Motivation in yo eyes

I have been following my plan which has been working out for me. I have yet to start the pen but I will be doing that tomorrow. I kinda jumped around with my plan and got some of the stuff I wanted to complete done earlier than I thought. I called rabbitries and made contact with people who want to help me and some who may not exist because they have yet to return an email or call. One man who only lives 25 minutes away has Mini Lops and is willing to sell them to me. For those of you who were wondering what the cat was doing staring into your soul, I'll explain. This is a picture of a cat I took on the street a few months back and this cat just gave me the look of GET YOUR WORK DONE. This cat is motivation.

Go-Go's - Vacation (HQ)

So my project is cleared and I am almost out of my class to start my independent project. My teacher wants us to write a two week plan to help set us off on the right foot. So:

February 11th: Get over the fact that it's a Monday and call some local rabbitries to talk about breeding rabbits and ask if they have any Mini Lops or Holland Lops available.

February 12th: Google map the rabbitries to see who is closest to me and start sifting through the voicemails and emails I will hopefully have received.

February 13th: Blog about what I have heard from the rabbitries and say if I have someone willing to sell me bunnies.

February 14th: Talk to my grandfather about which wood I should use for the rabbits' pens and get those materials. Also, I will try to acquire some food.

February 15th: Start building the rabbits' pens with Soren and my grandfather.

February 16th thru February 18th: I will upload some pictures of the pen that I've started and the food that I've bought. I will be in Washington DC for these dates so I won't be able to get much done. I will keep in correspondence with the rabbitries.



February 19th: I will have determined from whom I will get the rabbits.

February 20th thru February 25th: Continue working on the pens and decide when I will pick up the rabbits. I will hopefully have them by the end of the month.

So it begins...

I'm in a class called WISE which is an English class offered at my school. In WISE you do half a semester of what you think a normal English class would do (read books you're not interested in), and then during the second semester you do an independent project. So over the next sixteen weeks I am going to start a small-scale rabbitry. A rabbitry is an enclosure where rabbits are kept, and often bred. There are 47 recognized breeds of rabbits based on hair length, size, origin, and how their ears flop or stand.  I'm planning on purchasing either Holland Lops, or Mini Lops, breeding them and then eventually giving them away to local families or continuing to raise them.

                       This project interests me because my whole family has farmed for a long time. I've lived on a farm for more than half of my life yet I personally have never raised a farm animal, and I am curious to learn the process. Initially I was going to raise a pig but they're clumsy, and nowhere near as cuddly as rabbits! Well, that's all true but it's not the real reason. My grandfather, a very "gentle" man, has been one of the only active positive male influences on my life. He has raised many animals such as cows, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, and PIGS! You see, I am not afraid of raising a pig like my English teacher seems to think I am; I just have been around my grandfather and pigs my whole life and I want to try something new to me and my family. When I was young I helped my grandfather around the farm. He always made farming seem like a very enjoyable and rewarding job. This project would be a good fit for me. I will explore and broaden my agricultural roots, learn to care for another being, and improve my time management and other skills.