants. They eat whole apples just like if they found them in nature. We created the gut problems through breeding which hopefully means the problem is the solution.

And if they aren't feeling well, OREGENO. Grow lots, they seem to know when they need it. Got one of my rabbits through some sort of infection after she was exposed during a bad storm and went into shock. She stopped using her back legs. She wouldn't eat or drink until I put some fresh sprigs in there. It took some time but she pulled through.

Zeus forero wrote:I didn't have to bury the fence and the rabbits made an amazing burrow at the base of three in their enclosure, after two months I started letting the rabbits free range through the farm and they always return to their burrow.
I guess I got lucky with well behaved rabbits but it could also be that they realized the only water nearby is inside the fenced area.

As long as not too many are in the area they won't go far. No need if they have the resources available and you are only a minor threat in their mind. Mine stick around our acre, it's currently partially fenced but 1/4 unfinished but even before they stuck nearby. The neighbors across the road get out and venture over because we have a better variety of food options compared to their bare lawn. We also have a nice conex box they use as a wind/weather cover.

I've actually had one of my loose buns come up in the winter and ask to go into confinement, lol. She knew fresh water goes in the cages twice a day, even when it's -22f.

Loose rabbits are never my intention but utilizing old cages, a middle aged brain and young animal sitters...it happens.  I am hoping to set them up with a nice colony once we are back to normal in our home. If we did have a more rural place I'd consider roaming them like you and harvesting as needed as it's definitely a better quality of life.

I HAVE dealt with the nasty parasitic Bott flies that can wreak havoc on the poor little bodies and they are more common when animals are on the ground. Smell has a lot to do with attracting them, after realizing they existed and researching, this year we had no issues. Not sure if it was a lesson or just luck, that will be answered in years to come. Summer of 2023 was a nightmare of rabbit triages.

Anne Miller wrote:Harvester ants are usually responsible for missing seeds.  Do you have those in your part of the world?

Was it an especially rainy season?  Maybe the seeds washed away.

Harvester ants were my first thought upon reading as well. Something I knew nothing about my first season on the plains...now I seed extra for the ants. I also allow fairly benign plants like calendula, dill and carrots to drop so hopefully deter them from carrying off my intended lines.

Cute little box headed trouble makers. I'll take them over other variety of ants any day though!

Not pills but other subscription containers. Most of mine are glass with plastic lids. I use them for seed storage, soil collection...can't bring myself to just toss, such a waste, so they just keep stacking up in the cabinet. Though I hope one of these seasons I'll run out of room for seeds.

I just released all of our layer hens and meat birds into the yard and garden.

They cannot possibly do more damage than the hoppers at this point. I was having some luck with a net when they were young but now they are larger and wiser and hop out just as fast.

How's this going? Plenty of submissions?

Just stumbled upon the thread. I might throw something in and see what we can do in a cold climate Fall season? If not definitely interested in participating next if done again.

Chiggers were all new to me moving here.

About a week after arriving I was at a park with my five year old. One of the mothers close by commented how I was brave to sprawl out on what I saw as a beautiful, cool lawn in the 90f weather. I asked what she was afraid of and she replied chiggers. I brushed it off as being overly concerned about bugs, how bad could it be?

That night the itch began...four months! It took that long to heal the bites on the back of my knees.

I've since learned they REALLY like me. And my method of chop and dropping weeds on my property probably doesn't help. Here's what I've learned:

Dress for it whenever possible. Just like ticks. For me this isn't always practical as our heat gets extreme at times. Start dressing like this BEFORE it gets too warm or it will be too late. Currently have around sixty bites from two days of not paying attention.

Sulfur powder dusted on feet and arms helps as well.

As soon as you come in for the day undress and rinse off your body in hot water.

CHIGG AWAY works for prevention. While I don't like rubbing random products on my body, I'd rather die gardening than let those things have any more flesh. So does the woodland OFF, full of deet though. I used that last year while desperate.

Rubbing alcohol works to relieve itch if the bite is caught before it crusts. I like to wipe all my "crevices" wear the bites happen most, with an alcohol dampened rag when I come in. It only works for a little while and must be reapplied regularly.

Upon trying to find the above product and sulfur powder locally, without luck, the pharmacist said she had Chigarid. Also full of nasties but almost immediate relief for the bites. It treats the itch and seals the bites with a glue like substance.

I've ordered some powder sulphur to dust some specific patches of grass. Hoping the ecosystem regeneration will deal with the baddies over time.

Josh Warfield wrote:I've got seedlings! Thanks everyone for the help. I started another bed and am doing a little side-by-side test using a scrap 2x4 piece. I like the cardboard idea too, will probably try that next time. Also starting to think that a drip watering system might be moving up the priority list. Or I might try out the buried olla system.

Pressing down the soil might not be a good idea for me, I've got enough clay that wet dirt turns into adobe brick pretty easily if I'm not careful.

The seeds are from a local grower and come with recommendations of when to plant, so I don't think I'm doing anything too crazy out of season. Most of my planting areas get afternoon shade, and I'm experimenting with different ways of adding organic matter.

Melanie, when you say "add mycelium" do you mean a commercial inoculant of some sort? I've been trying to encourage fungi however I can but so far haven't brought in anything from outside like that. Some of the mulch I'm using has bits of mycelium already growing on it, and I've also found some dry puffballs around (astraeus hygrometricus, I believe) and I tried dusting those spores onto a couple of beds. If you have more strategies for encouraging / speeding up that process, I'd love to hear them!

I started with winecaps and burying wood to promote growth.  Because I grew quite a few different wood decomposers and they base went into the compost after, so they are ever present. I did buy innoculated bags to start those.

But probably most important is the mycelium that forms in the compost, those little brown and white/black mushrooms do amazing things. I like to make a compost slurry to pour in areas I'm starting to develop. Not sure if that is how it even works but there is plenty of mycelium in the soil I've regenerated.

I am a horrible failure at fridge stratification, simply forgetting them back there often too late to plant that year. Now I just plant new things in the fall and allow anything possible to self-seed. What survives survives.

Things that readily pop up even after double digit negatives here are onions, lettuces, kales, bok choy, calendula, sunflowers, dill, all sorts of perennials. I was hoping to see some tobacco but none yet, I did plant some new seed but unsure of germination viability. We haven't had a lot of hot days to see if there is basil amongst the ground covers either.

This year I hope to try some trees and plan to cage them for protection from the rodents. I did see some tiny apple seedlings in the mulch beneath the trees, might try to transplant some of those.  

Sd Blackbird wrote:I am an avid upland bird hunter. I carry a pouch of seeds in my hunting vest and plant them in the wild places that I hunt.  Scratch a shallow trench with the heel of my boot, and throw in a couple dozen berries and cover back up. I do this in the fall and winter in the upper midwest, and yes, they will grow.  Good food for man and birds alike.

Welcome to permies! Are you in South Dakota by chance?