The English Angora is the bulk of my Sustainable foundation right now.  It is the source of feed and housing for my worm beds, it is the basis of my soil enrichment program for the vegetable, herb and perennial gardens, edible berries and fruit trees, it supplies all the wool for my natural fiber projects, and it is the link to all the friends I have made so far in the area; and it is also a source of pets right now as I remove pet quality animals from my stock.  Everything is connected, but I will try to keep the angora site just to the English Angora Rabbits, and put the Wool Products on the Industry pages, but I did want to include just a blurb about the Environmental role of the EA in my world.

WHY ANGORA??

Angora wool is the warmest, softest and most luxurious wool in the world; Vicuna falls a close second, but Vicuna isn’t really adapted to live in West Virginia, where as the angora rabbit was developed along a very close parallel, in Turkey.  The need to stay warm is one of the essential ingredients in staying alive, in the winter here, it gets cold and stays cold and there are a few ways to stay warm:

1. 1.crank up the heat and  walk around in your panties, watering the tropical plants (while the power plant chops down the mountains to get the fuel)
   

2. 2.fly south for the winter
   

3. 3.hibernate
   

4. 4.wear angora and get so hot, you have to take off your coat outside
   

The body is constantly producing heat, and keeping that heat close to your body is the equivalent to having a well built and insulated home.  I just think it’s smart and luxurious, and I don’t have a problem with soft and warm.  I love it. Smart and sensational is def the way to go in my book, and I want to make sure that other people are not freezing to death all around me.  I want to make enough angora to go around, and to encourage the raising of angoras for wool and the use of the wool over the other options to keeping warm. 

Now I know that I will also have to heat my house, other than by body heat alone, but I have heard that livestock have been used for this purpose.  People living above the milk cow for example, with the heat from the large animal rising from below.  I have a girlfriend who lives on the second story apartment in Buffalo, NY and she has not turned on her heat for four winters.  I think that’s quite impressive.

Because the English Angora is so beautiful, has the most wonderful wool and the best personality, it was an easy choice for me, among the wooly rabbits, but I understand people’s desires for the Giant Angora, all white and slightly course, very very dense and a reliable rabbit for wool, but I really enjoy the colored rabbits so much more than the white.

So here are the rabbits--

The rabbits on the site are lain out as close as possible to the standard recognized Angora colors and classifications order in The Standards of Perfection:

White EA   (Most likely, you will find any REW on the For Sale page, otherwise, I’ll have to make a page for them too. )

Agouti EA                

Broken EA              

Self Group EA                          

Shaded Group

Tortoiseshell Varieties

Ticked Group

Wide Band Group     

Under each of these, I will have the individual pages featuring my stars, which are arranged first by color, then by quality (self-grade) and then by age and sex with their birth dates, and weights and the information I am gathering, plus I hope to include their winnings when they show... and plans for them; some include a whole page of pictures...

After the listings of the rabbits, I include the Angoras I have for sale and the sales policy with contact information.

Right now one of the biggest goals is to get the Breeding Program all Registered.  ***I a very excited to announce the Registar came and registered over 40 of the rabbits I had ready fro her to see-- We did find one white toenail, one hernia, one over weight, but over all it was a very good and successful day!  Yes, all my Angoras are Purebreed, and I am a Registered member of ARBA, the American Rabbit Breeders Association.

English Angora are the bulk of my Rabbitry, and although the herd is still quite young, and I’m very pleased to present our first line of seniors under our own name, Appalachian Rain (AR).  AR Bluewater heads up our Self colors and performed well (second) at the shows last year under heavy competition from well established rabbitries in our region. We are introducing Dustibunnies’(DB) Othello, who has remarkable density, a short body and a high round top line, with great expectations.

AR Achilles placed second (to his half sibling) at one of the 2009 shows we attended; he and his father Heart of Mine’s (HOM) Sundance represent our Wideband lines.

This year (2010) I hope to focus on recording the wool production and potential of our line, while continuing the work to improve the texture, density and vitality of our wool and the selection of body type and prime holding.  It is heartbreaking to have the perfect body type in some rabbits and incredible density in others and to spend the time bringing them together while everyone else gets to go to the show, but the work must be done, and there are important observations to gather, synthesize and utilize.   Perhaps we can make it to a few shows, but this year will have a different focus-- on building a stronger foundation.  We are hopeful for coming out in 2011 full force and then continuing with a strong and present showing.  And wouldn’t it be nice to start shows in Charleston again?

Also, on the website, later,  I may make a sheet that categorizes by show class, i.e. Junior Does, Colors.  or up and coming hopefuls, or boastfully, “future champions” or perhaps just a showcase of winnings, when that happens.

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