If it isn’t obvious, I really love soils, rocks, and other various environmental sustainability and food production. However, there is more to me than my work. Because of the love of my dogs, I feed them a raw diet. With three dogs and their training, prices can add up pretty quickly, so I decided to create a homestead and raise my own small animals. This also guarantees that I know where my meat is coming from. I started with the animals, and would eventually like to close the loop, providing food for the lowest cost possible.
So, guinea pigs, rabbits, and quail are the primary pet foods (and human foods) raised on my half acre in a rural North Carolina downtown. This page is dedicated to the information that I learn in my homesteading adventure. My stock, my feeding system, food systems, and troubleshooting.
Stock
I have put together a comparison between the first year of raising rabbits and guinea pigs for meat production (Part 1 and Part 2). I don’t personally like how Guinea Pigs taste, but my dogs adore them!
The Clarjo Rabbitry
- Breeding Does
- Breeding Bucks
- Current Litters
The Ducks
Feeding
We are also into homebrewing, creating spent grains for use in the livestock feeding systems. Unfortunately, with over 60 pigs at any given time, it is very difficult to create all of the spent grains that are needed for the guinea pigs, even though they absolutely adore them! I am currently designing a fodder system, hopefully that will use the greywater from our washing machine for a hydroponics system.
DirtArtful 