So you all know me, Frankie, the goat extraordinaire, the goat with the fan base, the most important goat on this mountain….. and normally, I don’t care about giving accolades to the other critters who live here.

However, every now and then you must give credit where it is due. Earlier this month, I sent wench up to Ohio, to Angora Nationals. She went there with Aunt June and one rabbit: Gold Digger, a satin angora doe.

Gold Digger is 2 years old; a mom of one litter, and she had earned two legs toward her grand champion already. Her career as a show bunny was slightly overshadowed by her sister, Prasanna, who won every class she ever entered. Sadly, Prasanna left us earlier this spring, after going on a hunger strike (it is always the best rabbits… won’t breed, won’t eat, won’t play, no matter what you do). Anyway, Goldie was just quietly hanging out, being a good girl, and recovering from her litter, when wench came to me to discuss angora nationals. Seems there were two or three contenders under consideration. There was a giant angora, Atlas, an intermediate buck, there was Aveline, a broken black french doe, and there was Gold Digger.

I often wonder why they hold National rabbit shows in the spring each year. The weather is not conducive to growing beautiful coats of fur. One day it’s winter, the next day it’s summer, almost like Mother Nature can’t make up her mind (especially here in the North Carolina mountains). So unless you have a controlled environment in which to pamper your rabbits coats, you take a chance on who will be ready to go on the day you load your car.

Gold Digger was ready. She did such a nice job that she won Best of Breed Satin Angora. Over 40 rabbits in the class. We are very proud of her.

Here you see Gold Digger before she was groomed for the National show.

Here she is - Miss Satin Angora - (are you singing the song?)

So anyway, when she came home from Ohio, she was sheared, and maybe, just maybe, she will try for another litter of babies this spring. I heard a rumor that there would be a visiting buck here in May who will be breeding most of our satin angoras.

In other news, we have a cadre of American Chinchilla does (and three bucks) ready to go to their new home down in Burnsville, NC and they are getting picked up later this month. In the meantime, we have one litter of Chins from Vanja, and a couple more litters expected next month.

Just remember, a baby bunny is very cute, but is not a toy. At this time of the year, wench does not sell rabbits to anyone but another breeder. A bunny is easily a ten year commitment, so, if you aren’t ready for that, no buns for you. Of course if you want to talk about commitments, you WILL be committed if you decide to jump down the rabbit hole….. these people are nuts! (but that’s another blog post)

Saving the best for last, here’s the CUTEST of ALL! Gracie, emerging Herd Queen, has graced us (get it?) with a baby boy. He was born during the hockey playoffs, so his name is Stanley Slapshot. We’re calling him Slapshot for short. Is he just adorbs?

He fits right in with the gang.

We are all shorn now and ready to re grow our fiber over the summer. We have started the lawn maintenance around here and it tastes good!

Wench is busy working on plans for the 2nd annual Blue Ridge Fiber Fest, and builder is working on the studio addition. In the meantime, we are all looking forward to a visit from builder’s mom in May.

I’m hoping to keep up with this blog regularly, but you know how hard it is to get good help around here….. so, until next time, thanks for reading Frankly speaking!