Gibbs just before plucking this spring

I have been real busy over the past several weeks preparing for my first big show. the Fiber Frolic which is held at the windsor fairgrounds is a new england wide fiber fair and this year will be taking place June 2 and 3rd. Besides a few last minute details I am ready to go. My two litters from this spring will be coming with me as they are all ready to find new homes now. I also will have products that i have been making available for sale. Forecast is calling for rain but i am keeping my fingers crossed that it will not be a wash out. So if any of you are interested in fiber animals or some amazing handspun yarn or related products come check out the fair!

miracle on a thursday afternoon

9 of the kits

the most amazing thing just happened and i thought it would make a perfect blog post. Black Beauty had her kits three days ago and i counted ten, ya that's right TEN. i couldn't of been happier. i decided to bring the nest box in the house so i could check on the kits and take some photos. no matter how many times i counted though i kept getting nine. my mind starting racing, maybe i miscounted the first time, maybe she ate one, but that's not like her to do that so i didn't want to think about that option. i convinced myself i miscounted and went to take the box back out to momma. as i was putting the box in i saw it. a baby bunny on the bottom of the cage with it's legs stuck in through the holes in the wires. once again my mind started racing, oh my God, what do i do. so i picked it up and it was stone cold. i started crying(yes i am very emotional) it looked so perfect just laying in my hands. i looked real close but there was no movement, no breathing, no heartbeat, no nothing and as i mentioned before very cold. i knew it hadn't been there all day because i checked on them several times but he is black and i might of overlooked him. i started rubbing him, breathing on him, giving him little baby bunny cpr, anything i could think of. i called my husband and told him i lost a baby. i even started walking toward the shovel since i knew i would have to bury him. all of a sudden his foot kicked! i must of moved it i thought or maybe it was just nerves. but when i looked real close again this rabbit was breathing, barely, but definetly doing something. i ran inside and must of walked around my kitchen three times thinking of what i could do to warm him up. i called my mom and she brought down a heating pad and i held him on the heating pad for 15-20 minutes and he started squeaking and moving around. i saved his life, i am still baffeled by the whole thing. once i felt he was warm enough i placed him back in his nest so his brothers and sisters could warm him up. i am assuming that he was still eating when momma jumped out because even though they move i don't think enough yet to get out of the nest box. so a little miracle happened at my house this afternoon and i thank God for watching over my little bunnies and giving me the knowledge to help one of them out.

Follow black beauty

So after three months my beautiful momma bunny has let go of all her kits. Well she did over a month ago but I had to just last week. They have all found great homes now. Momma was looking pretty shabby for awhile, I remember what I looked like after my first baby though, it wasn't pretty. at least i didn't have to pull out all my hair to make a warm bed for her and i only had to produce enough milk for one baby and not nine. considering what she experienced i think she looks even more beautiful now. her wool has fully grown out and is ready to be plucked. i thought i would have my friends follow the process of what i do with my angora wool. i have posted a picture of black beauty before and after her plucking. i will keep you up to date on what i do next, the spinning.

Preparing for winter

I am getting ready for my first winter with my angoras outside in their sheds, already not liking the frozen water bottles. Sold my last baby from black beauty's litter this past week,can't wait for my breeding next spring of two does! My goal was to go into the winter with as few as possible and I am happy with the number I have, currently 5. Gibbs is in need of a plucking this weekend and then I should be good for another month or so. My black beauty did such a wonderful job with her first litter but her coat really paid the price.her wool is just now starting to shape up.
Slowly starting my sales on hats and fingerless gloves. Wish I could do more but the time just isn't there. A friend of mine will be putting some on display at his salon in waterville so we will see how that goes. I need to figure out a price for locals because I can't imagine many people buying a hat for 80 bucks. I do need to figure in my cost and give me some profit though.
So another friend of mine has designed an awesome business card for me, I am real excited to get them in print. With a beautiful business sign and awesome business cards I am slowly getting ready to market my products. I also have a business email, agapeangoras@gmail.com

Agape Angoras

Summertime definitely flew by for my family. Much harder to blog when the weather is nice out. This weekend i am preparing for the big hurricane, or tropical storm, we'll see how hard it hits us in Franklin county, but i don't need any rabbits or chickens blowing away or my neighbors will think they are in Kansas when they see an animals flying by their window. With a new computer I am in high hopes to get this blog going again. I should start by letting you know that my hobby/business has a name! We are now Agape Angoras. Agape is Greek and translates into English as love, not just any love but the unconditional love that God gives us and that we should strive for in our lives. I felt like it was very fitting since John and I are working towards that daily. I also just like the word and how it rolls off my tongue. So Agape Angoras is currently 15 rabbits large and one rat ( i will explain later). I bred Black Beauty and Leroy this summer and ended up with the most beautiful litter ever. I may be partial to this but they are so colorful and so many. She gave birth to 9 kits back in the beginning of august. They are three weeks old now and extremely cute and playful. of course I will throw some pics of them on here. Other exciting news is I sold my first pair of fingerless gloves! I had finished making my own over the 4th of July weekend and was showing them off to friends at work. A co worker wanted a pair, I hope all my sales are that easy. I had high hopes of having enough products to sell this fall so I could enter a craft fair but I am afraid that won't be happening. My motivation is there but my bunnies only grow wool so fast. I would need more rabbits to get this task done and if that were to happen I would need more space and time. I have decided to take it slow. I have finally got my rabbits out of my basement though and into their own sheds. These sheds will be temporary until our garage is built but that is still two years away probably. My litter will be ready to go the first week in October so if anyone out their would like a fiber pet just let me know since i will have about 6-7 for sale.

Spinning wheel

Spring has really arrived, yesterday was so nice outside. I am finding that blogging is much harder to do when the weather is nice. After much practice I can use my spinning wheel! I am still not very good but it is such an achievement for me. I still need to tweak the wheel some because as I spin the wheel keeps slowly moving away from me. I am going to a fiber farm in Augusta this week hopefully tomorrow. The lady there will show me how she has her rabbits set up and also show me her fiber studio. I am in need of wool roving,which is the raw form that I use to spin. I have my angora wool but it is easier to learn on sheep wool, plus not as expensive since I am making plenty of mistakes. My goal that I have set for myself is to have spun enough wool to make enough items to have a table at some of the craft fairs this fall.

spinning wheel

Gibbs, 5 month old chocolate tort german/english/french angora



Leroy my 1.5 year old french/german angora



my ashford traveler spinning wheel!

Hi everybody, I can't believe it's already half way through April. I am very excited that spring is finally here to enjoy. My father even heard the frogs peeping the other day. I think listening to the frogs peep in the early spring as the day is ending is so peaceful. Ok so this blog isn't about frogs, it's about rabbits. I just had that thought in my mind and wanted to share it. I am now down to four rabbits which is about where I want to be for now. My two bucks, Leroy and (no name) and two does, Black Beauty and Ashley II. The big news is I bought a spinning wheel!!!! It is called the ashford traveler. Ashford is a good brand name and the traveler is a smaller version and easy to transport. I have been practicing some but I am having my first lesson this coming sunday. I am practically jumping out of my skin to make yarn and crochet my first finished product from my rabbits. I now need to come up with a name for my farm. I want something original but something that people will know it is a fiber farm. When I sell my finished products I want to have business cards eventually. Any ideas are welcome. The photos of my babies are after they have been plucked so as they grow out their wool i will post more photos.