We are still here!

Well Dec 21st 2012 came and went and I still haven't seen a zombie, unless you count the kids when we get them up for school in the morning. So now we have to plan for the  coming year and hope that it isn't nearly as hot and dry as last year.
The main project this year will be the rabbits. We plan to get a buck and three does, either New Zealand Whites or Californians. They will hopefully be supplying us with enough meat to negate buying any from the store. I also intend to use the boat this year and provide us with some fish.
I have two cages already made for the breeding rabbits. I need to build a couple more and also a rabbit tractor to raise the young rabbits in once they are weaned. They should grow nicely on fresh pasture each day.
The adults will be mainly fed pellets, plus greens and hay, but I intend to start producing my own feed for them. I have looked at sprouting wheat and barley, also growing them to seed in the field. Another thing I want to grow is sunflowers. This is all experimental this year, but my intention is to be self reliant for all animal food eventually.
One of the other projects I have in mind is to build myself an extension to the barn for food processing. A friend of mine has been supplying me with pallets and I am going to use them to build the structure. As there won't be mains electricity to it, I will either run batteries charged by wind or pedal power.
I have been reading  a lot about the different ways you can use pedal power to run different types of appliances. There is even a design for a field winch, where you have the unit at one end of the field and it pulls a cultivator, plow, or anything else that could have been pulled by a draft animal. This idea really appeals to me as once it is made, it will cost nothing to run and you get some exercise in the process.
After all the hard work the family did getting in the hay last year, we have plans to make it easier and more efficient. The hand baler worked well enough,  but we spent a lot of labor moving the hay into windrows, then carting it to the barn, then baling it. We still had a stack outside of the barn which Tony has moved into the barn now. The plan is to rebuild the handbaler, but mount it on wheels so it can be towed behind the tractor. We will make the bales as we go and then move them to the barn. The raking will be done with a small dump rake that I am building from angle iron and old bicycle parts. The tines for the rake will be got from Orschleins, who sell them for a couple of bucks each.
The garden suffered from the drought and the infestation of locusts last year. This year we have dug a swale above the garden, expanded the garden plot to four times the area and will be experimenting with a no-till policy. We will use hay to mulch everything. We have plenty. I will also work harder on digging out the mud from the pond if it dries out like last year. The problem with that was getting the diggings up the hill to the garden. If we do get a pedal powered winch, then that will solve that problem.
All in all, it promises to be a more productive year in 2013.