What a week! I'm sure everyone has been busy with Thanksgiving and family and shopping like crazy, but we added in some rabbit time on top of all of that!
We have a Twitter account! Please check out @SFFiowa for quick updates on our business!
I have been reading Guide to Better Rabbits and Cavies as much as possible this week, and am now half-way through the book. One of the most interesting things that I stumbled across in my reading so far is that rabbits should be fed at night, as they are nocturnal. My farming background makes me think of "doing chores" first thing in the morning, but it will actually be nice to wait until later in the day so I won't be so rushed before I head out to my real job.
My mother has been spinning like crazy lately. She's getting frustrated because her yarn is very inconsistent, but every source we've found has said that practice is all that can improve the quality. On Sunday I sat down with her wheel and spun a spindle's worth of Lincoln longwool, and I couldn't believe how quickly it went!! Now I'm longing for a spinning wheel, instead of the drop spindle that I play with from time to time.
My mother also has been working on the shawl pins. Unfortunately I don't have pictures (I should have thought of that over the weekend!) but the success is limited so far. The colors of the clay change when they are baking, so our whites turned out more of a peach color. However, the designs my mother made are beautiful, so we simply have to work out the color situation and those will be good to go.
My friend is working on designing hats, mittens, and other accessories for us to make with our Angora yarn. As we continue with this progress I will keep you all posted!
On to the rabbitry, which I'm sure is what you're really waiting for: Saturday was a beautiful day. We (my mother, my friend who is in on this business, my spouse, and I) hopped into our vehicles and met in a town about 2 hours away. We actually got lunch first at a cute little family-style restaurant, and then did a bit of shopping before our appointment at the rabbitry. Once we arrived, the owner, JH, showed us around their operation. There were several hutches outside that housed ENORMOUS Flemish Giants, some of which he let us pet. That was a lot of fun. Then he took us into their garage, which is heated and air-conditioned, and showed us their small herd of Giant, French, and Satin Angoras. We really loved getting to finally see some rabbits in person, and we had fun petting their coats. He had two Giant bucks for sale, but unfortunately we're not really interested in Giants, so we told him we would have to think about it. After more discussion later, we're pretty sure we want to stick to French, Satin, and English.
While we were there, he offered to take us up to their spinning room. On the upper floor of their beautiful historic home, they have a room full of spinning wheels and drop spindles (including a great wheel!) and bags upon bags of angora fleece. We had a good hour of "show and tell" time with the fleece, and at one point his wife, KH, joined us and began talking about her dying experiences with skeins of yarn she had spun. We ended up purchasing several ounces of Angora to take home and start spinning. We thought that even if we weren't walking away with rabbits, we could at least take the opportunity to have some starter fleece for the projects we have in mind.
When we returned home Saturday night I emailed another local breeder immediately to try to contact them about some of their rabbits that we're interested in. They live near my parents, so I was hoping to get to see their livestock on Sunday, but the short notice prevented us from being able to get together. Hopefully we can remedy that situation soon.
The next step for us is to get those cages put together!! They're still sitting in their boxes in my living room, but they don't do us much good like that, so hopefully this weekend I can spend some quality time with them. I'll post pictures if I have any level of success. Also, I need to be spinning as much as possible! We need to get our yarn out on the market!
Tip of the Week: Collect phone numbers as well as email addresses from the breeders you contact. Many breeders that I have been in touch with do not list their phone numbers on their website, making them more difficult to contact if they don't check their email often. However, once you've had initial contact, feel free to request their phone number, and offer yours to them as well.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Contacts and Cages
What a week! The real world caught up with me a lot this week, but there were still some exciting developments in our soon-to-be Angora Land!
I finished reading Crafty Superstar this week so that I could pass it off to a friend that is in on this adventure with us. The last chapter was all about finding balance in life. There was a lot of information about how to keep your business part-time (if that's what you want) or about how to break into full-time. There was a story that really made me think about my goals. One of the collaborators on the book (who owns a very successful online consignment business) shared how she purchased a building to house her business, and how the plan failed miserably. It was actually good to read a story about someone who is now successful failing on their first attempt, because it reminds me that if at first I don't succeed, I can still make it work. Life isn't black and white, why would a business be any different?
I started reading Official Guide to Raising Better Rabbits and Cavies this week. So far I've learned about body types and some other general information, but I know from flipping through the book that there are articles about grooming angora rabbits, which is why I snatched it up at the local library.
The big news this week is that we got our cages!! Well, mostly. There were a couple items that were backordered that will be shipped to us ASAP, but for the most part, we have three cages, three feeders, and three water bottle kits. It was really fast!! I ordered them on Monday and they arrived on Thursday. What great service! I don't want to give a shout-out to the company without their permission, but if anyone is interested, feel free to email me at seedorff.family.farms@gmail.com and I'll hook you up with their information.
This week we make the trip to a local rabbit breeder! I'm so excited. They have Giant, French, and Satin angoras according to their website, and we're going there with the definite possibility of coming home with some. Eek! I'd better get those cages put together! If we don't find anything we're really excited about there we will be contacting another breeder that has English angoras, plus the breeder that I've been emailing for WEEKS finally got back to me yesterday, so there's another connection! Look at all of the success we're having all of a sudden!
By the time I write next week's entry I might have rabbit pictures! Cross your fingers everything works out!
Tip of the Week: When you're trying to contact someone and not having much success, just keep trying. I was anxious to contact one particular breeder because they had a great website with fantastic pictures of rabbits that I was definitely interested in, and after weeks of attempting to contact them I finally succeeded. I know that I will glean a lot of information from them. However, I will keep in mind how hard it was to reach them when it comes to spending money. Customer service counts!
I finished reading Crafty Superstar this week so that I could pass it off to a friend that is in on this adventure with us. The last chapter was all about finding balance in life. There was a lot of information about how to keep your business part-time (if that's what you want) or about how to break into full-time. There was a story that really made me think about my goals. One of the collaborators on the book (who owns a very successful online consignment business) shared how she purchased a building to house her business, and how the plan failed miserably. It was actually good to read a story about someone who is now successful failing on their first attempt, because it reminds me that if at first I don't succeed, I can still make it work. Life isn't black and white, why would a business be any different?
I started reading Official Guide to Raising Better Rabbits and Cavies this week. So far I've learned about body types and some other general information, but I know from flipping through the book that there are articles about grooming angora rabbits, which is why I snatched it up at the local library.
The big news this week is that we got our cages!! Well, mostly. There were a couple items that were backordered that will be shipped to us ASAP, but for the most part, we have three cages, three feeders, and three water bottle kits. It was really fast!! I ordered them on Monday and they arrived on Thursday. What great service! I don't want to give a shout-out to the company without their permission, but if anyone is interested, feel free to email me at seedorff.family.farms@gmail.com and I'll hook you up with their information.
This week we make the trip to a local rabbit breeder! I'm so excited. They have Giant, French, and Satin angoras according to their website, and we're going there with the definite possibility of coming home with some. Eek! I'd better get those cages put together! If we don't find anything we're really excited about there we will be contacting another breeder that has English angoras, plus the breeder that I've been emailing for WEEKS finally got back to me yesterday, so there's another connection! Look at all of the success we're having all of a sudden!
By the time I write next week's entry I might have rabbit pictures! Cross your fingers everything works out!
Tip of the Week: When you're trying to contact someone and not having much success, just keep trying. I was anxious to contact one particular breeder because they had a great website with fantastic pictures of rabbits that I was definitely interested in, and after weeks of attempting to contact them I finally succeeded. I know that I will glean a lot of information from them. However, I will keep in mind how hard it was to reach them when it comes to spending money. Customer service counts!
Monday, November 15, 2010
The First Drop in the Bucket
Well, we've officially spent money!!
This week we purchased the triple stack cage kit I wrote about last week. We also discovered that their feeders and water bottle kits were cheaper than what I had priced at a local store, so we went ahead and ordered them too! We also got a bale of hay from a local farmer, so we're nearly ready to go! Sometime this week we hope to purchase rabbit food and minerals so we will be completely ready. We will have to have a Cage Assembly Party in a week or so.
Also, we finally got a book we ordered a few weeks ago. Basic Angora Wool Farming by Carl Nagel, has arrived, and we will begin devouring it immediately!
This past weekend I spent several hours online searching for any angora breeders in our state or the surrounding states. It was actually harder than I thought it would be, as many breeders do not have websites for their operations, and many farms have websites, but do not belong to any professional organizations that would make it easy for me to find them. I compiled all of the names, email addresses, and websites into an Excel document for future use. I'm planning on emailing all of them in the near future to see what connections I can make.
The poly-clay experiment is on! This past week my mother played around with creating shawl pins out of the clay and trying out different colors and styles. We've discovered that certain colors do not turn out the way we anticipated, but we are encouraged by the fact that they are light-weight and hardy, so once we have some specific designs churning out, we should be successful. We are very lucky that each of us has unique talents to bring to the table in this fiber farming adventure!
This week I read a couple more chapters of Crafty Superstar. I learned more about customer service and production of your products, plus how to get involved in craft shows, both locally and nationwide. The book encourages crafters to start a show in their own area if there is not one readily available. Not something we're interested in immediately, but an interesting thought for the future.
The weekend of Thanksgiving we're going to our first breeder. They have Giant, French, and Satin angoras, and we're very hopeful that they have something that will spark our interest. We have also contacted another breeder that lives near my parents that has English angoras, so if we come up short at the first place, we'll definitely be contacting the second breeder. I'm also excited to see what I can drum up with the new breeder list I compiled. My only disappointment: We still have not heard from a breeder in a neighboring state that we are VERY interested in. I've emailed them several times from different email addresses, but I haven't had any luck, despite the fact that they have a fantastic website that they update often. At this point I guess we have to give up on them.
Tip of the Week: Join professional organizations. Not only do they have valuable information that they can share with you, but they also often have directories that you can add your name to for free or a small fee. The advertising is great, and prospective customers may take you more seriously if you show that you value the professional organizations available to your business. We may be joining the National Angora Breeders Club in the near future!
This week we purchased the triple stack cage kit I wrote about last week. We also discovered that their feeders and water bottle kits were cheaper than what I had priced at a local store, so we went ahead and ordered them too! We also got a bale of hay from a local farmer, so we're nearly ready to go! Sometime this week we hope to purchase rabbit food and minerals so we will be completely ready. We will have to have a Cage Assembly Party in a week or so.
Also, we finally got a book we ordered a few weeks ago. Basic Angora Wool Farming by Carl Nagel, has arrived, and we will begin devouring it immediately!
This past weekend I spent several hours online searching for any angora breeders in our state or the surrounding states. It was actually harder than I thought it would be, as many breeders do not have websites for their operations, and many farms have websites, but do not belong to any professional organizations that would make it easy for me to find them. I compiled all of the names, email addresses, and websites into an Excel document for future use. I'm planning on emailing all of them in the near future to see what connections I can make.
The poly-clay experiment is on! This past week my mother played around with creating shawl pins out of the clay and trying out different colors and styles. We've discovered that certain colors do not turn out the way we anticipated, but we are encouraged by the fact that they are light-weight and hardy, so once we have some specific designs churning out, we should be successful. We are very lucky that each of us has unique talents to bring to the table in this fiber farming adventure!
This week I read a couple more chapters of Crafty Superstar. I learned more about customer service and production of your products, plus how to get involved in craft shows, both locally and nationwide. The book encourages crafters to start a show in their own area if there is not one readily available. Not something we're interested in immediately, but an interesting thought for the future.
The weekend of Thanksgiving we're going to our first breeder. They have Giant, French, and Satin angoras, and we're very hopeful that they have something that will spark our interest. We have also contacted another breeder that lives near my parents that has English angoras, so if we come up short at the first place, we'll definitely be contacting the second breeder. I'm also excited to see what I can drum up with the new breeder list I compiled. My only disappointment: We still have not heard from a breeder in a neighboring state that we are VERY interested in. I've emailed them several times from different email addresses, but I haven't had any luck, despite the fact that they have a fantastic website that they update often. At this point I guess we have to give up on them.
Tip of the Week: Join professional organizations. Not only do they have valuable information that they can share with you, but they also often have directories that you can add your name to for free or a small fee. The advertising is great, and prospective customers may take you more seriously if you show that you value the professional organizations available to your business. We may be joining the National Angora Breeders Club in the near future!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Cages, Crafting, and Dyes, Oh My!
So much has happened in the last week!! I have information about the rabbits and preparations for them as well as crafting endeavors that we're interested in.
This weekend we found cages that we are very excited about. We've been looking into different venues to purchase cages, which is a change from our original plans. Originally we were going to build our own cages, but we decided a couple weeks ago that the best thing to do would be to purchase a cage and then copy its blueprint to make more when we needed them. However, we've been having a rough time with our cage shopping. We kept finding cages that were very expensive and didn't include any of the accessories we would need, such as urine guards and litter pans, plus the shipping was very expensive. However, we had a break-through yesterday.
When shopping online yesterday we came across a website that offers triple stacked cage kits. The kits include everything that we would need except feeders and waterers, plus have reasonable shipping costs, for roughly $300. This is still a lot of money, but it would be a complete set of everything we would need, plus we would be completely set up for our first livestock purchase. We are very excited about it, and although we have not ordered them yet, we are definitely planning on it.
We also went to a local home and farm store today and priced everything else we would need for the rabbits. We discovered that we can purchase gravity feeders for $9 each, water bottle kits (to make soda bottles into water bottles) for $2 each, mineral wheels and hooks for $.50 and $1 each, respectively, rabbit food for $11 for a 40 lb. bag, and show supplement (we're thinking of adding this to the feed to increase the quality of their coat) for $6 for a small bag. (All prices are approximate.) We would also need hay, but we can purchase a bale from one of my parents neighbors for much cheaper than the tiny bags of hay they sell for pet rabbits, so we're planning on going that route. We feel like we really know what kind of money we're talking about now, and we're ready to make it happen.
We also spent part of the weekend setting the twist in my mother's first homespun yarn!! It's pure Lincoln Longwool, from the sheep we raised when I was a child. It's a bit rough, but we are using it as a learning experience, and I'm looking forward to the beautiful yarns my mother will be creating in the future. She's been spinning every day, so I know that more gorgeous yarn is on it's way.
We also bought a magazine with information about natural dyes. We're interested in learning to dye our angora fiber using natural ingredients to create beautiful colors while using the world around us, and the information we came across is very helpful. There are many ideas that are sprouting about this, to be sure!!
There are so many crafting options we looked into this weekend. We are trying to come up with products that we can make with our yarns or to complement our products, and a trip to a local JoAnn Fabrics gave us tons of ideas. We purchased an i-cord knitting machine, which works like a dream, and we will be able to use to make coiled purses. It's much more efficient than hand-knitting yards and yards of i-cord! We also purchased some poly-clay. We hope to craft original, artistic shawl pins from the poly-clay that will be perfect complements to the shawls we hope to make out of our angora.
We've also set our brains onto the idea of designing our own line of 100% angora hats, gloves and scarves. They would be very warm, which would be great for the cold winter months ahead! All-in-all, we should have tons of goods to sell someday. Just with the ideas we have now, we could sell raw angora wool, angora yarn, knitted and crocheted accessories, and handmade shawl pins.
The next step is obvious. We need to purchase the cages and all the other materials that we will need so that we can go out and get our first rabbits!
Tip of the Week: Check out your local library. A quick trip today left me with tons of books about raising rabbits, including specific information on how to groom angoras and how to keep careful rabbit records. There were also many resources available for how to start your own business, including free materials on learning to budget and plan for expenditures. It was very enlightening.
This weekend we found cages that we are very excited about. We've been looking into different venues to purchase cages, which is a change from our original plans. Originally we were going to build our own cages, but we decided a couple weeks ago that the best thing to do would be to purchase a cage and then copy its blueprint to make more when we needed them. However, we've been having a rough time with our cage shopping. We kept finding cages that were very expensive and didn't include any of the accessories we would need, such as urine guards and litter pans, plus the shipping was very expensive. However, we had a break-through yesterday.
When shopping online yesterday we came across a website that offers triple stacked cage kits. The kits include everything that we would need except feeders and waterers, plus have reasonable shipping costs, for roughly $300. This is still a lot of money, but it would be a complete set of everything we would need, plus we would be completely set up for our first livestock purchase. We are very excited about it, and although we have not ordered them yet, we are definitely planning on it.
We also went to a local home and farm store today and priced everything else we would need for the rabbits. We discovered that we can purchase gravity feeders for $9 each, water bottle kits (to make soda bottles into water bottles) for $2 each, mineral wheels and hooks for $.50 and $1 each, respectively, rabbit food for $11 for a 40 lb. bag, and show supplement (we're thinking of adding this to the feed to increase the quality of their coat) for $6 for a small bag. (All prices are approximate.) We would also need hay, but we can purchase a bale from one of my parents neighbors for much cheaper than the tiny bags of hay they sell for pet rabbits, so we're planning on going that route. We feel like we really know what kind of money we're talking about now, and we're ready to make it happen.
We also spent part of the weekend setting the twist in my mother's first homespun yarn!! It's pure Lincoln Longwool, from the sheep we raised when I was a child. It's a bit rough, but we are using it as a learning experience, and I'm looking forward to the beautiful yarns my mother will be creating in the future. She's been spinning every day, so I know that more gorgeous yarn is on it's way.
We also bought a magazine with information about natural dyes. We're interested in learning to dye our angora fiber using natural ingredients to create beautiful colors while using the world around us, and the information we came across is very helpful. There are many ideas that are sprouting about this, to be sure!!
There are so many crafting options we looked into this weekend. We are trying to come up with products that we can make with our yarns or to complement our products, and a trip to a local JoAnn Fabrics gave us tons of ideas. We purchased an i-cord knitting machine, which works like a dream, and we will be able to use to make coiled purses. It's much more efficient than hand-knitting yards and yards of i-cord! We also purchased some poly-clay. We hope to craft original, artistic shawl pins from the poly-clay that will be perfect complements to the shawls we hope to make out of our angora.
We've also set our brains onto the idea of designing our own line of 100% angora hats, gloves and scarves. They would be very warm, which would be great for the cold winter months ahead! All-in-all, we should have tons of goods to sell someday. Just with the ideas we have now, we could sell raw angora wool, angora yarn, knitted and crocheted accessories, and handmade shawl pins.
The next step is obvious. We need to purchase the cages and all the other materials that we will need so that we can go out and get our first rabbits!
Tip of the Week: Check out your local library. A quick trip today left me with tons of books about raising rabbits, including specific information on how to groom angoras and how to keep careful rabbit records. There were also many resources available for how to start your own business, including free materials on learning to budget and plan for expenditures. It was very enlightening.
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