I am nobody's rabbit!

4 days ago my life changed.  I would like to say it changed for the best, but my mind is not convinced that's the truth just yet.

4 days ago I took the plunge and committed to giving up grain, dairy, legumes, processed food, alcohol and refined sugar for 30 days.  This decision come after I had some blood work results that were not too stellar a year ago.  At that time I meant to do something about my weight and the year got away from me.  Several weeks ago I got my yearly blood work results back and they were worse than ever before.  This year my bad cholesterol was worse than bad.  My good cholesterol eluded to the fact I never exercise, and my pancreas is working harder than a Target employee on Black Friday.  Weighing 233#, it's time for a drastic change.  I have hit rock bottom and I never want to be here again.

There have been a few things helping to push me towards making the changes I need to make, other than the deplorable blood work.  

The first thing is a blog I stumbled across, 100 Days of Real Food.  I discovered this family's blog, and after reading it I really wanted to stop eating food and food substitutes that were full of chemicals.  I know eating whole, real food is important.  It's the basis of what The Reluctant Farmer and I have built our life on, and we work so hard to produce healthy food for 6 months of the year.  How have I allowed myself to get into this situation?!

The second thing is a weight loss competition we are having at work.  We have done this competition several times, and I have never really taken it too seriously until a recent conversation.  After the last competition ended, a co-worker pulled me aside and said:  "I know this is going to sound bad, but you were my rabbit through this competition and I just wanted to beat you.  I didn't want to be the heaviest person here anymore."

Well, you know what?  I am nobody's rabbit!  It is time to get my ass in gear....

People like me!

Tonight as I was leaving work, this little reminder popped up on my iPhone.  (I'm not sure how this happened, because usually my phone doesn't alert me for anything.  Perhaps my smart phone new I was sad yesterday...)  The phone was reminding me about an informational meeting for an event called EarthFest.  I was intrigued, and only 1.5 miles from the event, so I drove down to the meeting spot, nervously went in and WOW!

EarthFest is an event that was held last year in Dayton, Ohio and had nearly 1,000 visitors and over 30 free workshops on everything from bee keeping to lasagna gardening and a bunch of stuff in between.  It's an all day affair and sounds absolutely amazing.  I volunteered to teach a class on backyard meat animals, if they have workshop space still available, and I won't lie the thought of helping others learn to be more self sustaining excites me.

Perhaps the coolest part of the evening was meeting the 20 some people that were there with the same interests as me!  I met other urban farmers, beekeepers, pottery enthusiasts, and even other chicken keepers.  (And this was just the people I was able to talk with, there were more people that I didn't get to interact with, but I will next time!)  And one very kind woman, Mandy, invited me to meet with a group of urban farmers that are meeting this weekend.  I am pretty excited!  And to think, I thought I might be bored without dog rescue.....

So long friend...

Our beloved Andy died today, and to some people he would be "just a rabbit" but to The Reluctant Farmer he was her heart.  Andy was a Flemish Giant rabbit, and was quite impressive with his 20 pound size, feet as big as your open hand, and long eyelashes that would make most woman jealous.  

To go with his giant size, was an even bigger personality.  He was loved by so many of our neighbors and local children, and he was a sucker for a carrot and oatmeal!  People loved to visit Andy when they would visit us, and when we moved his hutch in the spring, several neighbors remarked just how much they missed seeing him everyday.

We will miss him too.

I was standing at the sink doing dishes when I heard dogs barking frantically, and asked The Reluctant Farmer to go check on our chickens thinking that maybe one of them was loose and the dogs were barking at it.  Two of our dogs came running inside and I noticed blood on one's coat.  Assuming there was a dog fight, and still missing one dog, The Reluctant Farmer ran outside to find the other dog and she discovered Andy's body.

My heart hurts and I feel sick.  I know the dogs were just doing what dogs do, but it still hurts....