Tentatively Scheduled for Saturday July 19th, 2014 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
What: Participate in most phases of rabbit ranching in your backyard, including feeding, housing, growing, skinning, and butchering rabbits for food and fur.
Financial requirements: $50 nonrefundable deposit per participant/family payable by check/cash to Darlene Nixon by July 1, 2014. Tuition for each person/family is $130.00 (less the deposit) if paid by July 12th, 2014. $50 will buy you a processed rabbit and finished pelt. If you cannot make the workshop after the deposit is paid, you can make arrangements to pick up your meat and pelt any time afterward. If you want more than one rabbit for the workshop you may pay an additional $10 for the deposit for each rabbit you would like. After July 12th, participants may register by paying the entire tuition of $150.00, including their deposit for a rabbit and a pelt, if room is available.
Where: Morning session at Chiron Therapeutics 1800 Plaza Dr. Louisville, CO 80027
9:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Afternoon session at AWholesomeHomestead.com 1321 Kilkenny St. Boulder, CO 80303
12:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Morning session 9:00 a.m. Meet at Chiron Therapeutics for rabbit harvest session.
9-11:30 a.m. Slaughtering, Skinning, and Butchering rabbits. All materials and equipment provided. In this session I will demonstrate dispatching a rabbit with a Rabbit Wringer and Deluxe Butchering Station. Each person will have a turn using this equipment to decapitate, hang, skin, and eviscerate their rabbit. Then we will move on to ways to break down the meat, preserve edible organs, and prep the pelts for curing. I will have pelts on the site that are in various stages of curing, including mixing up a batch of pickle for demonstration. I will also have pelts that need de-fleshing. Everyone will have an opportunity to participate in each stage of the pelt preservation process. I will have vacuum sealer bags and equipment to vacuum seal those meat/organs and the fresh pelts for taking home to process. We will pop them in the freezer in the afternoon.
Lunch and transportation to the afternoon site in Shannon Estates neighborhood: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. If people want to come to eat at the site, I will take $10/person to eat rabbit stew and fresh veggies from my garden. Please bring your own beverage and place setting—a no waste event—plate/bowl, utensils and drinking vessel.
Afternoon session: 12:30 p.m. Meet at AWholesomeHomestead.com for rabbit care, housing, feeding, breeding and treating for illness/injury.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Tour the rabbitry, while observing the different breeds, ages of litters, feeds used to help pregnant and nursing does, litters under one month of age, non-breeding rabbits, breeding bucks and dealing with the midday heat and sunlight. Watering, foraging and sources for organic feed will also be discussed.
1:40 p.m.-3:00 p.m. grooming, and caring for rabbit health/happiness. Water! Chewing! Exercise! Hygeine! Play! Predators, pests and property. Making homemade rabbit chew toys. Discussion of non-residue supplements, herbs, and homeopathic medicines.
3:10 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Breaking dried pelts and conditioning them. Discussing recipes and uses of rabbit pelts.
When the deposit is received, I will mail out a waiver of liability to be signed and returned by each participant before or at the time of the workshop. Each participant in the butchering and pelt processing will have to bring safety equipment: Goggles, rubber gloves, work aprons, long sleeved tops, leather work gloves, closed toe leather shoes, and full length pants. Fingernails must be clipped short, and long hair restrained.
Rabbit Workshop Blog Link
