Hello, my name is Nick LaDieu and I’m a beefaholic. I just can’t get enough of 3.80 cents a pound grass fed pasture raised Angus beef. I just love it and the fever is spreading. I’ve already spread the addiction to many of my friends here in Pittsburgh and I want to share it with you now.

Excuse #1:
I don’t have time to cook.

Your not going to the grocery store to shop for meat anymore and I bet that consumes a lot more time than you realize. Guess what? You can still eat fast food. That’s right! I eat fast food 5 or 6 times a week. In fact just yesterday I had 2 burritos from McLaDieu’s freezer section. One grass fed bean and beef burrito and one pasture raised pork sausage and free range egg burrito. It even featured some jalapeno peppers grown right in my backyard! I got home from work late (9:30pm!!) and threw them right in a microwave just like the ones from the gas station.

McLaDieu’s also features beef and barley soup, grass fed Angus and venison stew. Ham, sausage and egg casserole and a bunch of other nifty meals ready to go. The chef (Nick LaDieu) told me it took him about 3 hours on a Saturday to make 40 bean and beef burritos. To make beef stew was just about 40 minutes of prep (chopping vegetables mainly) and throw it in a crock pot or cast iron dutch oven. McLaDieu’s sources his grains from his local food co-op who can order them in bulk for him. So convenient!

Excuse #2:
I don’t have a chest freezer. This one is easy. Go get one! What the hell… your not even trying to come up with a valid excuse here. You can even get small chest freezers that could easily fit in an apartment. Let’s be a bit more creative with the excuses people. You will not regret this decision.

Excuse #3
I can’t afford to buy groceries so I have to eat all fast food.

Ok, this is a tricky one and I’ll drop the jokey tone to address this one. I truly feel for people who don’t have means to get good healthy food for their families, however for the vast majority of people there are a few other factors going on. One factor is lack of knowledge, I’d like to believe this is the major factor and that if people knew how much money they could save by eating something like grass fed beef that they would switch over immediately. I think most people are stuck in the “buy as you go” model of consuming and look at a place like whole foods and say “I can’t afford that stuff”… hell most people can’t!!

The “elephant in the room” is most people are too lazy to cook and their mindset and priorities are too mainstream to even process the idea of buying 150 pounds of cow. Sorry, I have to call it like I see it! This doesn’t have to be you though, you can get yourself some grass fed beef.

OK, so you are cash strapped and want to get yourself some grass fed beef. Here are some ideas I have:

1) Look for work share programs that farmers offer
2) Talk to the farmer! Work something out, these people want to sell you their beef and they are wonderful people.
3) Go in with people. Rally the troups and get as much as you can. I tried this year to find people in Pittsburgh to get in on an entire cow but failed. I ended up getting a side again this year, however I’m going to try again next year so I can pay a cheaper price per pound. The more you buy the more you save.
4) Respect the saying “Pay the grocer or pay the doctor” Get your mindset right, learn how to cook, and get yourself some meat!

Look at these beef prices from the local giant eagle grocery store:

I pay $3.25 hanging (or about $3.80 a pound) for my beef. The only thing I could find in the grocery store that cheap was the 92% lean ground beef and that weird beef “stuff” that comes in the tube. You know, the kind with the ammonia washed pink slime mixed in (YUM!!)

Excuse #4
Bla Bla Bla…. I don’t want to hear it. Get yourself some meat.

Resources to get er’ done:

What you need

* A chest freezer. This is the one I have: http://tinyurl.com/7l73wsz
* 1 KW minimum generator
* Rotate 15 gallons of gas (You’re going to use it anyway so this doesn’t cost you anything other than buying the containers and stabilizer)

Open your own fast food restaurant

(Fix it, Freeze it, Feast)
My review of this book: 5 stars. I’m a bit of a cooking enthusiast so I always like to add my own twists. For example for my bean and beef burritos I make my own re-fried beans from scratch, but to make it easy I do it in a slow cooker (crock pot). No soaking required!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/refried-beans-without-the-refry/detail.aspx

Also toss in whatever peppers you happen to have also. You don’t need to stay in their sandbox but it is a great book to get good ideas and also get a handle on the volumes you need to deal with to make lots and lots of great bulk meals. Saves time and money.

Most importantly… Get the meat:

http://www.eatwild.com- I’m sure there are other worthy sites, but this is the one I used and it worked out great for me!

Meet my farmers (so far)

Don and Becky

Audrene

Where I might be getting my next pig after I determine if the bacon is up to snuff:
Millgate Farm

This episode is all about my experience hunting deer. It is the viewpoint of an absolute beginner and it is just my experience and is very personal to me. You may experience better, different, or worse results.

One thing I forgot to mention:
I got to see this tool used: Butt Out and all I can say is it is going into my kit. Wow that thing just took the intestine out with such ease I could not believe what I was seeing. Worth every penny of the about $10 you will spend on it.

Links:
Beginner’s Guide to hunting deer for food

Mora Swedish Knife

Gut it, Cut it, Cook it (A MUST OWN!!)

Russian Mosin Nagant

Mosin Soft Point Hunting Ammo

This is one of the 2 deer I managed to harvest

The

Butchering the first deer with the help of a local butcher!

Mike butchering a deer

Meat Pile before packing

Fruits of our labor. This is before splitting it with Mike

Backyard Pioneer

Website: The Backyard Pioneer

https://www.facebook.com/TheBackyardPioneer

Skills

• Sauerkraut
• Ice Box Pickles
• Dutch Oven
• Lacto Fermented Radishes
• Sourdough Biscuits

20 sure-fire tips to make your child fat

This is a list I came up with, in no particular order, of some of the top ways to make your child obese. I’m not claiming this list is comprehensive, but I feel if you follow some of these strategies you should see significant weight gain in your children.

1. Remember, your child knows more about health and nutrition than you do, be sure to always let him call all of the dietary shots. Allow your child to pick his own food. Make him whatever he asks for.
2. Fix special meals for your children because “they won’t eat the normal ‘gown up’ food”
3. Proclaim that your kid can not have fast food, and eat McDonald’s in front of him/her at least once per week
4. Don’t let your children help prepare meals. Make sure you dumb down their eating experience as much as possible.
5. Children are always growing! If they aren’t hungry make sure to force them to have extra servings so that you can feed that growth spurt. You know better than a child how much it takes to make them feel full.
6. Your child is a “picky” eater, therefore it is OK to always feed them chicken fingers.
7. Never serve vegetables in their natural state. Your children will be disgusted by the sight of natural vegetables. If you serve your kids vegetables make sure you dice them into a muffin or otherwise hide them from your children.
8. If your kids misbehave do not allow them to have ice-cream. If your kids behave, give them as much ice cream as they can handle. Praise = Food, bad behavior = no food. (This is a key habit to establish obesity throughout life, so be sure to do this one!!)
9. Promise your child that if he eats some plain unseasoned vegetables you are offering him that he will get to eat a large cookie as a reward.
10. Make sure to always serve your children’s vegetables as a soggy pile of unseasoned steamed vegetables. We do not want them to associate eating healthy food with enjoyment. Make sure it is viewed as a chore with a sugary treat as a reward.
11. If your child refuses to eat a new food, give up immediately and give him a hot dog. Obviously he is just picky and will never try new things. In the future only serve hot dogs.
12. Avoid using forks, spoons, and knives until at least 16 years of age.
13. Be overweight yourself. This sets a great example. If you are overweight, be sure not to establish any new habits that would reverse this. Your child might pick up on those.
14. Establish a routine of television watching. Always drink Soda while doing this.
15. Water is for losers: always give your child juice or soda.
16. Skip breakfast completely. If you do end up eating breakfast only eat marshmallow based cereals.
17. Do not limit your child’s access to video game consoles
18. With rising skin cancer rates you can not afford to let your child play outside, instead rent some movies for them.
19. How annoying is it when your kid wants to help you when you are trying to get stuff done!? If your child wants to help you with projects around the house or the yard it is probably because they have watched all the DVDs you have. Consider netflix streaming, or possibly go to redbox and get more DVDs.
20. Once you start noticing your child is fat, put them on a low calorie diet and tell them they can not have *ANY* sweets until they hit weight loss goals. Establish a firm Yo-Yo diet template early.

This post is intended to be satire. This post will undoubtedly make a few people angry. Please understand that I do not live my life perfectly. I struggle with the same issues as most modern people. I’m not trying to put anyone down, I am trying to raise awareness through a bit of humor… so if you are mad after reading this LIGHTEN UP!!

I am a new father and am highly concerned with the rising rates of childhood obesity. It is my opinion that the loss of family dinner time and the kitchen as the center of the household are two causative factors here. We can blame school lunches or other factors, but the fact is you have control over your children and ultimately it is your fault if they are obese.

My Son is only 4 months old, so I understand that I haven’t experienced these challenges just yet. This list is a warning for myself as much or more than it is a chastisement of modern families.

It may seem strange to write about building a custom hardware macintosh AKA “hacintosh” on a site about regaining traditional skills. I don’t see this mission as solely about learning these types of traditional skills. It is more about regaining a do-it-yourself mindset. That being said, I am also a cheap-wad

You will read many forums “don’t build a hacintosh to save money…” They say this so that you can be more mindful of the level of technical expertise it requires to do a build, however I don’t think it is out of the grasp of the common person to undertake building a hackintosh for just this purpose (saving money). The hardest part of the entire process is putting together the hardware, as long as you read your instructions fully and review some online tutorials I am confident you can do it.

How did all this start? A friend of mine approached me and wanted advice on purchasing a new macintosh. I did some research and per usual was put off by the extremely high prices. My friend makes a modest living and only needs to run one program for his T-Shirt printing business. The software upgrade he required was no longer supported by the Power PC macintosh he had. He needed to get a new Mac with an Intel processor to run the software.

My second thought was to look for a used Mac Mini on eBay. Even here I was looking at around $600. It was then I decided to order the parts and build him a Hacintosh. My budget? $300. I decided if it didn’t work out I would accept the liability for the parts.

There are many valid ways to build a Hackintosh. In fact after having gone through this process I would say that I found a few ways that are easier than the path I chose and I might try those next time.

First of all I was inspired by this post on lifehacker:
http://lifehacker.com/5672051/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-mac-and-install-os-x-in-eight-easy-steps

My main issue is I didn’t want to spend $1000 dollars. I wanted to spend $300 dollars (A difference for $700 for the mathematically challenged )

I first started this project by researching the parts on http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page and selected some parts that would fit in my budget. If I had to do this over I would have probably used on of the 2 following methods, rather than the method I ended up using:

1. I would have researched selecting parts from this list: Kakewalk Compatibility and using Kakewalk software to create a bootable installation image from Lion.
2. I would have assembled a CustoMac build. CustoMacs are hardware builds you can follow. If you follow them exactly you can use the preconfigured software from TonyMac’s blog to install osX very easily. They have a CustoMac Mini with similar specs to the PC I assembled. Don’t bee fooled by the price tag he lists… my build is pretty much the same price as he lists the DVD burner, hard drive, and OS as “Other Components” in order to achieve the cheap price he lists.

Ok, having said all of that, the method I chose to use was the one outlined on the LifeHacker page. The first time I had the wrong DSDT file loaded for my motherboard until I figured out you had to flash the bios. This basically screwed up the video drivers to the point where I only had a black screen. I was forced to start over. What the??? Read on and you just might know what I am talking about by the end.

What follows is the guide I wish I had when I started this 5+ hour learning process of installing Mac OSX on my hardware.

Here are the parts I used:

• Graphics Card
  EVGA GeForce 210 Passive 512 MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI/VGA Graphics Card, 512-P3-1311-KR
• Power Supply
  Logisys 550W ATX Power Supply
• Mother Board
  GIGABYTE GA-H55M-UD2H LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
• CPU (Processor)
  Intel Core i3 Processor i3-540 3.06GHz 4MB LGA1156 CPU BX80616I3540 Make sure to get the retail box and not OEM as OEM will not come with a heat sync installed.
• RAM
  Corsair XMS3 4 GB 1333MHz PC3-10666 240-pin DDR3 Memory Kit for Intel Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD CMX4GX3M1A1333C9
• ATX case – scavenged from an old PC. This one would work: APEX PC-389-C Black Case
• SATA Hard drive – I scavenged a 250gb sata hard drive, however you could put in a solid state drive for a performance boost or put in a newer 1TB drive if that pleases you. This hard-drive would work fine: 1 TB Sata Drive
• CD/DVD writer (optical) drive. I scavenged mine however this one would do fine: Liteon DVD Burner

Cost break down

My Cost: $325 (didn’t quite hit my budget…)

$290 … oops! Math fail! Added the video card twice in the original post

Now to air an pet peeve… don’t you hate it when you see a headline for a DIY project how to build X for $(cheap price) but when you click through to read it you find out that the reason it is cheap is they just happened to find an arc welder in a dumpster or some other nonsense… In otherwords you realize they did it for cheap due to luck or other factors. In the spirit of that let us continue:

Total cost if you use all brand new parts: $425 $390.

Now having said that you should do whatever you can to scavenge parts. I would recommend using a new hard drive. My spare hard-drive was a new one which was not being used for any other projects. You can actually save a bit of money by buying a case that comes with a power supply HOWEVER working in the computer industry this is the main part I see failing on computers and I would advise you to buy a decent power supply even though it will cost you more

You will also need a USB thumb drive and an existing Windows PC to download some files. You will need windows to extract some files from a .exe file for the motherboard.

Now I had a copy of the 10.6 Snow Leopard Retail Upgrade DVD so this is what I used. It is possible to upgrade to lion, however since I already owned this software this guide uses that. It is possible to purchase the upgrade to Lion from the app store once you get your mac setup for $30. The process for upgrading to Lion is covered in more detail here: How to upgrade to Lion. Or you can use another method such as CustoMac or KakeWalk as I mentioned above (with different hardware)

Software

• Snow Leapord Upgrade DVD.. around $10 on eBay
• 10.6.8 Combo Update
• F11 Bios for GA-H55M-UD2H
• IBoot (for Retail DVD 10.6x)
• MultiBeast 3.9.0 Snow Leopard Edition
• Realtek Driver Installer Package
• Azalia Audio Driver Installer (Requires free registration to download)
• DSDT File for motherboard (preconfigured settings for this motherboard)
• Gigabyte > Socket 1156 > h55 > ud2h > f11 Direct Link

Steps

1. Assemble Your PC
2. Download the F11 bios from the link above and extract it (by running the .exe file) onto the USB flash drive. Place the USB flash drive into your new PC
3. Boot the computer and press the DEL key to enter your BIOS Settings
4. In the bios settings there is an option to update the BIOS. Select that and select “from disc” and it should show your USB flash drive. Select the BIOs update file and apply it. Wait for your computer to reboot. This will not work from a burnt DVD or CD.. I tried it. You must use a USB flash drive
5. Burn the iBoot ISO to a DVD or CD using software such as IMG Burn (this is what I used). Do not simply burn the file to a data disc. You need a program capable of creating a DVD/CD from a disc image. You need to “burn the image” (google it)
6. Copy the remaining downloadable items to the USB flash drive
7. Boot the computer and press the DEL key to enter your BIOS settings
   • Select the option to load the “optimized” defaults
   • Advanced Bios Features > Set first boot device to “CDROM”
   • Advanced Bios Features > Set second boot device to “Hard Disk”
   • Integrated Peripherals > SATA AHCI mode to “AHCI”
   • Power Management Setup > ACPI Suspend Type “S3(STR)
   • Power Management Setup > HPET Support “Enabled”
   • Power Management Setup > HPET Mode “64-bit mode”
8. Insert your iBoot CD into your PC
9. Save your Bios settings and allow your computer to reboot from the iBoot CD
10. When iBoot loads eject iBoot and insert the Snow Leopard DVD. Wait for the DVD Drive light to stop blinking and then press F5
11. At this point Snow Leopard will display an installation screen. At the top there is a Utilities menu.
    • Select “Disk Utility”
    • Select your hard-drive and format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
    • Name your hard-drive whatever pleases you. I called mine “hackintosh”
12. Proceed with the snow leopard installation as normal
13. At the end of the setup you will get a success screen. (YAY!!) Remove the Snow Leopard DVD and insert iBoot. Now reboot the computer
14. Once iBoot loads you will see your new installation as an option to start on the bootup screen. Select it
15. You will be forced to watch some fancy “welcome to your mac” video. Sit back and enjoy it.
16. Insert your USB flash drive
17. Double Click the 10.6.8 Combo update to run it. At the end it will ask you to reboot DO NOT REBOOT!
18. Copy the GA-H55M-UD2H F11.aml to your mac desktop and rename it to DSDT.aml
19. Run MultiBeast by double clicking on it
    • Select UserDSDT
    • Select System Utilities
    • Expand System Utilities and de-select advanced permissions
    • Run MultiBeast (will take 1 or 2 minutes to run)
20. Install the realtek drivers by double clicking on them
21. Install the sound drivers by double clicking on them
22. Remove iBoot from drive and reboot your new Hackintosh
23. At this point you should be up and running, and if you are not… umm…. start reading forum posts at tonymac’s site and the good people there will help you http://www.tonymacx86.com/index.php

Edit: it’s worth pointing out that you will need a USB mouse, USB Keyboard, and VGA or DVI monitor

Craig’s Knife
Becker BK7

Craig on the web
http://outdoorpodcast.com/

http://www.facebook.com/outdoorpodcast

http://www.youtube.com/user/outdoorpodcast

Craig’s Youtube Subscription list:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Back2DaBasix
Back 2 Da Basix

http://www.youtube.com/user/BushcraftOnFire
Bushcraft on Fire

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nativesurvival
Native Survival

http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters
The Pathfinder School

Sauerkraut is really easy to make and very healthy for your gut. Darcy over at Stumbling Homestead blog posted this article, “Easy Sauerkraut, last year and I planted cabbage this year especially to try it. I setup my first batch last night and it came together really fast. I’ll be excited to see the results.

• First I sterilized some quart mason jars
• Next I shredded some cabbage with a mandolin slicer and the dicing insert. A plain old knife would work fine too, just take a bit longer
• Stuff the cabbage into the jars and pack it down hard. Fill it up to just below the threads
• Add a tablespoon to 1.5 tablespoons of salt. Make sure to use pickling salt or natural, unmodified, sea salt. In short, you do not want iodized salt.
• Heat up some water to not quite boiling (Darcy suggests using filtered water, however I decided to use heated water as a friend suggested to me)
• Ladle the water until it covers the cabbage
• Put the lid on VERY loose so that air can vent
• Now is where it gets interesting… my friend claims 6 weeks of fermentation for good Sauerkraut, however Darcy claims it is ready within a few weeks. The bottom line is you should go down and sample some from time to time and get a feel for what you think will taste best.
• Ok, so it is the way you like it… great! At this point you can tighten the lids down and now you can choose one of two options to preserver it and stop the fermentation:
  1. Process the jars in a hot water bath (boiling water) for 30 minutes. It should keep for 9 months or more.
  2. Place in refridgerator and consume it as with any other pershiable.

Personally I will be canning some and eating some. It would be interesting to learn if the canning process negativately impacts the beneficial bacteria within the Sauerkraut.

Also Darcy points out in his article that he didn’t even like Kraut and is now addicted, so even if you don’t like store bought you might just want to give this cheap and easy method a try.

A mandolin makes quick work of cabbage

Make sure to use salt with no iodine

Ready for fermentation

Bryan has been brewing beer for awhile as a means to circumvent the high prices of beer where he lives. In this podcast we learn how brewing your own beer is an economical choice if you enjoy the taste of a nice craft brew.

Bryan is a blogger and he breaks down the process at his website here: http://thecityhomestead.blogspot.com/p/home-brew.html

Resources

• http://www.northernbrewer.com/
• http://www.happymountain.net/
• The Alaskan Bootlegger’s Bible

Today was a good day. When I showed up at work there was a box of peaches sitting on my desk. My lovely project manager remembered how much I was raving about Chambersburg Peaches and surprised me!

My first thought was to look up a recipe in my ball book and can them all in light syrup and be done with it, but then I thought… this would be a great opportunity to try out a new book I picked up at a yard sale The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving

The idea behind the book is that rather than always having to process 40 pounds of tomatoes when you make salsa you can make a few small batches regularly as you harvest. I decided to make 3 recipes this evening.

A jam, a marmalade, and a salsa.

On with the recipes:

Fresh Sweet Pepper and Peach Salsa

Fresh peach salsa

Combine all in bowl. Cover and put in fridge for 30 minutes minimum. It will be hottest eaten that day, and heat will mellow over time.

I did a double recipe and I processed 1/2 in a hot water bath.

Minted Raspberry Peach Jam

we jammin'!

1. Put sugar in a shallow pan in the oven at 250F for 15 minutes
2. Combine raspberries, peaches, mint with warm sugar in a large bowl. Stir occasionally for 10 minutes
3. Add lemon juice and pectin and stir constantly for 3 minutes
4. Ladle jam into clean jars with 1/2 inch head space. Let set for 24 hours

Here the book says you can put it in the fridge for up to 5 weeks, however I processed mine in a hot water bath canner and it should now store as long as any other jam.

I did 2 batches of this recipe.

Microwave Gingered Peach Marmalade

peachy marmalade in a microwave... made a mess since I let it boil over in my shallow container

1. Zest the lemon and orange until you have removed all of the outer skin from them
2. Put zest and water in a covered container. Preferably a deep one (I made this mistake). Cover the container and microwave at 100% for 5 minutes stopping halfway through to stir. Then microwave at 70% for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, peel the rest of the rind from the lemon and orange and discard the rind. Put the meat into a food processor (remove seeds first). Make it into a puree
4. Add puree to rind mixture . Microwave on high for 5 minutes stirring once
5. Add peaches, sugar and ginger. Microwave Uncovered on high for 6 minutes stirring once.
6. Microwave on high for 12 to 16 minutes stirring every 4 minutes or until it forms a gel. You can test this with a spoon. If you dip it in it should have a consistency like molasses
7. Ladle into hot jars and process with a hot water bath canner

Note: When you make marmalade it is important that you don’t double the recipe as this will drastically effect cooking times.

I made one batch of this recipe and it did not yield very much. I would probably prefer to make marmalade the old fashion way like when I made my orange chilli marmalade.

First of all Thank you to everyone who sent me love and support during some life changing events I’ve had recently. If your interested you can keep up with me on the SOS facebook page http://www.facebook.com/saveourskills

This past May I was lucky enough to talk to Bentley from Red Worm Composting Vermiculture, however when life got in the way I never got around to posting it. So I hope you enjoy this.

Use code “saveourskills” for 10% off your worm order

Click here to buy worms

Youtube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCompostGuy

Setting up a basic worm bin

Bentley has over 30 videos on his channel so it’s worth a look and a subscribe.

I really needed a decent pair of noise canceling headphones. The noise canceling part being the most important metric I decided to modify a set of range muffs with a cheap pair of headphones. The result was I can now listen to podcasts while mowing the lawn without cranking my headphones to full volume and doing irreparable damage to my hearing.

This is a good thing and I didn’t have to shell out $300 for the Bose ones that I wanted.

There are some tasks around a rural property that just never seem to get done, either because they seem unimportant compared to all the big-ticket tasks that need to be finished, or they’re perceived as just too fiddly.  One of those tasks is repairing damaged bug screens on doors and windows.  Recently, I replaced the screen on one of my doors and thought I’d share this simple, 5-step guide so you can have a mosquito and fly free this summer – at least inside…

Here’s the link to the 5 step guide, including photos.

There are a ton of ways to build a rabbit hutch, and more rabbit hutch designs on the web than you can shake a cotton tail at. The rabbit hutch design in this article is based loosely on advice from Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits: Breeds, Care, Facilities by Bob Bennet (a treasure trove of information), along with recommendations by local commercial breeders and a hutch builder. The finished rabbit hutch will measure 6’ wide x 1’6” tall x 2’ deep and will house two rabbits in separate compartments. Should you feel the need for a larger cage (some breeders recommend a 2’6” depth hutch over 2’) or more compartments, simply adjust the measurements accordingly.

Storey’s guide instructs readers to bend the Baby Saver Wire to a right angle using a 2X4 for corners. Forming the corners by bending rather than cutting the individual pieces eliminates some of the cutting and does preserve more of the galvanized coating. For these instructions, I’ve chosen not to as purely a personal preference, but the following directions can easily be adapted should you prefer bending the corners. I feel cutting the sides makes the joined additions easier in the long run for larger rabbit opperations.

What You Will Need for Building a Rabbit Hutch

Tools:

• Tape Measure
• Marker
• Safety Glasses
• Work Gloves
• Heavy Duty Wire Cutters, Pneumatic Shears, or Electric Shears
• C-Ring Pliers (Also known as Hog Ring)
• Dremel Tool with at least 4 heavy grit sanding bands or a Metal Hand File

Materials:

• 21’ of 14 gauge Baby Saver Wire Mesh (Sides)
• 6’ of 1”x2” 14 gauge wire mesh (Roof)
• 6’ of 1”x1/2” 14 gauge wire mesh (Floor)
• 1 lb. of ⅜” galvanized C-Rings
• 2 door latches
• 2 Feeder boxes

Quick Things to Note

Baby Saver Wire is a welded wire mesh that has a grid of 1”x1/2” approximately 4” up the side. The remaining 12” of the mesh is 1”x2”.

When purchasing your welded wire mesh (NOT HARDWARE CLOTH), ensure that it is type “Galvanized After Welding”. Galvanized before welding leaves an unprotected area of metal at every point the mesh joined. Water and rabbit urine will then leave you with a rusted cage in much less time than Galvanized After Welding wire mesh.

Pneumatic shears, if available, are the way to go. The wire cutters will wear your hands out in a hurry.

Gloves are a must, especially if you are going to use wire cutters to cut the wire mesh. Not doing so is a recipe for nasty blisters. The gloves will also protect your hands from the sharp edges that result from cutting the wire mesh.

Using a metal file to smooth out the sharp edges of the cut wire mesh is feasible, but very time consuming. If you do not have a Dremel tool, it is a good time to consider buying one.

14 Gauge sharp metal rods will go flying as they are cut from the mesh. Wearing safety glasses is highly recommended – unless you have a thing for eye patches.

Many books and sites will recommend using J-Clips to join the pieces of the cage together. C-Rings are sturdier and will not loosen over time like J-Clips. This was a suggestion from a local commercial Rabbit Hutch builder.

Let’s Start Building a Rabbit Hutch

1. Roll out 1”x2” wire mesh, measure out 6’, mark rod at 6’ across the width of the wire mesh with Sharpie.
2. Begin cutting wire mesh just past your 6’ mark. Double check you are on the correct side before cutting.
3. Roll out Baby Saver Wire, measure out 6’, mark rod at 6’ across the width of the wire mesh with Sharpie.
4. Begin cutting wire mesh just past your 6’ mark. Double check you are on the correct side before cutting.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to produce another 6’ section for the opposing wall.
6. Measure out 2’ of Baby Saver Wire, mark rod at 2’ across the width of the wire mesh with Sharpie.
7. Begin cutting wire mesh just past your 2’ mark. Double check you are on the correct side before cutting.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 two more times.



9. Lay your pieces flat out on the floor as in Figure B. Pieces A through D are Baby Saver Wire. Piece E is the ½” x 1” floor wire. Center Divider Baby Saver Wire and Roof (1”x2”) not shown.
10. Using C-Rings, join corners and center of Piece A to Piece E.
    

    Step 10: Joining pieces

11. Repeat Step 10 all the way around the pieces of the hutch attaching the sides to Piece E.
12. Where Piece D and E meet, measure 3’ to the center rod of Piece E. Mark with Sharpie across the entire width of Piece E.
13. Using C-Rings, attach the left over 2’ section of Baby Saver Wire to the center marking of Piece E. This will divide the hutch into two separate spaces.
14. Stand up Piece A and B until their corners meet and form a right angle.
15. Using C-Rings, secure the top corner of the newly formed right angle.
16. Continue adding C-Rings down the corner formed by Pieces A and B at each opening until you get to the bottom. (This amount of C-Rings may be overkill, but they are cheap and this ensures strong corners).
17. Repeat step 16 joining B to C, then C to D, finally D to A.
18. Stand center divider up until it is at a 90 angle. Join the top corner of the center divider to Piece C. Continue adding C-Rings down the joint between Piece C and the divider at each opening till you get to the bottom.
19. Repeat step 18 to join Piece A to the center divider.
20. Lay the Roof (6’ piece of Wire Mesh with 1”x2” openings) on top.
21. Begin joining the Roof to the sides using C-Rings. Pick a corner and work your way around adding a C-Ring at every other opening.
22. Measure to center rod of Roof (3’) and mark.
23. Join Divider to Roof at 3’ mark made in Step 22.

Adding Doors and Feeder Boxes:

You should now have something that is starting to look a lot like a Rabbit Hutch.

Hole for door and feeder box highlighted in green.

1. Turn rough Rabbit Hutch over onto Side C.
2. From your left over 1”x2” Wire Mesh, cut out two pieces measuring 14” tall x15” wide. These will be the doors.
3. With your marker, mark a 13” tall x 14” wide area on the hutch where you want the door. Double check your marks – you can always cut more wire out, but you can’t put it back. (The hole you will be cutting out of the hutch for the door will be 1” smaller than the door on the bottom, right, and left side, but not the top. Make sure to take into consideration you will need at least 1” between the door and the feeder box when laying out your door.)
4. Repeat step 3 on the left side of the door. It is important to remember that you will need the hole you are cutting into the hutch for the door to be 1” smaller.
5. The top should line up with no overhang.
6. 

   Rabbit Hutch Door Latch

   Install your latch on the door by placing the latch facing down. Set the door on top of the latch. Bend the flanges of the latch down with pliers as much as you can. Hammer them the rest of the way till they are tightly in place.

7. Turn the door on a diagonal to the opening in the hutch and put the door through the opening.
8. Measure your feeder box for the size of an opening it will require (they come in several sizes).
9. Measure out and mark the area of the hutch needed to cut out for the feeder box. You only need a hole big enough for the trough of the feeder box.
10. Dry fit the feeder box to ensure that it fits. You my have a small amount of space on the sides and bottom between the feeder box and hutch. This is normal.
11. Remove feeder box and prepare to grind down the sharp edges of the hole cut out for the door and the feeder box.
12. Using a Dremel tool with a heavy grit sanding drum (or metal file), remove all the sharp edges and over hangs made during the process of cutting the holes.
13. Line the top of the door up with the top of the opening in the hutch and ensure that you have 1” on either side and the bottom. Use C-Rings to attach the top of the door with the top of the opening thus creating a hinge.
14. 

    Rabbit Hutch Feeder Box

    Install feeder box. Feeder boxes come with a rotating wire that pokes out on either side and then makes a right angle. Push the feeder box into its hole, then lift the right angle of the wire on the feeder box just enough to then push it down over the wire of the hutch. Many feeder boxes coming in 5 ½” and 9 ½” widths. If this is the case, you will have a small gap on either side of the feeder box – it’s ok.

15. Repeat the previous steps on the opposite side of the hutch.

Suspending Your Rabbit Hutch

Finished Suspended Rabbit Hutch

Suspending a rabbit hutch can make for much easier cleanup. It also means that there are no legs or frame for the rabbits to urinate on and ruin. Most “pet” type available Rabbit Hutches are wood framed. Many commercial breeders will recommend against hutches that have any wood the rabbits can urinate on. The wood soaks up the urine and quickly becomes rather unsanitary and can never be properly disinfected.

Make sure that all chains and hardware used are Zinc coated for outdoor use, and that the chains are of sufficient gauge to support the weight of your hutch (doesn’t take much).

Turnbuckles can be used on each length of chain for those wishing to perfectly level suspended hutches.

In my exact situation and space, it was necessary to suspend the roof, then suspend the rabbit hutches from the suspended roof. Chains of different lengths were used to give the roof a pitch. Chains of different lengths (front to back) were then used to suspend the rabbit hutches and level them.

Quick Rabbit Facts

Rabbits are not a rodent. They are a Lagomorph, a gnawing mammal that is a member of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha.

Rabbits are very quiet (read with Elmer Fudd voice). This makes them a perfect choice for people concerned with: attracting attention, annoying neighbors, or waking you up at the plumber’s crack of dawn.

Lower in fat, less cholesterol, and less calorically dense than almost any other animal, Rabbits make an excellent health conscious protein source.

Space requirements are minimal. The typical domestic meat Rabbit breeds require roughly 9 cubic feet per animal (hutch 3’x2’x1’-6”). This also ties into the fact that they are very easy to care for.

They breed like Rabbits – duh. While modern Chickens do breed faster, Rabbits can produce approximately 8 offspring every 2.5 months that are ready for the pan or pot in just another 8 – 10 weeks. Breeding quickly means more fresh meat on your plate more often. At a dressed-out weight of 5Lbs from the typical domestic meat Rabbit at fryer age, it’s enough to feed two people generously for two meals.

Your garden will love them. Rabbit manure is one of the best things for gardening, and according to The Urban Homestead, it is the only manure that can be applied directly to plants without “burning” them. Some gardeners raise rabbits solely for their manure. Next time you are in a gardening center or feed store check out the price of rabbit manure, it will floor you.

Rabbits are a fantastic livestock animal, whether you’re an Urban Survivalist like me, or are one of the many different types of people who want to become more self sufficient or health conscious.

By Cash Olsen,

I needed a tool to assist in planting my garden bed according to Biointensive instructions. In one of their companion planting schemes they want a hexagon with sides of 25 inches on a side. After studying the scheme I simplified the hexagon to a regular trapezoid of 25 inches on a side that can be flipped over to create the hexagon.

I made the template out of scraps that were ripped off of a 2X4. I used Guerrilla glue to assemble the template and then trimmed the excess wood to finish.

I show the trapezoid laid on the ground with soda straws marking the inside corners.

I show the entire 5 X 20 (100 sq. ft.) bed marked with soda straws. A corn seed is planted next to each soda straw. In the first placement of the template, all four corners are marked then the template is raised straight off of the straws and then moved to the right and placed over two of the straws and then the remaining corners are marked and the process is repeated. I was able to mark the bed in a matter of just a few minutes using the template.

I hope this is helpful to others.

Jason from lenwoodleather.com has put together an incredible deal! 20% off all custom leatherwork and handmade leather items. Just call and mention “Save Our Skills” and you will get the discount. This discount is valid until May 31st so please consider getting your order in soon!

Shop now at the “Save Our Skills” lenwood leather store:

After May 31st Jason is generously offering 10% off all leather work for the remainder of 2011.

In today’s epsiode we learn how Jason got his start in leather-working and how he has grown the hobby into a business.

Resources for today’s podcast: