I wasn't going to write a post about this but a great story has grown from the appearance of rabbits in our new enclosure and i feel now as if i must tell it because this story demonstrates the importance of maintaining a balance when exchanging with someone in a non financial manner.
Firstly, here are some pics of our two new fluffy friends. Current names are Tummy & Marshmallow, though i'm not sure those are going to stick!
They are a bit bigger than i expected but the children don't seem to mind.
I love the way rabbits will become calm when they are in our arms.
Helps one instantly feel the bond between animal & human.
Last week we made this rabbit house in preparation. Luna painted one side.
I painted the other.
Here's the inside filled with dried grass we picked from a local field. Plus a few yummy hazelnut branches and one of Luna's toy cups attached to the side with a little water.
It was quickly established that these two rabbits are very fast and not at all like the kittens.
They are likely just happy to be free, having been kept in rather cramped conditions previously. As you can see here.
So they were very hard for the children to catch while they were doing laps around their new circuit!
They also liked hiding under the chicken house which is currently storing fresh grass for them.
Solid teamwork is required to catch them but even then it can be tricky. Here's Esteban trying to move quickly through one of the ash tree arches we created for shade.
The arch got the better of him and he ended up like this.
Running past my feet the white one resembles a ball of cotton on legs.
Luna was able to catch it finally.
But let go too early and obviously the rabbit did not go in its home.
After some further antics involving turning the chicken house on its side they were eventually re-captured.
And placed directly in their box. Tummy first.
Then Marshmallow.
I didn't get around to attaching a door on the front yet so a triangular piece of wood has been inserted on the inside when it's time for us to go in the evenings.
Up above them we have the children's old musical mobile which is left running, to help them get to sleep ;)
It rained heavy all night last night so we returned in the morning to waterproof their house a bit better!
And also create a dry eating zone for them with the cover to our sunken greenhouse.
They should be good here.
Was happy to see this morning that my rain catcher is already 1/5 full after just a few days. So all we need is another week of rain and we should have our 300L of 'emergency water' for the summer.
How the rabbits led to the chickens
As a pretext to this story i should mention that we have been searching for unvaccinated chickens since finishing the enclosure and had all but given up hope knowing everyone who sells them here obeys the rules, in fear of losing their business. The children kept asking when the chickens were coming and i did not have an answer except one, "vaccinated chickens are not an option".
The rabbits are from a Catalan wine producer in our village who breeds them and eats them. With a strong mustard he says! His seven year old daughter (who i know because she goes to the same school as Esteban & Luna) was the one who ventured onto my land while i was building the enclosure and informed me that chickens cannot eat the ivy berries which feature prominently in my wall. She also mentioned that her father had a bunch of baby rabbits at the moment and i instantly felt like i should go see him, to ask if i could get two for the children.
Due to a small incident a few years ago in which he screamed at me because i was picking blackberries on his land without permission (he thought i was picking his grapes) i have always been a bit cautious of this person so was quite surprised when he agreed without hesitation and said we could take the rabbits any time we liked.
I told him i would prepare an appropriate exchange for him and he assured me this wasn't necessary, making the joke that rabbits breed like rabbits! I considered following his advice and just taking his rabbits, but this didn't feel right so i made him a loaf of bread, bought a bottle of his favourite beer and picked him an incredible salad from our garden featuring over 25 different plants and edible flowers. I also potted a young Japanese parsley for him as people around here don't seem to know this tasty colourful plant.
The day after picking up the rabbits Sabrina & i delivered our gifts and he seemed quite taken back, inviting us in for a chat. He is very a large man, not fat but strong like a farmer who appreciates home made food and was therefore very interested in my loaf of sourdough bread. As a Catalan man he doesn't imagine that an English man might also have skills in this department so i think this really helped break the ice between us. Hopefully he enjoys eating it! I suppose we will find out soon enough...
He was also quite excited about the bergamot mint & chocolate mint in our salad basket, explaining that he drinks bergamot mint tea and would like to stop buying it. No problem i told him. We will prepare some plants for him.
At this point he invited me into his kitchen to smell his smoked garlic hanging on the wall and i noticed all the fresh eggs from his chickens (around 100) just sitting there on the side. I commented on how great it must be to have such abundance and he asked if we had found our chickens yet. Feeling confident now to speak plainly with him i explained our desire to find unvaccinated chickens and how extremely difficult it has been due to laws which make it impossible for anyone to sell them legally. He laughed and told me how everyone in his family is unvaccinated. Wow! Now i really like this guy. I told him about the doctor we found who faked Esteban & Luna's vaccine certificates in order for them to attend school legally and once more he appeared to shift his perception of me. No doubt he had to go through something similar.
Then he took us to a room which i can only describe as his man cave (fridge, bar, large TV, woodwork bench, tools, electrical equipment & a dank but pleasant smell) in which there was an incubator holding 48 eggs. He said they should hatch in a week and will be ready to leave home by the beginning of June. And obviously he doesn't vaccinate them!
He invited us to stay for a glass of wine (at 12am on a Sunday) but i declined his offer explaining that today is the last day of fruit plantation before late May and there was much to be done this afternoon. Once more he looked at me with surprise, saying that he also works in sync with the moon & planets, as dictated by Steiner's biodynamic calendar. Indeed i told him. All the great people do.
On our way out he showed us a sick rhubarb, asking if we had any experience with this plant. We don't but i do happen to know that rhubarb responds really well to electroculture so it was instantly clear in what way i will exchange with him for the chickens. Two varieties of mint, a Lakovsky coil with bees wax ends and a copper antenna. And perhaps a little bag of basalt for him to dig into the soil around the plant.
So there it is, we now have four unvaccinated chickens reserved for our homestead and we can rest assured that when we start breeding them ourselves, future generations will not be tainted with pharmaceutical products which may, like the mRNA jab, make permanent changes to the DNA.
Some say these new laws around poultry vaccinations "to stop avian flu" are designed specifically to make our future generations of chickens sick, paving the way for the centralised food system which is set to replace the current one.
Am inclined to agree with this sentiment but having now bypassed the only unexpected barrier to our goal i will no longer have to consider this absurd subject and the countdown to egg abundance has begun!
I like this story because it would have been so easy to not return with gifts after collecting the rabbits, but we took the route which felt more correct and this led us so neatly to that which we were seeking.
Simply put, even when a person expects nothing in exchange, by maintaining a balance with them we are keeping the door open for the Universe to maintain its balance with us.
Love & Light everyone 🌱
