Rabbits/Meat/Hunting and more

Update on Pasture Rabbits

2011-05-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos I shot this weekend of my rabbits on pasture and a NZ doe giving birth to 11 kits.

I am trying to get better at HTML and writing better blog posts but for now I am just trying to get the info out there and I will make it look pretty later.

These are some of our new PVC pens that are lighter and easier to move.

A couple of our pens under the shade of the tree

You can see our mister hanging from the tree. We turn this on when it gets hot and we need to chill the rabbits out.

Here is a good picture of a a couple of our pens under the shade of the tree.

One of our new beautiful NZ red does.

Cali doe just chillin out

Our guard dog in action protecting the herd.

Each pen as an axle installed to which we can attach a wheel to move the pens with the tractor.

Our watering system

Pasture staring to come up, in a couple weeks we will move then pens over it and let the rabbits start to munch.

Rabbits in the News

2011-05-09T14:25:00.001-07:00

Check out this article on Rabbit Farming in Kenya

Recipe repost from http://www.raisingrabbitsebook.com/

2011-05-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Meat Rabbits News
Teaching you everything you need to know about raising rabbits to survive
reposted from http://www.raisingrabbitsebook.com/

Grilling rabbit is often one of the quickest and easiest ways of cooking rabbit. Young, tender meat rabbits are best for grilling, whereas older, larger rabbits are a bit tougher and should be used for braises instead. If you're not raising your own rabbits, ask some of your local butchers if they have rabbit meat available. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

This recipe combination from The Examiner is practical for couples or for those who have a couple rabbits available to throw on the grill but aren't sure what to do with all the meat. Making risotto can be a tedious task and you want to pay close attention to the rice. The liquid must be added slowly, then allowed to completely absorb into the rice before you add more liquid.
Grilled Rabbit with Rosemary & Thyme
Ingredients

* 1 whole young rabbit (2-3 pounds), cut into 6 pieces
* Salt & pepper, to taste
* 3/4 cup of olive oil
* 3 cloves garlic
* 3 short sprigs rosemary
* 3 short sprigs thyme
* more salt and pepper
* Wood chips for grilling, if desired

Directions

1. One hour before grilling, liberally salt and pepper rabbit pieces. Soak wood chips, if desired.
2. Heat grill. Meanwhile, prepare marinade by blending olive oil, garlic, herbs, and salt & pepper. Brush rabbit with olive oil marinade and sear on hot grill.
3. Reduce heat to 300 with the lid down and grill for about 1 hour, brushing with marinade and turning over every 15 minutes. Use probe thermometer and follow temp standards of doneness for beef. (It will appear to be done long before it actually is. )

Grilled Rabbit and Mushroom Risotto
Ingredients

Making your own stock:

* 3 cups vegetable broth
* 2 cups water
* rabbit meat pulled from two or three pieces
* bones from the rabbit
* 1 clove garlic, smashed

The Risotto

* 1 T butter
* 1 shallot, diced
* 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
* 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
* 1/2 cup dry red wine
* 10 dried cherries, diced
* 2 sprigs thyme
* shaved parmesan cheese

Directions

For the stock:

1. Pull rabbit meat from leftover carcass.
2. Pour vegetable stock and water into medium pot. Add bones and garlic. Bring to a boil, then turn down to low heat.

For the risotto:

1. Heat butter over medium heat in a large skillet and add shallots. Saute about 5 minutes, then add in the mushrooms. After a couple more minutes, push everything to the sides and add rice. Mix through and let the rice soak up some of those flavors, then add the red wine. Cook about 3 minutes. Add cherries.
2. Mix in the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring it in over the course of 20-30 minutes.
3. After the rice cooks another 15-20 minutes, add 2 sprigs of thyme and the rabbit. Test the rice, and when it reaches the softness you like, remove the thyme. Serve with shaved paremesan and a pinch of grey salt or sea salt.

Happy eating!

Tiffany

Want more info on raising meat rabbits, sign up for the newsletter in the green box to the right

P.S. Looking for more recipes for rabbit meat? Get my recipe ebook What's for Dinner, Doc? absolutely free when you purchase the comprehensive ebook Raising Rabbits to Survive! for only $19.95. This ebook will teach you everything you need to know about raising meat rabbits from housing to butchering.

Five Excellent Meat Rabbit Breeds to Start Your Rabbitry

2011-05-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tiffany on http://www.raisingrabbitsformeat.com/

There are more than 45 breeds of rabbits in the world, but only about 17 have a “commercial” (large, chubby, meaty) body type which are preferable for meat production. Characteristics which make some commercial breeds better than others are a higher meat-to-bone ratio, quick growth, fur color and ease of care.

* Californian
Adult Size: Medium (7-10 pounds/ 3.5-4.75 kilograms)
Californian rabbits were developed in the USA in the 1920’s to provide good meat and fur production. Californians are a cross of Himalayan, Standard Chinchilla and New Zealand white rabbits and are currently the second most popular meat producing rabbits in the world. The body is plump but fine-boned. Californian rabbits look very similar to the Himalayan rabbit with a predominantly white body and black on the feet, nose, ears and tail. Their average litter size is 6-8 bunnies.

* New Zealand
Adult Size: Large (8-12 pounds/ 3.6-5.4 kilograms)
Despite the name, New Zealand rabbits were first bred in America in 1916 for meat and fur production and are currently the number one meat rabbit in the United States. They come in several different colors (black, red and white) but the white rabbits are the most popular for meat production because of their large, broad, and muscular bodies. When mature, bucks weigh from 8-10 pounds and females from 9-12 pounds. New Zealand rabbits are ready to slaughter as fryers after just 2 months. Their average litter size is 8-10 bunnies.

* Florida White
Adult Size: Small (4-6 pounds/ 1.8-2.7 kilograms)
Although this rabbit is quite small, it was bred in Florida in the 1960’s as a meat rabbit which would also be functional for laboratory use. The fur is white with good density and texture, and they have a compact, meaty body, short neck, and small head.

* Palomino
Adult Size: Large (8-11 pounds/ 3.6-5 kilograms)
Palomino rabbits have a smaller bone structure than other meat rabbits which gives you a higher meat ratio. But they take a bit longer to grow. Bucks are 8-10 pounds and does usually range from 9-11 pounds. Litter size is usually 8 kits but can range from 6 to 12. Palominos come in two colors: Golden & Lynx. The Golden has an orange/brown golden color (as the name suggests) and the Lynx has a bit more grey or silver tone in the fur. They have a very docile and friendly temperament.

* Beveren
Adult Size: Medium (8-11 pounds/ 3.6-5 kilograms)
The Beveren is one of the oldest and largest breeds of fur rabbits, originating in Belgium. Their coats can be blue, white, black, brown and lilac. They are a rare breed but well tempered, clean, and smart. The fur is rather long (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches), dense and glossy. The breed is hardy and well suited for meat production because of large litter size, the young grow fairly fast, and the does are typically docile and make good mothers.

How to Tan a Rabbit Hide

2011-05-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

By Anita Evangelista
October/November 2001

After hunting or processing livestock for the table, it's a shame to have to toss out a nice pelt. Here is a method of tanning hides that is low cost and low labor compared to other methods of “custom tanning.” I've personally used this system to tan sheepskins, deerskins, groundhog pelts, rabbit hides and goat skins. The procedure can be used for all kinds of mammal pelts when you want the fur to remain on the skin. It results in a soft, workable hide, which can be used as is or cut up for sewing projects.

Salting Fresh Skins
Fresh hides right off the animal should be cooled immediately. Trim off any flesh and scrape visible fat from the hide. Place the skin in the shade, laying it completely flat with the fur side down, preferably on a cold concrete or rock surface. When the skin feels cool to the touch, immediately cover the fleshy side completely with plain, uniodized salt.

Use three to five pounds for a sheep or deer skin. Don't skimp.
If skins aren't salted within a few hours of removal of the flesh, you might as well forget it. They will have begun to decompose and will probably lose their hair during processing.

Transport the skin flat. We've had problems with predators gnawing the edges of skins, so put the hide somewhere out of reach. You don't need to stretch the skin; just make sure it is perfectly flat, with no curled edges. If you've lost a lot of salt while moving the pelt, add more. The salt will draw moisture from the skin and liquid may pool in low spots. Just add more salt. Let the skin dry until it is crispy. This may take a few days to a couple of weeks. When completely dry, the skin is very stable and won't change or deteriorate appreciably.
Tanning Recipe

When you're ready to tan the skins, assemble the following:
7 gallons water
2 pounds (16 cups) bran flakes
16 cups plain or pickling salt (not iodized)
2 large plastic trash cans (30 gallon) and one lid
4 foot wooden stirring stick
3½ cups battery acid (from auto parts store)
2 boxes baking soda
wood rack or stretcher
neat's-foot oil
nails
wire bristle brush

This recipe makes enough tanning solution to tan four large animal skins; or ten rabbit skins; or about six medium-sized pelts such as groundhog. (Cut the recipe in half for fewer skins).A couple of hours before you plan to tan, soak the dried skins in clear, fresh water until flexible. Boil three gallons of water and pour over the bran flakes. Let this sit for an hour, then strain the bran flakes out, saving the brownish water solution. Next, bring the remaining four gallons of water to a boil. Put the 16 cups of salt in a plastic trash can. Pour the water over the salt and use the stirring stick to mix until the salt dissolves. Add the brown bran liquid. Stir.

When this solution is lukewarm, you are ready to add the battery acid. Read the warning label and first aid advice on the battery acid container. While wearing gloves and an old, long-sleeved shirt, very carefully pour the battery acid down the inside of the trash can into the solution — don't let it splash. Stir the battery acid in thoroughly.

At this point, you can peel off the hide's dried inner skin. If you have fresh skins, use as is. Add the skins to the solution and stir, pressing the skins down carefully under the liquid with the stirring stick until the skins are fully saturated. Leave them to soak for 40 minutes, stirring from time to time to make sure all parts of the hides are exposed to the solution. During the soak, fill your other trash can with clear, lukewarm water. After 40 minutes, soaking is complete. Use the stirring stick to carefully move the skins one by one into the other trash can. This is the rinsing process, which removes the excess salt from the skins. Stir and slosh the skins for about five minutes, changing the water when it looks dirty.

At this point, some people add a box of baking soda to the rinse water. Adding baking soda will neutralize some of the acid in the skin - this is good because there will be less possibility of residual acid in the fur to affect sensitive people. However, this also may cause the preserving effects of the acid to be neutralized. You need to make the choice to use baking soda based on your own end use of the skin. If skin or fur will spend a lot of time in contact with human skin, I'd use the baking soda. If the pelt will be used as a rug or wall hanging, I probably wouldn't.

Remove the hides from rinse water; they will be very heavy. Let them hang over a board or the back of a chair or other firm surface to drain. Now, using a sponge, rag or paint brush, swab the still-damp skin side of the hide with an ounce of neat's-foot oil. It should be absorbed quickly, leaving only a slight oily residue. Tack the hide to your "stretcher." We use salvaged wood pallets. Gently pull the hide as you tack it so there's some tension in the skin. No need to exert excess pressure or overstretch. Set the hide in a shady place to dry.

Your acidic tanning solution can be neutralized for disposal by adding a couple boxes of baking soda. It will froth and bubble vigorously and release a potentially toxic gas, so give it plenty of ventilation and get away from the bucket while this is happening. We have a small farm and generally pour the used solution on dirt driveways to keep them clear of weeds. Do not pour it down your drain.

Check the hide every day. When the skin side feels dry to the touch in the center, but still flexible and somewhat soft, take it down from the rack. Lay the fur side down and go over the skin with a wire bristle brush. This softens the skin and lightens the color. Don't brush heavily or excessively in one spot, just enough to give a suedelike appearance. After this, set the skin where it can fully dry for a day or so longer.

Once your friends know you can tan hides, be prepared for them to bring around their hunting trophies and livestock skins for treatment. If you decide to do this, take my advice: Don't do it for free. Commercial tanners get $25 to $45 to tan a hide, and you should price your work accordingly, even if your return is just a case of beer. Otherwise you'll find yourself swamped with every little skin in your region and left with no time for anything else. In exchange, your friends can expect to get a professional, quality job, with an upfront understanding about what might go wrong and what compensation you will get. People get very sensitive about their skins and this precaution will prevent potential misunderstandings and help you keep your friends.

From a 2001 issue of Backwoods Home magazine

Cool Post from Stone & Thistle Farm On Raising Rabbits On Pasture

2011-05-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 2, 2011

Rabbiting at Stone & Thistle Farm

Rabbit Rerun
Meat rabbits have been part of our farm family for nine years. When my children were young, we asked each of them to pick a “business” on the farm that they could manage independently. They were responsible for the whole project from daily animal care to recording revenue and expenses. We provided them with “seed” money and supervised their project. Katey picked rabbits to raise. We brought her to visit Charlie at Rabbit Tracks farm in Davenport and she chose two meat breeds: a New Zealand buck and three California Red does. Charlie showed her how to keep records for breeding, kindling and general care. We bought Raising Rabbits the Modern Way by Bob Bennett. Katey and Tom built rabbit hutches and bought feeders and water bottles.

Since Katey left home to be a working student at Welwyn Stable in Rhinebeck and abandoned her rabbits to lavish her love on horses, I have taken over her rabbit business. The first thing I did was cull (slaughter – no waste; we ate them) any of the does (females) that were producing less than four kits (baby rabbits) per kindling (birth). I kept young does out of two litters and bred them to the older buck. After several unsuccessful breedings and small litters of one, even two kits, I realized that the buck was too old. In November, I culled the old buck (male) and bought a young, just old enough to breed buck. Shane named him Bernard.

Winter is tough on rabbits so we provide the breeding does with cages in the barn and pack them tight with hay for warmth. We wait until spring to breed them because the kits won’t survive in the sub-zero temperatures. Now that spring has arrived, it’s kindling time again! Using the young buck Bernard, I bred the does in March. What they say about rabbits is not necessarily true. Bernard was not interested in the does. Like Ferdinand the Bull, he was much more interested in smelling the green hay in his hutch. He cowered in the corner of the hutch and stared at the doe intruder. The Raising Rabbits manual suggested using younger, inexperienced does with Bernard since the older does may be intimidating and too agressive (so much for the older woman initiation theory.) Putting young does in several times with him would make him comfortable with breeding. And to get him in the "mood" the book suggested I tickle his sides. I felt ridiculous getting a rabbit in the "mood", but the session worked and he bred the first doe’s head. It took a few days for Bernard to figure out heads from tails but he finally successfully bred doe #1. How do I know he was successful? All bucks are different, but most of them seize and fall over on their side as if dead when the “deed is done.” The first time my daughter bred a doe she ran off screaming for help believing that her buck was dead. Thank goodness, to the best of my knowledge, she has not had therapy as a result of that incident.

I marked the due dates on the calendar (30 days from breeding) and a few days before the due dates, place nest boxes in their hutches. The boxes are filled with wood shavings and hay. A few days before the does are due to kindle, they begin building their nests. They gather the hay in their mouth and build a deep nest in the box.

Doe gathering hay for her nest

The doe finishes building the nest with fur that they have pulled out from their chests. Some does begin pulling hair out weeks before their due date and they are practically bald at kindling time. Others pull their hair out a few hours before they kindle. I still get excited about opening the hutch in the morning and find the fur nest moving and wriggling.

The Nest box with newborn kits in a nest of fur, hay, shavings

One day old kit

5 week old kits hopping in and out of their nest box

The doe nurses her kits only once or twice a day. In ten days, the kits open their eyes and in three weeks they are hopping out of the next box.

By six weeks, the doe is rebred and the kits are put in rabbit cages that move on pasture.

The cages are dragged on pasture twice a day. The growing kits have ample room to run and bounce.

The Rabbit Cage Fleet

Doe and her 5 week kits in pastured rabbit cage on the farm

The young rabbits or fryers are slaughtered on the farm at around 12 -14 weeks.The slaughter process is very simple and takes five minutes. The skin comes off in one pull. It makes a good muff when scraped, salted and tanned. The head and feet are discarded. Often falconers will use the head and feet for training their prey birds.

Tom slaughtering a rabbit

Rabbit meat is delicious. Older rabbits are made into rabbit stew. Stew can include almost any vegetable. Here is one of my basic rabbit stew recipes.

Rabbit Stew
4-6 Servings
3 - 4 lbs rabbit
6 potatoes, quartered
8 carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup beef consomme
3/4 cup beef broth
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon thyme

1 Cut rabbit into pieces. Layer onion, potatoes, and carrots in bottom of a crock pot. 2 Add spices to the pot. 3 Add rabbit, salt, pepper, consommé, and about 3/4 cup beef broth. 4 Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Thicken gravy as desired. Serve with sweet potato biscuits.

Young rabbits or fryers are sautéed with garlic and butter and fresh chives or parsley. This is my favorite recipe that we serve mid summer at Fable using almost ripe pears from our neighbor’s pear trees.

Braised Rabbit with Pears Recipe
Serves 4
2 young rabbits, each cut into 6 to 8 pieces
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 cups dry red wine
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 firm, slightly not-quite-ripe pears; skin removed, cored and halved
3 tablespoons chilled butter

Directions:
Season rabbit pieces and dust lightly with flour. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 3 - 4 minutes. Add rabbit pieces and brown each evenly. Add wine, broth, vinegar, sugar, bay leaves, rosemary and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add pears to the pan, cover and simmer for 30 minutes more. Remove rabbit and pears and arrange on plates. Remove bay leaves and rosemary from pan. Whisk in butter until melted and spoon sauce over rabbit.

The Updike
Tom makes a great rabbit linked sausage with rabbit, pork, apple, salt, garlic and spices. We sell it in our farm store and at the farmers markets.

Rabbit Workshops
Tom recently gave a rabbit slaughtering presentation at the Callicoon market to a large group of people who are raising or thinking of raising rabbits for food. We held a rabbit workshop last summer and will repeat it this year if folks are interested. A description of the workshop:

Rabbit to Roaster
Rabbits are caged raised during kindling and transferred to pasture cages at weaning. See the rabbitry and pastured rabbit cages. Learn how to raise rabbits on pasture. Learn how to slaughter rabbits and break down the rabbits into parts used for stewing, braising, sautéing and grilling. A rabbit meat inspired lunch will be served. In Fable, the farm’s restaurant, participants will work together to prepare dinner using all parts of the rabbit (including the liver and kidneys) Dinner will be accompanied by the seasonal dairy and produce raised and harvested on the farm.

You don’t have to be a farmer to raise rabbits for meat. A backyard hutch is easy to make and works well for three to four does. And the slaughter process is so quick and easy that every family should be adding rabbit meat to their diets. The French eat a lot of rabbit and every farmers market in France sells live rabbits which are slaughtered a at the market or at home. We don’t have to be French to eat rabbit. Hop right into rabbit raising or buy rabbit meat at the farmers market Bon Lapintite!

Farmer selling live rabbits at Bayeux Market in Normandy France

Some videos of rabbit giving birth and kits

2011-05-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

Author of Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, comming to a City near you. He is comming to SF soon. Who wants in?

2011-05-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

My Book Tour: Coming to a Town Near You

UPDATE: What you read below is my book tour as it now stands. I’ve been getting a lot of requests to come to one place or another, and, for the most part, I am game to go. Montana? You bet. Louisiana? Absolutely. But I need help organizing events there. So if you can help, I will do my part to make it happen. Thanks! ~Hank
After so long, it’s almost here. My first book, Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, comes out May 24, and I will be spending close to 100 days on the road this year meeting all of you and, hopefully, selling enough books to make this whole endeavor worthwhile.
My publisher, Rodale, is helping me with a lot of publicity and logistics, but I’ve pretty much designed this tour myself. The reason is because I did not want to do a traditional series of readings and book signings at stores where the customers are either uninterested or too busy to care; I’ve heard too many horror stories about book signings attended by three people. Not going to go there, if I can help it.
Nope, what I have planned, and what I want this tour to be, is an untraditional series of conversations about foraging and fishing and hunting, as well as a string of book parties highlighted by the cooking of some of the best chefs in the country. You heard right: I have enlisted the help of chefs with kudos ranging from Michelin stars to Food & Wine accolades to James Beard awards to help me celebrate wild food in America. I am deeply honored that they have been so willing to help.
Each chef is creating a special tasting menu inspired by the book, menus so intensely local, seasonal and wild that it could not be done anywhere else. It is a concept made famous by the Danish restaurant NOMA, only brought here. I can’t wait to see what the chefs come up with, and it will be range anywhere from comfort food to modernist works of art.
You see the map above? Click on it, and it will take you a Google map I created with descriptions of each event. I have also created a special page on this site for classes, appearances and events - it’s a tab off the front page right next to the main blog post. I will be updating that constantly, so you know where I’ll be.
But here’s a rundown of events I have conformed so far:

May 24, the day the book comes out, I will be doing a live TV spot with my friend Jaden Hair on her show in Tampa. We will be cooking fresh, local grouper, provided we caught some the day before.
I will then travel to northern Alabama to do some foraging, and I might do a book signing while I am there. After that I head down to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to fish for redfish and spotted trout. I want to see for myself what the oil spill did to the fisheries.
From there I head to Austin for a whole week. I am excited about doing some fishing there,too, when I am not attending the annual conference of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Hunter Angler Gardener Cook has been nominated for the association’s Best Blog award, and I will be signing books at IACP’s Culinary Book Fair on the afternoon of Friday June 3. That event is open to the public, and I am crossing my fingers that someone will show up.
Our first big book dinner kicks off Sunday night, June 5, at FINO. Chef Jason Donoho is coming up with a Texas-style wild food menu. Seating on this is limited, so call 512 474 2905 for reservations.
From Austin I travel to Scottsdale, AZ (just outside of Phoenix), where I am teaming up with Chef Chrysa Robertson of Rancho Pinot. Robertson is an acclaimed chef and a founder of Slow Food Phoenix, and we are planning a menu with as many ingredients from the Sonoran Desert as we can find. I may be doing a little prep cooking at this event, and I am really, really excited about this menu, as I am fascinated by the flavors of the Southwest. Click here or call 480 367 8030 for reservations.
I return home to Sacramento June 11 for a conversation about wild food with award-winning food writer Elaine Corn at Cafe Bernardo on Capitol Ave. That event will start at 10 a.m. with coffee and a book signing, then we get to talking about all things wild. Call 916 443 1180 for more details.
Homecoming continues with the official book launch party at Grange on Thursday, June 16. Chefs Michael Tuohy, Brad Cecchi and I collaborate on a wild food tasting menu will all the flavors of home in early summer: spring porcini, salmon, sturgeon, and, well… you’ll have to come to find out what else. We’re planning a reception and book signing beforehand. There is a very good chance this event will sell out, so click here or call 916 442 4450 to make a reservation.
From Sacto I head north to Portland June 25-26 for a foraging and feasting weekend with one of the best wild food chefs in the nation, Matt Lightner of Castagna. Chef Lightner and I team up with the Portland Culinary Alliance to lead a foraging walk on Saturday, and then we reconvene at Castagna for a wild food feast with the flavors of the Pacific Northwest. This is right in Matt’s wheelhouse, so you can expect great things. Call 503 231 9959 for reservations, or click here.
I head to Napa’s Wine Country on June 30, where my duck hunting buddy and acclaimed chef Sheamus Feeley combines game, wine and wild food at his restaurant Farmstead for a special night. Expect to see some duck here… Make reservations here or call 707 963 9181.
July 8-11 I will be in Salt Lake City for the annual conference of the Outdoor Writers Assn. of America. I’ll be delivering the keynote address on the intersection of the honest food movement with the world of hunting and fishing. There is an interesting meeting of cultures going on here, and I have a lot to say about it.
I return to California and head to Truckee in the Sierra Nevada on July 16. Chef Jacob Burton of Stella, in the Cedar House Sport Hotel, is planning on a menu that brings together the glories of both the mountains and the Great Basin. It’s a safe bet you will see mushrooms, trout and pine nuts at this meal. One lucky couple will win a night at the hotel and a free dinner. Details on that to come. Click here for reservations.
I’ll be doing a reading and book signing at Omnivore Books in San Francisco on Thursday, July 21. We’ll be talking about wild food, foraging, fishing and what it means to be a hunter in today’s urban world. More details to come.
A few days later starts one of the coolest weekends of the tour. On Saturday, July 23, Iso Rabins of Forage SF and I have chartered the fishing vessel Huli-Cat out of Half Moon Bay for a daylong expedition to catch rock cod and sand dabs. This trip is limited to the first 20-or-so people to sign up — we want plenty of space on the boat to fish. We’ll do an Event Brite link soon, but email me at scrbblr AT hotmail DOT com if you are interested.
After the fishing trip, Iso and I head to San Francisco to clean fish and prepare for a Wild Kitchen dinnerset for July 24: We’re cooking up the fish as part of a multi-course all-foraged meal. This is the only book dinner where I know I will be doing a lot of the cooking, so if you want to see if I can actually cook, come to this event. Click here to get on the mailing list, or email me.
Next week finds me in Seattle, where on July31 I will be joining former Top Chef contestant Robin Leventhal at her new restaurant Stopsky’s Deli. Robin and I are planning to do a wild food take on Jewish classics: wild greens knishes, duck gizzard pastrami, wild salmon gefilte fish — who knows what else we’ll come up with? Stopsky’s is just about to open, so it’s too early to make reservations, but keep an eye on their website.
After Labor Day I head East. I start in Raleigh, where on Sept. 12 Chef Ashley Christensen of Poole’s Diner brings the wild foods of North Carolina to her innovative restaurant. Chef Christensen doesn’t do fancy — she does good, seasonal comfort food. Add a dash of wild ingredients and it’ll be perfect for North Carolina. They don’t take reservations, but call 919 832 4477 for details.
I head to New York City from there, and on Sept. 22 I will be at the acclaimed restaurant Public, where Chef Brad Farmerie will fuse his Asian-inspired cooking style with local, wild ingredients. Brad is an especially good nose-to-tail and fish cook, so I expect to see some wobbly bits and unusual local fish on the menu. I expect this dinner to sell out. Click here for reservations or call 212 343 7011.
On to Boston, where on Sept. 28 I will be doing a wild food, nose-to-tail New England feast with Chef Tony Maws of Craigie on Main. Much of my family lives in Massachusetts, so I am looking forward to something of a homecoming here. Craigie on Main is one of the best restaurants in Boston, so this should be a very special night. Click here for to make a reservation (top right corner of the site) or call 617 497 5511.
I dip down to Providence after Boston, where on October 2 Chef Matt Jennings of Farmstead’s La Laiterie Bistro is planning a wild Rhody feast. I first started fishing and foraging on Block Island, just off the coast of Rhode Island, so I am really looking forward to this. I have no idea what Matt will come up with, but it had better have quahogs! Call 401 274 7177 for reservations.
On October 5 I will be in Pittsburgh at the restaurant Eleven. Pennsylvania is one of the most hunting-est, fishing-est places in the country, so I can’t wait to see how Chef Derek Stevens interprets that. Yellow perch and venison ought to make an appearance, I think… Click here or call 412 201 5656 for reservations.
Finally, on October 11 I will be back in my old stomping grounds of the Twin Cities, where Chef Scott Pampuch of The Corner Tablewill try to bring together as many wild Minnesota ingredients as he can. Minnesota is home to some world-class wild foods, from real, hand-harvested Ojibwe wild rice to walleye to game to wild berries. They don’t take reservations, but call 612 823 0011 for details.

Phew! That’s what I have nailed down so far. I am also talking with a second restaurant in Seattle – Seattle has been so good to me I want to do two events there — as well as a restaurant in Washington DC; I hope to have both events confirmed soon. I am also in the midst of plans for events in Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego. Nothing is firm on any of these yet, but I will keep my Classes, Appearances and Events page current.
I am trying to set up signings and other speaking events in each city where I have a book dinner, so if you know any place that might be a good fit, let me know. Also, if you think I ought to come to your city, email me and let’s see what we can set up. I know my tour is big city-centric, but I’d be more than happy to head to a smaller town if you think we can get a large enough crowd.
I’m starting to feel the excitement, finally. I have so many friends out there I’ve never met, and I really want to meet as many of you in person as I can. Hopefully I will see you at one of these book events, so we can talk, raise a glass and eat some fantastic food together. Wish me luck, and I’ll see you out there!

Our Rabbit Tractors

2011-05-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

So as some of you may or may not know. My goal at FogCity Rabbitry is to raise rabbits on pasture. I want to grow my own certified organic crops and let the rabbits eat the forage and feel them pellets that I mill myself. We started out making the first tractor out of angle iron which proved to be way to heavy for us to move.

The problem with these was that while they were sturdy and would prevent predators from getting into them, we could not move them ourselves.

In fact we needed a fork lift to even get it from the storage shed to the field. Furthermore, when we did get it into the field we could not move it from one pasture to the other because it would not slide.

So we are just going to use this one for temporary housing when we need it

We did like the overall size thought so we modeled Rabbit Tractor 2.0 after this one one but we made it out of PVC. We ordered all the materials online because it was much cheaper.

Once we got the rabbits in the tractor we watched them for a week to see if we needed to make any changes to the pen. Some were able to get out so we made some changes. As you can see from the picture, the wire comes in on the sides of the cage about 6 inches. On the second version we had it come in a full foot so that the rabbits could not dig out.

The second version of the tractors looked like this.

These pens were the same size, 15'x6'x3' Each rabbit has its own individual pen which is 3'x2' Each pen has a feeder as well as a water nozzle which is hooked up to a five gallon bucket. We do not have water access yet out by the pens so we could not use the pressure nozzles. These are the spring loaded ones. We have to fill up the water about once a day, and will probably move up to a 50 gallon container or the pressurized system soon. The dog hangs out around the pens, he wants in as well, but he also helps keep away other animals like coons and coyote that might want in as well.

The tops of the pens are covered
in breathable black fabric that
provide shade but also let airflow in.

This is my first attempt at an HTML post, so I will get better as time goes on. So I hope this gives you a basic idea of what our tractors look like. If you have questions feel free to ask. My next post will be about our pellet mill and how we make our own pellets.

Check out this short video about FogCity Rabbitry

2011-05-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Check out this short video about FogCity Rabbitry

Greek Rabbit Stew with Artichokes

2011-04-29T21:21:00.001-07:00

Greek Rabbit Stew with Artichokes

This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Diane Kochilas’ “The Glorious Foods of Greece,” which, in my opinion, is the last word on Greek regional cuisine. The recipe originates in Crete, where they eat a lot of rabbit, and a lot of wild greens. This works well in Northern California where I live, because we have lots of rabbits and lots of wild fennel, which is the preferred form in this recipe. If you can’t find it, look for the non-bulbing kind of fennel. If you can’t find that, just use the tops of bulb fennel and save the bulb for something else.
Do you need Meyer lemons for this? No, but they are sweeter (and I happen to have a tree of them in my back yard). Do you need a wild rabbit? No, but they are tastier — unless you get a specialty rabbit from someplace like Devil’s Gulch in California. And domestic rabbits are huge compared to their wild cousins: One domestic will feed four in this recipe.
You can also use squirrels for this, but not hares. You want a white meat here.
Â Serves 4
1 domestic rabbit or 2 wild ones (or 2 squirrels), cut into serving pieces
2 cups white wine
1 cup Gigandes beans (you can use limas, but they’re not as good), soaked overnight
1/4 cup olive oil
10 scallions, 3 leeks or one large onion, sliced thin
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 artichokes, hearts and short stems only, halved
1 cup coarsely chopped fennel fronds
salt and white pepper
Rabbit stock or chicken stock
2 tablespoons flour
Juice of 2 lemons (Meyer or otherwise)

Lightly salt the rabbit pieces. Boil the white wineÂ untilÂ you can no longer smell alcohol (about 2-3 minutes), take off the heat and cool. Once it’s cool, add the rabbit and marinateÂ overnight in the fridge.
The next day, take the meat out of the fridge, pat dry and let come to room temperature for at least 1/2 hour.
Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Once the rabbit is ready, dredge it in the flour and brown it on all sides in the olive oil over medium heat. Use a brazier, Dutch oven, or a heavy pot with a lid for this. Once the rabbit is browned, remove and set aside.
Add the scallions or leeks into the pot and saute over medium-high heat until you get some color. No burning the onions!
Add about a 1/2 cup of the white wine marinade to deglaze. Let it reduce by half, mix well, then add back the rabbit pieces and the gigandes beans. Add rabbit or chicken stock until itÂ covers the rabbit pieces by about a quarter inch. Cover and put in the oven for at least 2 hours. You ultimately want the rabbit to be giving to the probe of a fork.
Somewhere around that 2-hour mark — no later — check to see if the rabbit is beginning to submit, and if so add the artichokes and half the fennel, then check for seasoning and add salt if necessary. Add some white pepper at this point. Make sure everything is neatly arranged in the pot and not sticking, then cover again and give the lot another 30 minutes.
Once the 30 minutes are up, check everything. You need the rabbit to be tender. If it isn’t put it back in. Once it has submitted to your liking, turn off the heat and make the lemon sauce. Whisk flour and lemon juice together, then add a ladleful of the stew into it, whisking all the time. Do this again, then add it to the stew and stir to combine carefully; think of it more as folding in the lemon sauce rather than whisking or stirring. Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes.
Garnish with the rest of the chopped fennel, a little more white pepper, and serve with rice or good crusty bread.

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce

2011-04-29T21:20:00.001-07:00

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce

Posted by Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook on May 22, 2010
Filed under Gluten-Free, Low Carb, Main Course

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Simply Recipes contributor Hank Shaw and I "met" years ago over a comment he made about rabbit on Michael Ruhlman's blog. I hounded him for a rabbit recipe back then so I'm delighted that he is sharing this French classic with us now, Lapin à la moutarde, or Rabbit in Mustard Sauce. ~Elise
This is a French country classic, and there are endless variations. All are good. Some recipes bake the rabbit, others braise it, as I do. The keys are mustard—good grainy mustard, not the bright yellow stuff you get at the ballpark—shallots, and something creamy. I use heavy cream, but some people use crème fraiche, others sour cream.
Rabbit has a mild flavor that is all its own. Think chicken breast, but with a slightly different flavor. It is one of my favorites, although I mostly use wild cottontail rabbits. Domestic rabbit is readily available frozen in good supermarkets, and any decent butcher can get you some. And yes, if you are skeeved out by rabbit, use chicken instead. But rabbit is better.

Rabbits usually come whole, and if you don’t know how to break them down yourself, ask the supermarket butcher to do it for you. This gets a little harder with frozen rabbits, so I’ve posted step-by step instructions on breaking down a rabbit here.

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce Recipe

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Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

You will probably get the kidneys with your rabbit. It is your choice whether to keep them or not. I always do, and I think they are the second-best part of the animal after the hind legs. Rabbit kidneys are mild in flavor and are a warm, soft, rabbity morsel in this dish. If you choose to use them, strip off all the fat, as well as the gossamer membrane that surrounds them.

Ingredients

1 rabbit, cut into serving pieces (see How to cut up a rabbit)
Salt
4 tablespoons butter
2 large shallots, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup grainy country mustard, like Dijon
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Method

1 Salt your rabbit pieces well and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.
2 Heat the butter over medium heat in a large sauté pan with a lid. Pat the rabbit pieces dry and brown them in the butter. Do this at a moderate pace – you don’t want the butter to scorch – and don’t let the rabbit pieces touch each other. Do it in batches if you need to.
Once the rabbit is browned, remove it to a bowl. Add the shallot and brown it well. This will take 3-4 minutes.
3 Pour in the white wine and turn the heat to high. Scrape off any browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the mustard, thyme and water and bring to a rolling boil. Taste the sauce for salt and add some if needed.
4 Add the rabbit pieces, coat them with the sauce, then drop the heat to low. Cover and simmer gently for 45 minutes. You want the meat to be nearly falling off the bone. It might need more time, but should not need more than an hour total. Wild rabbits sometimes need more time.
5 When the meat is ready, gently remove it to a platter. Turn the heat to high and boil the sauce down by half. Turn off the heat and add the cream and parsley. Stir to combine and return the rabbit to the pan. Coat with the sauce and serve at once.
Serve this dish with crusty bread and a big white wine, such as a white Bordeaux, white Cotes du Rhone blend or a buttery California Chardonnay. If you prefer beer, try pairing this with an unfiltered wheat beer.
Yield: Serves 4.

How to Cut Up a Rabbit

2011-04-29T21:15:00.001-07:00

How to Cut Up a Rabbit

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

I am pretty sure I don’t go a month without someone emailing or asking me about how to break down one critter or another, and while we were butchering that lamb recently several people asked how to cut up a rabbit.
Butchering a rabbit is indeed harder than cutting up a chicken. In fact, that reason — along with a slightly higher feed-to-meat ratio, is why America became a nation of chicken-eaters and not rabbit-eaters. The question was actually in doubt a century ago.
Now meat rabbit production in the US is less than half what it was even in 1985, and we eat only about 17,000 tons a year, according to one 2005 survey — compare that with Italy’s 300,000 tons. Buon Appetito!
The buttermilk fried rabbit you see above is now largely a Southern novelty or a hunter’s special. Pity, because it is every bit as delicious as a perfect fried chicken.
Most of the rabbits and hares Holly and I eat are wild cottontails or jackrabbits, although an occasional snowshoe hare or domestic rabbit finds its way to our table. And it’s a domestic I decided to work with for this tutorial.
Why butcher your own rabbits? They’re cheaper, sometimes a full $1.50 a pound less than a pre-portioned bunny. Also, if you are raising your own or are a hunter, this is good information to know.
First you need a very sharp knife: I use a Global flexible boning knife, but a paring knife or a fillet knife would also work, as would a chef’s knife. I also use a Wusthof cleaver and a pair of kitchen shears. Have a clean towel handy to wipe your hands, and a bowl for trimmings.
Start by picking over the carcass for silverskin and sinew, and slice it off. You’ll be doing a lot of this, but you might as well get started with the easy stuff.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

I always start by removing the front legs, which are not attached to the body by bone. Slide your knife up from underneath, along the ribs, and slice through.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Usually there is some schmutz (a technical term) attached to the front leg that does not look like good eats: fat, sinew, and general non-meaty stuff. All can go into pate if you are so inclined. Or you can toss it.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Next comes the belly. A lot of people ignore this part, but if you think about it, it’s rabbit bacon! And who doesn’t like bacon? In practice, this belly flap becomes a lovely boneless bit in whatever dish you are making.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

I start by turning Mr. Bunny over and slicing right along the line where the saddle (or loin) starts, then running the knife along that edge to the ribs. When you get to the ribcage, you fillet the meat off the ribs, as far as you can go, which is usually where the front leg used to be. Finish by trimming more schmutz off the edge.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Up next, the hind legs, which are the money cut in a rabbit. Hunters take note: Aim far forward on a rabbit, because even if you shoot up the loin, you really want the hind legs clean — they can be a full 40 percent of a gutted carcass’ weight.
Start on the underside and slice gently along the pelvis bones until you get to the ball-and-socket joint. When you do, grasp either end firmly and bend it back to pop the joint. Then slice around the back leg with your knife to free it from the carcass.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Once you’ve done both legs, you are left with the loin, which is the most persnickety. It’s really the rabbit loin vs. chicken breast thing that did it in for the bunny as a major meat animal — there’s a larger swath of boneless meat in a chicken than in a rabbit. Both have a tendency to dry out, but then there’s that delicious chicken skin…
Now is a good time to remove a little more silverskin. The back of the loin has several layers, and most need to be removed. The final layer is very tough to cut off, and I often leave it. On a large hare or jackrabbit, however, this layer needs to go, too.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

You’re now ready to portion the saddle. Ever heard the expression “long in the saddle?” It is an animal husbandry term: A longer stretch of saddle or loin means more high-dollar cuts come slaughter time. And meat rabbits have been bred to have a very long saddle compared to wild cottontails.
Start by removing the pelvis, which is really best in the stockpot. I do this by taking my cleaver severing the spine by banging the cleaver down with the meat of my palm. I then bend the whole shebang backwards and finish the cut with the boning knife.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Now you grab your kitchen shears and snip off the ribs, right at the line where the meat of the loin starts. The ribs go into the stockpot, too.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Guess what? There’s more silverskin to slice off. Could you do it all in one fell swoop? You bet, but it is delicate work and I like to break it up to keep my mental edge: The reason for all this delicate work is because the loin is softer than the silverskin, and if you cook it with the skin on, it will contract and push the loin meat out either side. Ugly. And besides, if you are making Kentucky Fried Rabbit, who wants to eat sinew?

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Your last step is to chop the loin into serving pieces. I do this by using my boning knife to slice a guide line through to the spine. Then I give the spine a whack with the cleaver by laying the cleaver blade on the spine and whacking it with the meat of my palm.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

And voila! A bunny cut into lots of delicious serving pieces.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

What about the offal, you say? I’ll do more on that later, but suffice to say rabbit livers and hearts are pretty much like those of a chicken. The kidneys are delicious, too. Remove the fat (rabbit fat tends to be foul-tasting) and peel the nearly-invisible membrane off the kidney before cooking. (Here is a rabbit kidney recipe I call Marsh, Mountain and Field.)
What to do with your newly portioned rabbit? Well, you could browse through my rabbit recipes. But since Holly and I so rarely get to eat domestic rabbit, which we know will be tender, I decided to fry it like a chicken.
I used my friend Elise’s buttermilk fried chicken as a model, although I kicked up the paprika and spices a bit. Here is my fried rabbit recipe. With an ice cold beer, it was every bit as good as it looks!

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Want to Learn How to Make Pasta & Sausage?

2011-04-29T21:13:00.001-07:00

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

I am happy to announce that I will be doing a pair of cooking classes in May, and I hope those of you who are semi-local can come! I’ll be doing a basic pasta-making class at Whole Foods in Sacramento, and will be doing an intensive, hands-on class on sausage-making at Cavallo Point in Sausalito.
Here are the details:
The Whole Foods class will be all about making pasta without a pasta maker. Lots of people want to make pasta, but don’t necessarily want to spend all kinds of money on a pasta machine. Fortunately there are lots of pasta shapes that are easy to make without one.
I will go over basic dough-making, making doughs with flours other than wheat — spelt, chestnut, farro, barley, chickpea, etc — and then we will all make several traditional Italian shapes. The exact shapes are to be determined, but I am planning on:

Pici, a fat, hand-rolled spaghetti from Tuscany
Cavatelli, a cup-shaped short pasta common in Southern Italy
Strascinati, a similar Southern Italian pasta that looks a little like an empty pea pod
Sardinian semolina gnocchi, which look like little chickpeas

You will get a chance to roll out these pasta shapes yourself — they are easy to master, but there is a trick to each one. Afterwards, we’ll make a simple fennel-tomato sauce to go with our pasta and have dinner!
The class will be Saturday, May 7 at the Whole Foods on 4315 Arden Way in Sacramento. It will start at 5 p.m., and the cost is TBD, but it will be $50 or less per person. I will update this post when I hear what the actual cost will be. Once the class appears on the store’s calendar of classes, you can call 916 488 2800 or register for the event here.

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

A week later, I will be in Sausalito at Cavallo Point to do a hands-on class on making sausage from scratch.
That class will be limited to about 20 people so I can give everyone the attention they need to learn how to make professional-quality sausages at home. We will be using Kitchenaid grinders, and I will bring my sausage-stuffing machine to demonstrate.
We’ll go over meat safety, different types of sausage, effects of different spices and meats and grinds, and then we will make some basic Italian sausages.
I understand that most people won’t have access to a proper sausage stuffing machine, so we will do more than make links. I will show you how to make sausage patties, how to use alternative wrappers (like cabbage and grape leaves) for sausages, as well as how to make French crepinettes using caul fat.
That class will be Saturday, May 14 starting at 11 a.m. Tentative cost will be $95 plus tax, and registration will be capped at about 20 people. You can call 415 339 4700 to reserve your spot, or check this link for more details.
Hoping to see some of you there!

Worried about New Farming

2011-04-29T21:12:00.001-07:00

By Lynn Miller (Originally copyrighted in the Fall 2009 Small Farmer’s Journal)

Industrial agriculture is fighting for its scientific, political and economic life. The public drum beat for a new farming is growing louder every day. The citizenry want safe, healthy food – they want the security and the civilizing regional diversities which come of a vibrant local food scene – they want the independent family farms to succeed and thrive – they want to see small rural communities come alive again for all the right reasons.

The vertically-integrated corporate behemoths, wholly separate from actual farmers and farming, are heading off a steep cliff of their own design, they are living the curse of rapidly decreasing returns on investment as vital natural resources are depleted and/or altered by the boardroom’s complete disregard for natural balance and fertility – their disregard for bio-diversity and the true craft of farming.

Meanwhile in nearly every nook and cranny of this land people are getting together local community efforts to answer their increasing need for real local food security and health; farm coops, “foodsheds,” farm to consumer alliances, new farm beginnings programs, and so much more.

The executive and legislative branches of our government are justifiably confused. Who now exactly is the constituency? The general clamoring voting food-eating public – or the money slinging black-mailing corporate board members? The answer would seem to be obvious but alas…

Now we are beginning to see the hard evidence of a campaign to “dis-allow” the public in general and small farms in particular. In other words we farmers and consumers are being stripped of our determinate rights, If the federal-corporate axis have their way, we won’t get to have a say in what sort of farming and food we will have in the near future.

Over the last half-dozen years the USDA and its corporate controllers have worked out a program to demand through regulation, the “professionalization” of agriculture. “No more amateurs” they cry. We see it in the circumlocutions of the euphemistically labelled “Food Safety Bills” and we hear about it today as the secretary of agriculture announces an end-run to implement Animal ID as imbedded within food safety regs.

They are worried and with good reason. The cause of new farming is winning at the grass-roots level across all sociological boundaries. The federal/corporate axis wants to make us, in the new farming, fight their fight. We mustn’t. We must continue our constructive efforts everywhere, we must take our solutions to them. Make them “show cause.” This country must reclaim the capacity to feed itself – not in some abstracted third-removed corporate trade off but ACTUALLY feed itself. It is not only a matter of national security, it is a moral and cultural imperative that affects the survival of the planet and the dignity of mankind. At every opportunity we need to request from our governments and the large corporations that they pass a litmus test, Do they or do they not support the concept of U.S. self-reliance in food? Do they or do they not support the SFJ demand for a whole New Homestead act granting each and every veteran either a college education or a suitable piece of land to farm? Do they or do they not support the goal of zero hunger in this country and around the world? Do they or do they not support the furtherance of farming systems which enhance the biological world? Yes or no? Time to go on record. And know that when you do go on record that record will be called upon when we decide where to shop, who to vote for, what to watch, who to dial in. It’s no longer a contest. The new farming has won out. But it is no time to lower our guard, it’s no time to slow our efforts, no time to trade off any of our principles. They are worried and that is clear evidence of something that has already happened. Let us not be swayed or hoodwinked into fighting their fight. LRM

Starting Your Farm by Lynn Miller

2011-04-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Starting Your Farm by Lynn Miller

On-farm Meat Processing

2011-04-29T20:42:00.001-07:00

On-farm Meat Processing

Processing Meats on Farm

Mobile Slaughter Yesterday,

Today and Tomorrow?

by Lynn Miller
“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away…”
It was 1971 in Drain, Oregon, and I managed a small cattle and sheep ranch for some investors. Part of my wage was a steer to raise for personal use or sale. There were only two of us in the family at the time and I knew we wouldn’t consume a whole beef in a timely manner so I made arrangements to sell half to someone with the understanding that the cut and wrapped packages would have to carry a NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION stamp on the wrapping paper.
I had seen the truck running around locally with a sign on the side which said CUSTOM MEAT CUTTER and a phone number so I called. It was a small family-owned business thirty miles away. They told me straight away that their facility wasn’t federally inspected. I didn’t care. (In my rustic, hardscrabble, farm and ranch community, federal inspection was a joke – an extra fee you paid to get a stamp of approval with no one really inspecting anything.)
As a service to small ranches and farms, for a nominal fee, this custom cutter would send out their truck, a 1952 Ford 2-ton with a plywood box on the back featuring a steel trolley-track which extended out three feet back of the big rear door. If I made arrangements to have the steer close at hand, the driver would dispatch it and prepare it for a return trip to their cooler, where it would hang for 10 to 14 days before being cut and wrapped. They requested that there be a water hose nearby during slaughter.
So I made the arrangements like many others before me. Pretty sure of what was to follow. There weren’t any surprises. The driver got out of the truck, made small talk, checked the site and the water availability and removed a 22-gauge rifle from the cab. One perfectly placed shot and the steer dropped dead. Quickly the driver became butcher; making a clean incision at the jugular vein to bleed out the animal. He backed the truck up and rigged a butcher’s stretcher bar between the hocks. He then pulled a trolley out along the track and threaded a cable from his winch hooking the end into the stretcher bar center ring. Slowly the dead steer was yarded upside down until it hung free. Then came the hands-on process of eviscerating, skinning and halving the carcass.
The two halves were winched into the truck box and wrapped in plastic sheets with tags stapled to them. The driver offered to take the hide, head and vital organs if they weren’t desired. Everything was hosed off and the driver left to go back to the butcher shop and cooler.
On another occasion, I hauled a 250 lb pig 50 miles into a custom cutter’s facility near Elmira, Oregon where everything was done for me including smoking and curing hams and bacon with a maple recipe that was outrageously good. No inspection and the packages stamped accordingly.
These services are still legal in many parts of the country. And, depending on how remote and “rural” an area is, it is completely acceptable. But with the growth in ‘certified organic’ local foods and the swelling of food poisoning scares, if a famer is to avail him or herself of the strong new market demand for direct meat sales every effort must be made to go well beyond simple compliance with state and federal regulations.
For me in my yesterdays, the scenario above repeated many times over, constitutes my earned understanding of ‘mobile slaughtering’. That’s why this new buzz around these words, as if this was something absolutely unique and brand new, seems a bit odd. Odd, that is, until I started to do some research.

Today is just a worry away…
Today, restaurants, local shops, and individuals are demanding local, fresh, clean meat products from farmers they might actually know. That demand now figures into the millions. In some cases they are even demanding organic certification. That translates to state and federally inspected facilities, process and product. The new application of the term mobile slaughtering presupposes that we are talking about a facility and process that is federally inspected and approved, that cancels out those old guys with their plywood boxes mounted crudely to the back of a flatbed truck. Enter the shiny, stainless steel, fully heated, cooled and plumbed mobil antiseptic processing plant. Not a bad thing IF it honors those and that which it would serve. But if such a big shiny farm invader inserts itelf into the independent small farmer’s world with the sort of industrial insistence some dairy co-ops have come to represent, it could quickly become a nightmare.
But shouldn’t we back up a notch and ask why bother? We must bother because, as it has been said many times and many ways, this is one of those places where opportunity and need meet but without a suitable bridge. Let’s not make it into a toll bridge with a customs office at the end. Beware those who smell a very big profit with this need.
The demand for fresh, local meat products – with no taint of industrial process – is absolutely staggering. And there seems no end to the growth of that demand – ergo opportunity. On the other side we have a comensurate growth in the number of new small farms answering the call for these products. But the farm, typically, is not set up to realize the value-added processing that takes the chicken, duck, catfish, turkey, steer, lamb or hog through to a cut and wrapped article. And the industrial options aren’t options. So we have a situation where it is clear that answering the processing need in a scale and cost appropriate way will not only add to farm profitability but, perhaps more importantly, will allow for, and encourage, the growth in small farm numbers to expand exponentially. Far-sighted farmers and farm organizations saw this and have been working over the last eight years to theoretically answer the need with research, development, prototype and infrastructure (though too little of that essential element). So we now have some working examples to consider.
On Lopez Island, west and north of Seattle, the first of these fully approved mobile slaughter units was put into operation in 2002 with a USDA nod and federal inspector on board. Since that time the USDA has certified eight others for large animals across the country. (Separately, a handful of specialized units geared towards poultry are cropping up in various configurations across the country.) While these are very few in number they do now represent some working history that would seem to point in interesting directions. All of the units which have been in full operation report tremendous local farm community acceptance and process success with every indication of growth in numbers. Those are internal conclusions. Externally we are beginning to see the making of an almost predictable backlash against the model(s). There are the opening squeaks of a propaganda campaign to paint mobile slaughter units as engines of contamination. This in spite of the fact that great pains have been taken to design these various prototypes to satisfy all state and federal sanitation regulations AND include on-board USDA inspectors assuring, in some cases, that the meats also measure up to organic certification standards as well.
The concept of the mobile slaughtering unit is gaining traction and all around the country news articles are popping up. Perhaps this is why we are seeing folks prompted to make criticisms that come more from speculation than knowledge. One of those frequently stated in New England is that the concept has a serious flaw because it does not take into reality the pressing need for suitable matching cold storage and flash freezing capabilities.
There are a variety of theories around how long meat should “cool” in the carcass before it is cut, wrapped and frozen. And there is great mystery and argument around what constitutes true ”fresh” (- i.e. if it has ever been frozen, how can you possible call it fresh?). But customarily a large animal carcass should cool from 8 days to two weeks. So what we see here is a bit of a disconnect. All of these prototype units presuppose delivery of a slaughtered carcass to a centralized cooling facility. It should be obvious that a mobile unit of anywhere from 35 to 55 feet long would quickly lack space to handle cold storage for any appreciable number of carcasses. And these units, in order to be fully useful and profitable need to move on the very next day to another farm.
Perhaps the most legitimate concern for these units would come from established small local meat processors who depend on the local independent farmers as their clientele. They are justifiably worried about losing business. These facilities might do well to think creatively about how they could collaborate with mobile units allowing for joint ventures in cooling and cutting. Or to add the mobile slaughtering service to their established operations.
But, of course such observations are in themselves shortsighted because of the truth of the broader landscape; the News Observer, in a July 2010 story by Andrea Weigl, told about a succesful and ingenious North Carolinian, Lee Menius, being awarded an $8,000 private grant with which he built a mobile poultry slaughterhouse on a trailer he pulls behind his pickup. He rents the unit to other farmers after finishing his own birds.
(Weigl further reports that in North Carolina a farmer must register with the state to be a meat handler. In 2002 there was one such registration, today there are 366. A very clear sign of changing times and needs.)
But to further complicate the question; there are certain farmer’s markets around the country which will not allow, for liability concerns, that patrons sell meats which have been processed ‘on-farm’. That would then point back to the more expansive and expensive fully inspected tractor trailer-type stainless steel units, and again back to the issue of storage and secondary processing facilities.
The Glynwood model: In May of 2010, Glynwood, a non-profit organization in the Hudson river valley of NY have come up with a modular mobile slaughterhouse concept (see Glynwood sidebar). They have trademarked it as the ‘Modular Harvest System” and speak of it as a next generation approach to the humane slaughter of livestock. It is designed to employ ‘docking’ stations. This appears to be a system as much as a facility and as such is remarkably more ambitious than the other prototypes spread over the country.
By comparison that first Lopez Island, Washington, model would seem highly and easily replicable. Bruce Dunlop, a founding member of the project was showcased in an on-line article by Ken Simon entitled “Is a Mobile Slaughterhouse Coming to Connecticut” (http://www.workingtheland.com/feature-mobile-slaughterhouse.htm) speaking to New England farmers. Quoting from that article; “Dunlop pointed out that the Lopez facility cost about $200,000… It can theoretically process up to 30 head of cattle a day, although it typically handles more like six to 12 head on each farm it visits….the USDA now looks at the project as an unqualified success… Last year, its third in operation, Dunlop’s co-op processed 500 head of beef and 500 lamb and hogs, comprising about 250,000 pounds of meat… The 55 co-op members… are taking in $850,000 in annual retail sales, more than double their first year… The cooperative, which services member producers within a 100 mile radius of the cutting plant, takes in $250,000 in fees from members which supports $225,000 in annual payroll costs for six year-round employees…”
This unit is built on an unmarked 33-foot trailer lined in stainless steel with heat, cooling and potable water. It can hold 10 beef cattle, 20 hogs or 70 sheep. An on-site USDA inspector checks each live animal prior to harvest and then again after processing. The meat is transported to the co-op’s USDA regulated cutting plant where it is later cut into retail portions, packaged and cold stored until pickup.
practical realities
Mobile slaughtering units may cost anywhere from 150 to 250,000 dollars and might have a variety of special applications. For example a unit in Kentucky moves between three locations processing poultry, shrimp, bass, catfish and other fish. That unit is supervised by Kentucky State University.
In Washington state, the Pierce County Conservation District put up $300,000 to cover the cost of building a mobile unit, stating that they believe such units will help to preserve local farmland in six contiguous counties.
One year ago, smelling a new alternative ag sector they might want to develop, the world’s largest natural-foods supermarket chain,Whole Foods, announced their intention to step into the mobile slaughterhouse arena with a fleet of state of the art USDA approved mobile units. Their operation model would be guided by their own process and profitability criteria. For example, client farmers would have minimum “buy” of 500 chickens with those who agree to sell to Whole Foods having unlimited access to the units. We are told that WF would impose a strict set of guidelines requiring participating small farmers to raise only a specific breed of chicken supplied by an identified breeder, and those birds to be fed a certain brand of feed. Other required guidelines would be imposed as well. All of this smacks to this writer of the vertical integration tactics which gave us industrialized agriculture in the first place. Having large retailers enter the arena of the mobile slaughterhouses points away from the decentralized small scale farming that is most needed. Further, it could be argued that the tactics will evolve to even more “get big or get out” pressure.
As the discussions and interconnectivity of this livestock activity continue it might be helpful to draw clear distinctions between small independent processors and the larger corporate entities.
tomorrow seems so close…
Regardless of scale, some have argued that rather than put time, research, and money into this mobile concept, why aren’t we moving to encourage a return to the mid-sized independent stationary facilities? In Weigl’s New Observer story she speaks of a 5,000 square foot poultry facility built three years ago in Siler City, NC. at a cost of $850,000. The Chaudhry Halal Meats plant has yet to break even. They are now slaughtering 1,000 birds a week at a charge of $4.50 per finished product. With such economic indicators it might be difficult to interest investors around the country. But if such stationary facilities, especially those geared to larger animals, were providing services (i.e. cold storage and cutting) which mobile units could avail themselves of, the numbers might jump favorably.
Some within agriculture see the concept of mobile slaughterhouses as a misguided quick fix to a problem that will eventually right itself through a supply and demand sieve. I disagree. Though there are many mechanics to work out, the basic concept of hundreds, if not thousands, of independent mobile units is sound and it has the applicability it takes to work most everywhere on the continent.
What is needed now is for non-profit and cooperative efforts to work with determination to develop a sort of specialized ‘brokerage and information referral’ for mobile slaughter. This would give farmers, meat cutters, and related endeavors a place or places to go for assistance in implementation, funding, and red tape wrangling.
Lynn Miller is editor/publisher of Small Farmer’s Journal and vice president and co-founder of the non-profit Small Farms Conservancy.

Rabbit Breeders Software

2011-04-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

Rabbit Breeders Products & Services

Software for Rabbit Breeders. The Register program is the most widely used Windows rabbit pedigree software in the world. For detailed information on our software view The Rabbit Register for Windows description. See Price and ordering information to place an order via the Internet. If you want to see samples of our printouts, we can mail you a brochure. If you already own our program, we offer upgrades at a substantial discount.
General Rabbit Information. A resource list of where to go to get more information on rabbits. Whether it be breeds, breeding, care or any of a number of other topics.
Index of Rabbit Breeders. This is a state-by-state index of rabbit breeders, listed by breed.

If you would like your E-Mail address included, there is an easy form to fill out so that you can get listed in the breeder index.
Index of Rabbit Organizations. This is a list similar to the breeder list. Once again, if you have some inputs in this area, please send them along and we will include them.
Index of Commercial Suppliers. (Publications and Commerical Enterprises) I know, I know, this is getting repetitious. Same thing here. Send along a brief description of what you're selling, and we'll add it to our index.
Rabbit Breed Crossword Puzzle An interactive crossword puzzle using the names of 32 rabbit breeds. You must be able to use Java Applets to try this puzzle. It takes a second or two to load, please be patient. Let us know if you like this sort of thing, and we'll try to make up some more.

Welcome

2011-04-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Due to the overwhelming amount of information out there and my tendency to over post my FB page I have decided to start a fogcity blog. This blog will not only have information on raising rabbits for meat but also all the other cool stuff that I am into such as organic meat, farming, curing and making sausage, butchering, processing, hunting, BBQ, composting and probably more

Rabbits/Meat/Hunting and more

Update on Pasture Rabbits

Rabbits in the News

Recipe repost from http://www.raisingrabbitsebook.com/

Five Excellent Meat Rabbit Breeds to Start Your Rabbitry

How to Tan a Rabbit Hide

Other Videos of Rabbit Tractors and Rabbits on Pasture

Cool Post from Stone & Thistle Farm On Raising Rabbits On Pasture

Monday, May 2, 2011

Rabbiting at Stone & Thistle Farm

Some videos of rabbit giving birth and kits

Author of Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, comming to a City near you. He is comming to SF soon. Who wants in?

My Book Tour: Coming to a Town Near You

Our Rabbit Tractors

Check out this short video about FogCity Rabbitry

Greek Rabbit Stew with Artichokes

Greek Rabbit Stew with Artichokes

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce

Print Options

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce Recipe

Print Options

Ingredients

Method

How to Cut Up a Rabbit

How to Cut Up a Rabbit

Want to Learn How to Make Pasta & Sausage?

Worried about New Farming

Starting Your Farm by Lynn Miller

On-farm Meat Processing

On-farm Meat Processing

Processing Meats on Farm

Mobile Slaughter Yesterday,

Today and Tomorrow?

Rabbit Breeders Software

Rabbit Breeders Products & Services

Welcome