Cooking with Chef Jo: Dumplings

 Happy birthday, Daddy!

Say the word dumplings and people have different pictures in their mind of what you are talking about. If you grew up in the Great Plains area, you'll mentally picture fluffy clouds of steamed dough pictured to the left. Big, hearty biscuit like dumpling.

Here in the south dumplings are rolled flat. Cooks pride themselves on rolling the dough as thin as possible. They look like noodles. In fact, there's an egg pasta called dumplings called "dumplings" in the noodle section in the grocery store. Rather than me putting in some serious elbow calisthenics, or breaking out the pasta machine, I just buy them frozen. When you're a one-handed chef, I take the easy route when making these southern  style  dumplings.

And yet, pulling from my Asian heritage, there are two more dumpling recipes that I can pull from in my culinary repertoire. There's even wontons although this considered a noodle. One's a meat, bean, or vegetable filled dough ball you may know as a steamed dish in Dim Sun. Or the other, pot-stickers. From my German side there's Spatzle.  I think every country has their version of a dumplings to go into soups, stews, or a side dish as to stretch your food dollar and fill the belly.

So when it came down to picking one recipe for this blog, I had a hard time choosing. What do make most often? No help there, it depends on what I'm cooking. Something unusual to share? Then, I run into ingredients you might not have readily available. I ultimately decided on an off the wall fusion (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, American) recipe. It's way out there, but as usual, I'll offer substitutions and alternatives. It's a recipe I'm making this week in fact. This recipe is labor intensive but well worth it. You can use pork, chicken, turkey, or simply make it *vegetarian if you prefer

Deluxe Rabbit Gyoza in Soup
Serves 6-8 dependent on serving size
with leftover gyoza for freezer :o)





1/2 lb ground rabbit meat, ground
1 cup rabbit meat, roasted with salt and pepper
6 green onion, sliced thin reserve 3 stalks
1 carrot, large
2-3 large cabbage leaves, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6-8 eggs
6 large  button mushrooms, finely chopped ( I usually use shitake and crimines)
1/2 block tofu, cut into 1" cubes
1/2 pint *kimchi, can use 1 cup chopped cabbage with 1 Tbs ground pepper flakes
1/4 c bamboo shoots, daikon, or white radish
1 qt and 1 pint broth  (rabbit, chicken, or vegetable)
1 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt & pepper to taste
Gyoza wrappers, or make your own recipe to follow to make 40 wrappers

As I said, this recipe is labor intensive, but comes together quick for service.

Gyoza Filling

•  Put raw, ground rabbit meat in a bowl.
• Add 1/2 carrot, grated
• Add 3 stalks green onions, finely chopped
• Add chopped cabbage
• Add 1/8 cups bamboo shoots, finely chopped
• Add 3 button mushrooms, finely chopped
• Add 1 clove garlic, minced
• Add pinch of salt & pepper
• Mix well cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Gyoza Wrappers
2 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup + 2 Tbs water boiling water
1/2 tsp salt
Non GMO corn starch

• Mix salt into boiled water, stir until salt is dissolved
• Add water to flour
• Mix until forms a ball
• Knead 5 minutes.  Wrap in *plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Cut dough in half, wrap half in *plastic wrap while working the other half.
• Roll dough out thin on corn starch covered surface to keep from sticking. This sheet of dough is almost 1/16" thin. If you can see your hand through it, it's thin enough. Divide if space is limited. Cover with *plastic wrap so the wrappers do not dry out too quickly.
• Cut circles in the rolled dough. A 3" biscuit cutter works well. I use a regular mouth canning ring.

Or, use store bought wonton wrappers. Roll the wonton wrappers until 1/2 the regular thickness. You will be able to cut as above. If Gyoza wrappers are not available. :o)

* I use plastic wrap, but if you are a zero waste household... use a piece of dampened parchment paper (it can be washed and reused again later) or a dampened tea towel works well.

Making Gyozas

Place a scant Tbs of filling onto the center of the wrapper.Dip finger in water and trace around 1/2" edge of wrapper. Fold wrapper almost in half. Pleat one side and press into other side. Press together to seal in filling. Stand gyoza up flattening bottom Pleated side up. Figure 2-4 gyoza for each serving of soup. Place additional gyoza on parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze for one hour. Vacuum seal for later enjoyment as an appetizers or for more soup.

Folding gyoza. Not me obviously. Googled image.

Take the gyoza meant for the soup and place them in a skillet brushed with oil. Cook until bottoms are golden brown. Add 1 cup of water to the pan and cover. Steam 3 minutes. Set aside. Cook frozen and thawed leftover gyoza the same way later and serve with my Thai sweet chili dipping sauce.

The Soup Base

•  Slice mushrooms
• Fine julienne (1/8" in diameter) carrots, bamboo shoots, and green onions about 2" pieces.
• Roast rabbit meat and julienne and cut into 2" pieces. *Keep warm.
• One at a time and stir fry vegetables with scant tsp oil until carrots, green onions, mushrooms and bamboo shoots are tender.  Set aside and *keep warm.
• Lightly fry tofu squares until all sides are set and slightly golden. Set aside and *keep warm
• Soft boil 3-4 eggs and peel.
• Add 1 cup of broth in the skillet where you stir fried the vegetables, deglazing it to pick up all those yummy flavors. 
• Add to broth. 
• Add broth, garlic, meat, sugar, kimchi, and soy sauce to a pot.
• Add gyoza 
• Bring to a boil. 
• Whisk 3-4 eggs
• Gently stir in eggs in a thin stream. Being careful not to break the gyoza. The eggs will thicken the soup and put fine pieces of egg throughout the soup.
• Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Service
 Ladle broth into bowls. Add gyoza 2-4 to each bowl. Divide and clump each vegetable on top of the broth as shown. Slice egg. Place half an egg on top of each bowl allowing some yolk to run into soup. This is a beautiful presentation that's wasted and may be too spicy on young children.

Notes

* vegetarian that allows eggs or substitute flax eggs. You will use 6 scrambled eggs or 1/2 a block of crumbled tofu in in place of the meat in gyoza filling.

* Keep warm- Place each ingredient except for gyoza in small bowls covered with *plastic wrap. Microwave and reheat for 30 seconds before service.

* Kimchi- can be store bought for milder taste, or make your own.

BONUS! Just FF through the peach salsa (unless you want that recipe too :o)) to get to my Thai Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce.

Enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Jo

More Deaths on the Homestead and Update

Once again we have two more RIPs to report this week. Mel's beloved special needs cat, Devon Angel has gone to the big litter box in the sky. He has always been a sickly, mentally retarded cat since birth. He would rally and start failing. He did this for seven years. We dosed him repeatedly all winter long with various antibiotics. At times, we fed him bone broth through a syringe and against all odds he survived the winter.

On a beautiful spring day this week, Mel carried him outside to his favorite spot and for hours he scratched a fallen tree limb and enjoyed the sun on his body. We knew it was coming. This was his last rally. For days he had neither drank or eaten. The odor of death bombarded my sinuses when I was near. Isn't it a strange ability to have? Being able to smell death approaching? But it is a sense I've had since childhood. Later that evening, he died.

The second death was Kieran, my meat rabbit buck. This was totally unexpected. You might remember Kieran got out of his cage a couple weeks ago and was sowing his wild oats with the local rabbit population. A sweeter dispositioned rabbit as I could ever ask for. He was a fantastic sire for our meat rabbit needs. I walked into the greenhouse and found him. I was doing my morning chores which included watering the seedlings. It looked like he had suffered a shoulder injury. But he returned home to die. The greenhouse entrance is in front of Colleen's cage. It looks like the local pet store has closed so we are currently out of the meat rabbit mode. I may buy more, but not immediately. I've had Kieran for three years and he was my boy. I usually tend not to be too sentimental about meat stock, but this death stung.

We've had more of our share of death and dying on this homestead in the past three seasons. What with losing the angoras during the summer heat wave. Bennie Dufus getting hit by a car over the Christmas holidays. The predator attacks that wiped out three quarters of our chicken flock over the winter. Even this morning I found one of our Jersey Woolie/Lionhead bucks dead. Hopefully this streak is over. I know. I know. Death is part of homesteading. You do what you can, but it happens. It's the reality of homesteading. But I'm not without feelings. I'm not heartless. Even butchering our animals for our needs, is done in reverence and with respect for the life given. We love all our animals. Death is never easy. Some sting more than others, but we continue to move forward.

This blog started out really morbid. Now onto other things with a more brighter outlook. The chicks, although they've gotten so big that they don't resemble the tiny puff balls they were, are doing well free ranging on their own on the property. They still are scared of us, but I have found that if I sit still they will come within hand reach of me.  All twelve have survived! Yippee! I had expected to loose a few. They are now flying, eating, scratching, fighting, and getting into my garden like regular chickens. We do have two roosters each of Buffs and RIRs.

The new carport rabbitry/chicken house will be delivered on the 25th. Then the building of the run and dual coop begins. The chicks will hate being cooped up. They have taken to roosting on the porch rail at night. So they'll be fairly easy to relocate once it's complete. We've been so busy with dismantling the old coop, spring cleaning, and the garden...we forget to bring the camera along until well into the projects at hand. Bad us. We'll have to do better.

Our four remaining New Hampshire Red hens will continue to free range. They've taken to roosting in different spots at night. Each one in a separate spot instead of as a flock. Without a rooster to corral them, they've taken to doing their own thing. They won't associate with the chicks other than to pick on them. One hen we've named Brat. She picks and mounts all the others. She is copying Cuddles' old habits as lead hen now that Cuddles is gone. Brat is taking on rooster characteristics now too with a larger comb and wattle. I'm expecting to see tail feathers any day now. This isn't as strange as it sounds. It happens in roosterless flocks. The only problem is this hen is not the protector and provider for her flock. She is a greedy bully. She chases everyone away from the food. She attacks the other hens at will. She may be destined for the canner if she continues.

Our injured New Hampshire Red, Broody, is doing well. She still only has use of one leg, but she's laying eggs again. She is now not the low man in the hierarchy the chicks are. So she is hobbling along. She does have some use of her affected leg, but it's not that much. She is friendly and still allows me to pick her up to cuddle/ save her. She follows me around the yard. While she cannot roost high up like the others, she settles down under the porch at night. I always feed her the looses seeds from the fodder system so each morning she hops to the rabbitry. She's happy and healthy other than the bum leg. I'm glad I decided not to cull her this winter.

All the other animals on the homestead are faring well. With the warmer temperatures the bugs have returned in abundance. Several butterflies, moths, and bees are busy pollinating our plants. As soon as the carport/rabbitry/chicken house are done other destruction/construction begins. The new driveway goes in. The electrician rewires/restructures the panel box for the house with dedicated circuits for the barn, rabbitry/carport, and the rabbitry/storage. The plumber comes in to work on the well water pipes. A long list of need to do comes into play.  One step at a time.

Until next week...

Y'all have a blessed day!

We Made a Chicken Tractor

The chicks that we bought a month and a half ago have outgrown their brooder box. There are just so many of them in there. They were running out of space and fighting each other. One even escaped and was fending for himself with the grown hens in the yard. I aptly named him Houdini. At least, I think he's a rooster Buff Orpington. His comb and wattle are beet red and much larger than the rest. According to everything I've read, this is an indicator. But I'll know for sure in a couple of months.

Actually several have escaped their box over the past couple weeks, but they were easily caught. But Houdini stayed on the loose for two days before we caught him. Even now that I've fixed the wire on top of the brooder box, I'll watch him trying to get out. He'll look and analyze every buckle in the wire for an escape route. If nothing, he is persistent.

The chicks still aren't friendly. They are still terrified of us giants. I'm not sure what else I can do besides spending time with them. But my  time is limited between the building projects on going, the garden, and the rabbits.

Speaking of rabbits. My American Chinchilla buck has escaped his cage. He's actually done this several times, but he's so tamed that he's usually easy to catch. Not this time. Kieran is off sowing his wild oats. I haven't seen hide nor hair of him for two days. This is highly unusual and I'm afraid I've lost him for good this time. He's such a big boy, 12 lbs, there are limited places for him to hide.

I noticed the local pet store had some Flemish Giants for sale for $20 a piece. If one is a male, I might just purchase one. I was thinking of purchasing another female before Kieran disappeared. So goes my American Chinchilla purebreds. Colleen is perfectly content in her wooden hutch our neighbor David gave us, and hasn't escaped since we put her in there. She's even become very protective of her home by boxing with me whenever I stick my hand in there.

We've been building the elevated raised beds for the herbs this week. We refenced the new garden area and built a wooden gate 6' tall out of pallets. So far so good. The chickens, New Hampshire Reds, haven't figured out how to get in there yet. I'll be planting the potatoes in one just as soon as I can blow enough leaves and straw into one without the elevated bed part.

Mel has been insisting on turning the hard packed red clay by fork. It came back to bite her in the back this week. She's had a backache since she turned one row. I've been really good and not tell her, "I told you so." But I've really had to bite my tongue hard not to.

I try to be supportive. I'll mention something twice and if she ignores me, then it's on her. Heck, she's an adult and can make up her own mind. She will have to pay her own consequences. Good or bad.

So we will continue on with the garden. So far in the greenhouse we still have cayenne peppers, sunflowers, tomatoes, and strawberries to get in the ground. I'm looking forward to sowing fresh green peas, corn, and beans.Hopefully, this year we'll have a bountiful harvest.

I wanted to buy half a cow for the freezer, but Mel is resistant. She doesn't realize how much beef we actually eat. At a $1.50 a lb for grass fed, no hormone beef, it's a good deal. I'll keep after her on this. Sometimes, I just don't understand her reasoning. Meat in the freezer or canned while cheap is a good thing. Yes, 800 lbs of beef is a lot of beef to buy at one time but it sure beats having to pay grocery store prices a little at a time. I mine paying four times the price or more, and it's commercially grown beef. But then, it's only money, right?

Well that's it for this week on the Cockeyed Homestead. As always...

Y'all have a blessed day.

Spring Has Sprung, I Think

?????

It's spring finally, I think but it's still in the 40s at night. We actually had some 80 degree daytime temps. Talk about a temperature shift between the two. It's now April. You'd think it would be safe to plant outdoors, but you'd be wrong here. May 1st is our last frost date.

I did plant some things though this week. English peas, potatoes, onions, garlic, lettuce, and a few other things that a late frost won't damage too bad. I've held off until now. It's a way different mindset.

When I think about my children's childhood in southeast Georgia, we had this rule. No swimming until after May 1st. That's because it was already 80+ degrees in February, and the ocean and outdoor pools had a chance to warm up. But here, nope! It would be like my childhood spent partially at my Grandmother's house in Nebraska. There would be snow on the ground until after Easter. The community pool didn't open until mid June when school let out. No, it isn't that bad here.I haven't even worn my heavy coat this year, mostly sweatshirts and my bulky sweaters. But then, I grew up and lived in northern type climates.

As you might have guessed, the proceeds from the sale of my south Georgia house has been reinvested somewhat into the homestead. I'm researching grading and driveway installation for our 1/4 mile drive. I've only talked about it for the past year. We are also researching companies for bush hogging and tree removal. This was an abandoned property for far too long. The sun doesn't hit the ground in most of it. We want to terrace our down hill slope into usable areas.These are big bucks things. With big bucks come big changes.

This will be easier for me to access. By planting the orchard and grains this way. The amount of sunlight and rain that the trees, plants, and bushes get will be optimized. It's a win win situation. It's also working within our property constraints. Or in other words, making applesauce. The only semi flat area we have is where the double wide and barn sits. Everything else is on a slope of a foothill. With the terraced sections being ten to twenty feet wide, It'll give us ample space for whatever we want to grow. it will also enable us to raise American Guinea hogs, or goats, or sheep plus have pastures for them to graze. Another step in becoming more self sustainable.

No, we won't be cutting all the trees. But we shouldn't have to cut firewood for a few years. This will be a good thing, because we aren't getting any younger. On this two-acre lot even cutting fifty or sixty trees to start with, is a small dent in the trees.

We've bought a used, but good rototiller for gardening. This hard packed clay takes years to get very productive. Now I can't use a tiller, but Mel can. It's a two handed thing. By adding lime and lots of organic material, even newly tilled soil can become very productive within a year. It is just a hardship to turn the soil with a shovel for new areas. While we have the chance, we're doing it.  If ever the SHTF situation arises at least we'll be prepared. If it doesn't, we still are prepared and more self sustainable.

Mel and Moira

Meanwhile, the English Angoras have blown their coats yet again. I plucked 5 ozs of just the back and shoulders of Moira yesterday. In all total I think I got 10 ozs of usable fiber off of her.  I did remove all her mats and buzz cut around her poo area with a mustache trimmer. I'll weigh it all up after I finish her up today and do Daisy next, then Dustin, Angus (so he can see again), Alby and start on the Jersey Woolie/Lionhead - Ebony, Kiki, and Early Gray. Luckily, our two male Jersey Woolie/Lionhead have the shorter Lionhead gene for hair more prominent so it's just a brush through on Squirt and Snowballz. After that, it's just standard beauty parlor grooming for them for a couple of months until they blow their coats again. Mel will give all of our rabbits a manicure this week.

We culled eight meat rabbits this week and they are in the freezer. Eighteen meals + for us and treats for the dogs and cats. We don't eat the livers, hearts, and kidneys. While I'm told they are tasty, I don't care for them. I'll be breeding Ms. Colleen again in the coming weeks to get our total rabbit meat needs until Fall when we breed again for human consumption.

Our baby chickens are four weeks old. Although I thought I bought six Buff Orpingtons, the feather pattern is different on two of them. It might just be our two roosters. I've never raised Buffs before so I don't know for sure. Time will tell. The Rhode Island Red chicks have almost tripled in size. I'd heard they were fast growing. Their coloring and feather pattern is more pronounced every day. All the chicks crowns have begun to form. They are at that gawky stage where their necks have elongated with their heads are tiny compared to their bodies. I'll be replacing their little, 24-hole chick feeder with a standard one. They are just going through the feed to fast. I draw the line at filling it more than twice a day. Their 2 gallon waterer is working out well. Now to get busy on their chicken tractors. No, I haven't started them yet. I've been too busy with rabbits.

So we are starting in earnest. Join us on YouTube to watch the journey and here for updates.

For now and always

Y'all have a blessed day.

Fall Garden Cleanup and Beyond

I have been so disgusted by the DB Chickens in my garden, I practically gave up on it except to cut a few fresh herbs, salvage some tomatoes, and watch for whatever insect that's eating the leaves of a fairly new potato plant starts. I usually will squish the head of the offending insect and throw them in a bucket to feed to the chickens later. But they have had free range of the garden since the dog fight between our Nnyus and Sheba two months ago. That's pretty bad. I haven't even watered it. I haven't weeded. I haven't side dressed or pruned. Nothing, nada, zilch.

It broke my heart to see the damage the chickens and dogs had done to my once flourishing vegetable patch. Granted this being the first year, I'd only planned to test the area for what would grow and fresh eating. Actually before the chickens and dogs, the garden was doing quite well so I have hope for next Spring, But I'm not waiting until Spring. I'm starting now.

I've decided to fix Mel's hoop greenhouse and make it work for us instead of being an eyesore. You might remember, it was destroyed by Mel's first foray into goat ownership a year and a half ago. It will first have to be moved out to the area where the chicken coop was. This is no mean feat because not only did she build the hoop house but she raised it by placing it on pallets. It might be easier to dismantle it and then move it. I bought 2 of the 100' rolls of new plastic already. I forgot the pipe insulation, but we have a few weeks before it really cools down.

Keiran and Colleen

Mel also built shelves inside to plant vegetable starts on. Once dismantled, I've got some reconfiguring to do. My plan is to put Keiran and Colleen, my buck and doe American Chinchilla meat rabbits in the greenhouse over winter on straw bales. Why? The rabbits will throw off their heat to warm the greenhouse for my plants, but be saved from snow or freezing rain.Their manure will soak into the straw bales so when I mulch my Spring garden with it there is a slow release fertilizer effect. The straw from the new chicken coop has to compost at least six months to a year.

I'll also be breeding Colleen this month and again in four months (October and February). So the babies will be in there also. When the second set of kits are born, it will be slaughtering day for the first batch.  If the litter is extremely small, a third breeding is necessary before the summer heat hits. By working in breeding cycles this way, we are overwhelmed by having to slaughter a huge amount at one time.

These are big rabbits weighing in at 12 lbs a piece. They'll be a year old in October and never been bred before. Am I worried about inbreeding brother and sister? Nope. Their offspring are destined for the deep freezer. Any bad traits will be history in 12-16 weeks. Their hearts, livers, kidneys, and brains will become dog food. The meat will feed us. Their pelts will eventually clothe us or bring us cash. That's Colleen and Kieran's purpose on this homestead. You may remember Colleen is our escape artist rabbit too. I usually wait until my rabbits are a year old to breed them. Even though everything I've read says 5-6 months old is fine. I just like to see them as grown ups. I mean the average lifespan of rabbits is 16 years. I figure at least ten of those are reproductive years before retiring. I also don't look at my meat rabbits as just baby making machines either. I figure breeding them twice to three times a year is fine. I mean take a look at the numbers with me...

Litter size                       6-12 kits
Pre-Butchering weight  7-10 lbs each
Actual meat for us         4-7 lbs each for total of 24 - 120 lbs per breeding cycle
                                                      (2-3X a year) and yes, I've done this before.
Dog food                         6-12 lbs total
Pelt for us or sale          6-12
Other unusable bits for maggot farm for chickens
Bones used for bone broth for drinking and/or canning.

Waste- Zero


 I don't know about you, but how many times can you eat rabbit in a year? At the maximum count, that's 360 lbs of rabbit meat alone. That's almost a pound of rabbit meat every day and there is only two of us. A pound of meat covers both of us a meal unless it's prime rib. Don't forget, we'll also be raising some meat chickens too for some variety. Any dish that uses chicken or pork can be cooked with rabbit including sausage with some added fat including chicken fat although it is harder to grind unless partially frozen.

Jennifer and David (my daughter and son outlaw) love to fish and crab. I've taught all my girls the same thing my Daddy taught me... you catch it; you clean it. So they've done it since they were old enough to yield a knife. We can trade with them if they don't do everything I did on my property. Oysters, clams, shrimp, squid, or even octopus make tasty eating and with very little effort in getting them. It means a 10-hour round trip drive to pick them up but heck, I still have family there too so it won't be just a grab and go situation. I will miss the year around growing season down south though.

But as usual, I digress. In the greenhouse over the winter, I'll be growing tomatoes rooted from the organic tomatoes in my garden now. It's a perpetual thing. Take the suckers or clipped top of an existing plant and you get a new plant. Fresh greens for salads and rabbits. Strawberries in hanging baskets. Carrots and herbs planted in flats. The greenhouse will full of life so when the winter seems to be dragging on, all we'll have to do is step inside. We will be adding a heat lamp leftover from Mel's chicken hatching experiment for those nights well below freezing. Also the plants need light so we can put a grow bulb in it at other times too. It can't hurt the meat rabbits either. 

I'll leave room to start my vegetables in the Spring. Our official outside planting date is May 1st, but this year we had a late freeze so the plants I started Easter weekend didn't fair well without the greenhouse being in tact.  Wish us luck and a powerful green thumb.

Y'all have a blessed day!

 
 

American Chinchillas ~ Meat Rabbit Escape

Before moving to the foothills of Georgia, I bought two American Chinchilla rabbits. One doe and one buck.Although they were only four months old when I got them, they would be the backbone of the meat side of our rabbitry.

Kieran 2

 They were, at four months old, already as big as my other rabbits who were full grown. American Chinchillas weigh between 9-12 pounds fully grown and these two were already nine pounds a piece when I got them. Chinchillas are often grown for meat and their pelt. I named them Kieran 2 and Colleen. Still holding to the mostly Irish names of my rabbits.

After getting acquainted with them, I understood why their pelts are so prized. Their fur is so thick and soft, I would consider it an ultimate luxury to have a pair of mitten lining made out of them. My hands would never be cold.

Over the next month, the duo gained almost two pounds. I pack them up into separate cat carriers for their trip to the mountains. They were so heavy that I walked like Igor, of Frankstien fame, when I carried the cases to the van. In my rabbitry, they were well fed. Treats were fed to them by hand so they were used to me and the cats who traversed to house often giving them a cursory sniff in their cages.

What a different world I took them to. The rabbit hutches were outside in all types of weather. Mostly cold because at this higher elevation they were still in near freezing temperatures at night. There were chickens who had free range of their hutch area with strange cats, and dogs also running to and fro. The hutches were built out of scrap lumber, mostly deconstructed pallets, and 1/2" hardware cloth. They were meant for 3-4 pound English angora rabbits and Jersey Woolies. Needless to say, it was pretty easy for them pushing their weight against the hutch doors for them to strain the latches.

Kieran 2's hutch is four feet above the ground so while he could push the door open, he couldn't escape far. Colleen had the lower cage..a mere foot off the ground. Mel had fed and watered them that morning. She then went to work. I went out in the early afternoon to check on them. It was a big upheaval for these rabbits who'd only had my indoor rabbitry.

"Babies! How's my babies today?" My usual high pitched greeting when I entered my rabbitry. All my rabbits sat up on their haunches, ears up, and waited for their personal attention. For Buddy, it meant a Momma ear rub and a cuddle. After which, at the old house, her door would be left open and she'd have free run of the house. She was litter trained and rarely had accidents. She could hop in and out of her cage at will. This rabbit would also get into her "pen" on command. She would also visit all the other rabbits. Age and longevity with me had its privileges. I've had her for 2 1/2 years. Plus we'd play tag and hide and go seek while she was out. But now, she doesn't have that freedom.

I made my way down the two rows of cages treating all the rabbits to attention making my way down the to my meat rabbits. They were breeding age now. The plan was to move the angora to a purchased shed building so we could maintain a cooler and warmer temperature for them, and for us. I just haven't bought the outbuilding yet because we need to chop down two small oak trees first. The meat rabbits would fill the outdoor hutches.

I got to the meat rabbit cages and Kieran greeted with a snuffle that demanded, "Where's my treat?" I ignored it and gave him an ear rub instead. Bending to access Colleen's cage, I noticed the door was slightly ajar. I peered in looking for her to no avail. She had escaped. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I frantically called and searched for her. I didn't find her. I asked Mel, when she returned home from work, whether or not she'd seen Collen that morning. She had, so I knew she hadn't escaped during the night. She had never lived in the great outdoors before.

Mel's dog, Nnyus, is the guard dog of the property. She regularly kills opossum, racoon, (even rabbits), chases deer, and fights coyotes within her territory. She went into deep mourning when a coyote killed Mel's rooster, Lunch, a few years back. She redoubled her guarding efforts after that. So later that night when Nnyus went crazy with barking and growling we expected to find Colleen dead. A totally logical assumption, right?

The next morning, I got up early and ventured towards the rabbit hutches. But instead of seeing bits of fur torn asunder and a bloody carcass, I was greeted by two gray ears twitching under a bush between two rabbit hutches. My heart lept with pure joy. I called out my usual greeting. Her ears turned towards me as her feet brought her closer to me from behind the bush. A moment later Mel's very large, New Hampshire Red rooster came bursting from under the closest hutch. Colleen scampered through the under skirting underneath the trailer. At least I knew she was alive.

Everyday Mel and I tried to capture Colleen and put her back in her cage. Everyday we failed for almost two weeks. That continued until last night. After dinner, I sat on the bench by the hutches playing with Patches, the cat. The sun was going down and getting chilly. We hadn't seen Colleen in a couple of days. Even her goodies, lettuce and carrots had been left untouched. We'd left the cage door open hoping to catch her in it. I figure after two weeks she had reverted back into her wild counterpart.

As I was rubbing Patches, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. There she was hopping across the front yard towards the hutches. I called out my usual greeting and talk to her in a calm voice, even though inside I was hopping up and down. She eventually got closer and started what I assume was her nightly ritual of visiting all the rabbits from my rabbitry... especially Kieran.

I grabbed the carrot from her cage. It was wimpy from being in her cage for forty-eight hours, but it was the best I could do. She came for the carrot to eat it out of my hand as usual. If I'd had two working hands I could have grabbed her, but I didn't.

So when she hopped back to Buddy's cage, I hobbled to the back porch and tapped on the window. Mel just about jumped out of her skin. The next second she was running to the back door. I yelled at her to get some fresh lettuce and that I'd found Colleen. In a flash, she was beside me at the hutches. "Where's she at?" I pointed. She circled one way and I the other each holding a small handful of lettuce.

We ended up by a broken cage in one of the hutches. There she sat just as calmly as could be as we closed in. I told Mel that she could react in two ways when she grabbed her: 1) fight, bite, and scratch; or 2) calm, snuggle close, and thank you for rescuing me. Forewarned, Mel was ready. She reached and grabbed her. Luckily, Colleen reacted in a snuggling fashion. With a sigh of relief we put her in her cage. I held it closed while Mel affixed another latch on the door. We returned inside ecstatic that we'd captured our wayward meat rabbit.