Sharing the harvest...

Clara bunny is a free agent around the place during nice weather. There is a smorgasbord of food for her all around, but I do catch her in my garden from time to time. It seems she has a weakness for pea plants... leaving us only a few. It's hard to be too upset with her, she is such a happy spirit around the place. But next year I'm planting the peas further away from her favorite haunts!

Freedom of the season...

I brought the bunny in last December. She has been living in the kitchen, dining well and being quite obviousoly bored. I was trying to wait until the weather was really fine before letting her go again, but yesterday was so stunning I couldn't wait another moment.

She surveyed the yard for about 5 miniutes before dashing out.
She spent the day checking out all of her favorite haunts. In the afternoon when I planted early peas, spinach and lettuce she joined me in the garden.
This morning when I went out to feed the hens the rabbit ran to meet me. And later when I was washing dishes I looked out the rain spattered window to see her leaping with what appeared to be pure, unadulterated bunny joy in the brown meadow grass.

I hope she has a wonderful spring and summer. I know I am richer for watching her obvious enjoyment of her small bunny life.

House rabbit...

I never meant to have a house rabbit. Although the golden mini lop that scrambles around behind and under my furniture is cute, she has a tendency to nibble electrical cords and leaves little raisin look-alikes in her wake.
The bunny, named Clara, came home with my daughter one day. She was in an enormous, space hogging cage and had all the accouterments a bunny could ever need. And as bunnies go, this is a nice one. She is quite tame and not of the biting variety. But still and all, I could have done without her.
During that first long winter, my daughter lost interest in her new acquisition. The air in the house had a whiff of dirty cage and I had to nag about the creature being fed and watered there in its expensive prison. The bunny was not getting the attention it deserved, and to my eyes was depressed. How could it not be, locked up there with no room to leap and explore as bunnies should? I took her out sometimes and let her poke around, slipped her carrots and fistfuls of good hay. I held her on my lap when I read a book and in general grew quite fond of her satin-soft self.
In the spring I took a large metal dog crate out to the yard and put the bunny there for a few hours a day so it could nibble on shoots of grass and feel the sun on its fur. She perked up a bit, but the cage still didn't offer her room to stretch her legs. She was safe, but didn't seem particularly happy. I had taken over her care completely by this time, and she had plenty of the proper foods, fresh water and clean bedding, but I still was vexed about her quality of life.
One day a box full of peeping chicks arrived in the mail. 16 Cornish hybrid chicks to raise for meat. They outgrew their brooder box and developed feathers so fast it boggled my mind. My good husband helped me build them a long paddock in the yard so they could get out of their indoor pen and enjoy the world. We put the bunny in there first. It was not a bunny proof enclosure in any way, but if we were to monitor her activities she could be outside for a while. She hopped and leapt and twisted. She lolled in the sun and rested in the shade. She ate grass and looked, for the first time, content. Periodically she would run and spring into the air in what looked, to my eyes, like pure joy. I let her out for a while each day. She would visit with the chickens and it did my heart good to think that for a little time she had companionship and freedom. I hated to put her back in her cage, and she hated it, too, squirming and protesting.
So, I made the decision to let her live in our big fenced yard. There was certainly a chance that she would become food for a hawk or eagle. If she left the fenced area, (which she would surely learn to do at some point) she could be a tasty treat for a passing fox, fisher or coyote. After weighing the options, I opted to give her a life that I perceived as richer and happier, even though it was far less safe than the life she was currently living.
She adapted in an instant. She explored every inch of the fenced acre. In the rain she huddled under the chicken coop, in fine weather she lolled by the wild bird feeder under the pine. Often she could be found following the flock of laying hens as they hunted bugs and tender shoots in the yard. Sometimes she'd go back to the building where her cage was and eat the food I left there, but she did this less and less frequently as time went on. I loved to catch a glimpse of her out of my window, or at night when I walked out with the dogs one last time. Seeing the bunny in the yard looking blissful became a high point in my daily round.
When fall came we put up a little wooden pup tent type structure near the chicken coop. I bedded it deep with straw and tucked a big hollow log in there would be a snug bunny retreat. Almost every morning when I went out to check on the hens she'd run to greet me. I'd give her a handful of food and top off the water bowl I kept for her in the “bunny barn.” Once in a while she'd let me stroke her soft fur a time or two, then would leap nimbly out of reach. By this time she had learned how to get out of the fence and she roamed the meadow behind the house, feasted on fallen apples in the side yard, and hid under the wide front porch. As the weather grew colder I began to worry about her more and more. How would she manage the deep cold? How would she do in the snow? How would I keep her water supply thawed?
One morning before dawn set my windows to glow I had a vivid dream. In it I went to a certain place in the yard and Clara was there. She let me pick her up and bring her inside where it was warm and safe for the winter. When I went downstairs the dark letters on the thermometer read 14 degrees. After I took care of the dogs and the chickens I put fresh food, water and shavings in Clara's cage and brought it indoors. Then I went to the spot I had dreamed of, a certain tussock of tall grass near the frost covered vegetable garden. Clara was there, sitting very still. She let me pick her up for the first time in months. She shivered a little in my arms as I carried her inside. That night we had our first big snow of the season, and it has been a winter of deep snow and cold.
So now I have a house bunny again. Clara's cage is in the kitchen, near the refrigerator where I keep a good supply of carrots and lettuce and crisp apples. And every day she runs about the house some while I keep a keen eye on the electrical cords. She makes me smile and livens things up a bit. In the spring I'll let her be a free bunny again. I am happily anticipating seeing her running wild and free, leaping in glee. All of this makes me think that sometimes in life we get things we never wanted. But that does not mean that those things are not without a certain joy.

A few thoughts about freedom...

My daughter bought a bunny last winter. As bunnies go, this one is awfully sweet. She lived in a cage, with all the things a bunny might need, but she was not happy. She was restless and needed S P A C E. When the weather was nice we would put her out on the lawn in a dog crate so she could nibble on greens and enjoy the sun, but still, she was in a cage. This summer we decided to let her free to explore the fenced yard. I knew that a smart bunny could get out of the fence. I knew that the yard offered dangers... hawks, owls, eagles and the like could all make a snack out of a small brown rabbit. But she stared at me through the bars of her cage and I let her free.

She ran and leapt and hopped and explored and ate. And at night, she would go back to her cage, with its dish full of alfalfa pellets and its cool clean water and deep bedding! Recently she did find her way out of the fence, and now she likes to hang out in the driveway or under the apple trees or in the herb garden sampling parsley. There are a great many dangers outside the fence... cars and coyotes and foxes and more. So far the bunny is safe and she just emanates happiness as she navigates the big world. And still, she returns to her cage at night.

There it is in a nutshell. Freedom is dangerous. But oh! it tastes of apples and sunshine and space and sweetness.

Funny bunny...

Daughter Rachel brought home a very sweet, ultra tame bunny last winter. She lived in a cage and was bored, bored. I looked into having a nice hutch made for her, but knew it would not offer enough room for her to really be a rabbit. So I took a risk and started letting her hang out in our big (almost an acre) fenced yard. There are places she could escape if she tried. She could dig out. A hawk could get her... but meanwhile she is the happiest of bunnies. She leaps and twists and digs and kicks and eats grass and weeds to her little hearts content. My theory? A life that is rich and full but perhaps shorter is better than a life in prison.

Last night we were sitting outside and watching the bunny romping about. The meat chickens were also out, (scratching, eating, taking dust baths and being chickens.) The bunny approached one bird and stuck her head under the birds chest and lifted up. She repeated this several times. The bird finally became irritated and ran off. The bunny chased her. Then the bunny began to chase OTHER chickens. Much like a bad dog, she was all over the yard, chasing the chickens. The chickens were not amused. But WE were!