I taught small animal husbandry and gardening at a Bible Institute in Mexico, for a little over 8 years. Rabbits were a mainstay of our production because they grew really well on alfalfa and corn, which we raised ourselves. The domestic rabbit was developed for culture in cages. I know that many are prejudiced against cages. But the rabbits themselves don't mind. Having each adult animal in its own cage allows one to control their breeding and maintain better hygiene, and thus protect the health of the does and, indeed of the entire rabbitry. Someone above mentioned starting with a buck and two does. That is indeed the way to go. If one doe fails (and a certain percentage of them do, right from the start) then you are not out of completely out of production. More than two does will produce A WHOLE LOT of offspring, which may be more work than you want. Each will have at least four litters a year of an average of, say 7 kits. The kits reach butchering size in 12 weeks. A standard meat breed, such as California or New Zealand White, will yield a 2 1/2 to 3 lb carcass, dressed out, at that time. That is mainly meat. Their bones are quite light. So, in four months, from breeding, a doe can be responsible for the production of about 21 lb of meat. One of the beauties of rabbitry is that one could raise a whole lot of meat in a shed or garage, and neighbors might never even suspect. They do not stink. They do produce a lot of manure, but it is not smelly as manures go. It can be spread directly on gardens without hurting anything, as long as it doesn't carry urine in it. Well fed domestic rabbit meat isn't all that lean. But it isn't marbled. The fat is easy to separate from the meat. I happen to like eating it, as it comes, on the carcass, when we roast it. Our favorite way to fix a rabbit, is roasted whole, like a whole chicken. Place the rabbit in a baking pan, sprinkle with lemon juice and salt and roast for about 1 1/2 hour at 350F. The meat should easily pull off the bones when fully cooked. After serving rabbit this way, the left overs can be picked from the bones and used in a stir fry or soup. We have frequent dinner guests and I cannot, in 20 years, think of anyone who didn't think that it was just wonderful. It is a white meat. Anyone raising a few rabbits at home could fairly easily harvest weeds or grass to supplement their feed. Before teaching rabbitry at the Bible Institute, I raised rabbits in a more remote setting, where there were neither prefabricated cages nor commercial rabbit food. Our rabbits did fine on local weeds, cover crops and either whole kernel corn or stale tortillas for a carb. The domestic rabbit is the easiest of all animals to butcher and prepare. It is definitely the least messy. Duck is another favorite of our family. Duck is all dark meat, which I dearly love. We raise Muscovy ducks, which are not nearly as fatty as other breeds. The Muscovy, is, in fact, from an entirely different species than other domestic breeds. Muscovies are wonderful foragers. Ours roam our pasture and pond, devouring insects, rodents and small reptiles. They lay eggs, easily twice the size of a regular chicken egg. Their eggs are delicious. I like to roast a duck exactly the way we roast rabbit. The meat is flavored like... duck, which we enjoy. Leftover duck makes WONDERFUL soups, stews and stir fries. Just be sure to cook it no higher than 350 F and for however long it takes for it to easily pull off the bones. Most of the fat in a Muscovy duck is in the skin. So it is easy to remove, if so desired. Muscovies actually beat rabbits for exponential reproduction! As a homesteader, I find that my greatest challenge with them, is to keep them from producing too many ducklings. The wild reproduction seems great during the summer, when they are eating so much from foraging. But after a killing freeze, suddenly those cute ducks consume A LOT of expensive feed! They are also much more laborious to process than are rabbits. The argument against beef is completely slanted, as a couple of people have already mentioned. Most places that raise beef have a drier climate and poorer soil than where the "anti beef people live." Somehow they seem to think that if ranchers didn't raise beef on their ranches, that those ranches would be converted to luxuriant gardens. But that is not the case. Believe me. I LOVE to garden, and have several nice sized vegetable gardens on our little farm. But I never cease to battle with rocks and constantly work at building tilth. After I have spent all available resources and energy to grow gardens, I still have a lot more than 90% of the property well suited for ruminants. We like to have a few cattle along with sheep and goats, as the three species do not eat exactly the same things. They actually produce better in a mixed herd. George Tahlequah, OK

THe spring rolls DO sound perfect! But if you need another option, this is amazing and I have made is with non-smoked duck. IF you do want the smokey flavor, add a little pimenton or liquid smoke (in a pinch). SMOKED DUCK MOUSSE PROFITEROLES WITH CHILE PEPPER GLAZE Ingredients needed: 1/2 recipe Herbed Profiteroles 1/2 pound boneless smoked duck breast, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups) 1 tablespoon minced shallots 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up 1/4 cup heavy cream 1 1/2 teaspoons EmerilâÂÂs Creole Seasoning 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 turns freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup Chile Pepper Glaze 1 cup shredded Bibb lettuce Prepare the profiteroles and set aside. Place the duck breast, shallots, butter, cream, Creole Seasoning, salt, and pepper in a food processor and purée, stopping once to scrape the sides, until the mixture is smooth. Makes 1 1/2 cups. Prepare the Chile Pepper Glaze. To serve, slice 1/4 inch off the top of each profiterole. Place 1 profiterole on each of 4 plates and, using the tines of a fork, drizzle the inside of each pastry cup with about 1 teaspoon of the Chile Pepper Glaze. Sprinkle the plate with 2 tablespoons lettuce, mound 3 tablespoons mousse into each profiterole, and replace the lids. Dip the tines of the fork into the glaze again, and let the glaze drizzle through onto the lid of each profiterole, using about 1/2 teaspoon for each. Yield: 8 first-course servings

We dip veggies in guacamole all the time. Bell pepper strips are great for this because they have a "hook" for catching the lumps. :) We eat hummus with veggies too. What makes a good dip for veggies is anything that has enough body (often fat, but there are other ways) to stick, and a strong flavor. Thinner dips are good with chips because too much is overwhelming and they stick to the broad surface. With a carrot you get a little ball, so it needs to stick. Veggies have more flavor than chips, too, so strong flavors like onion, garlic, hot peppers, roasted veg, salt, strong cheese and pungent herbs come through a lot better than a simple yoghurt dip. Try roasting a few mixed veg and pureeing them with some cream cheese. Thin with a little milk and/or a drop of wine. Just a drop, though, or it'll taste boozy. You can actually puree almost anything to make a dip. How about a little leftover duck breast, sauce and all? How about herb custard?

Thanks, Plllog and Lindac. I apologize for that overly long unfocused post. I was cooking (or had plans to cook) the duck and parts is several directions. I removed the duck breast with skin and fat on. These were the last thingsI prepared. I scored the skin and pa fried them in a hot pan, skin side down in a bit of garlic-thyme-sale gris favored duck fat. I let the skin get very crisp, the turned the breast halves. I made a sweet-tart cherry sauce for the and put some of the filtered thyme-salt-garlic fat on roasted potato. They were heavenly. I cooked them medium-med rare. The chopped carcass including wings, thighs and legs I oven roasted after marinating dry in garlic, gray salt and thyme for 48 hours. I washed marinade off, patted dry and put in a slow oven in a Le Creuset Dutch oven, no cover because I wanted the skin to crisp. Hours later, fragrant, but skin did not crisp. Meat seemed salty and tough. I did get about 1.5 Cups of delicious fat which I filtered and set aside. I made stock from the bones. I couldn’t get the skin to crisp. The stock is heavenly. Oh, and the filtered duck broth gelatin (solid when cold) was fantastic. I ate a few spoonfuls, and included the remainder in the broth-stock pot. It was my first duck cooking experiment and I read too much, was exhausted and tried to go in too many directions at once, and took too much time. The many good cooks here would have tossed me and the duck out of their kitchens, I’m sure. This weekend I’ll visit my duck loving friend and maybe get more thoughts. I’ll take the frozen liver and some fat with me. I bought a few “spare” ducks (freezer), so one of these days I will try the recommended Inna Gartner recipe, and also a Peking Duck recipe — air compressor or sports ball pump technique to separate the skin from the fat. I wish I could give you a taste of those duck breasts with crisp skin — so delicious. Oh, and the flavor of the duck fat reminded me so much of the batches of roasted prime woodland mushrooms I used to make — chanterelles, optimum boletes, and select russulas. Now I’m off to snack on leftover duck and to make Char Siu. Have a good weekend, everyone. edit - typos Note: I cannot get this to publish to the CF; I am trying again. ??? Anyone see this?