06/16/2026
Rabbit - Kitchen Garden Connection
Third Step: The Kitchen Garden
We don't try to have the rabbit hutch fuel the main market garden (about an acre), instead we have an ample kitchen garden (maybe 1000 sq ft) close by that gives fresh tomatoes, peppers, cole crops, summer squash, and a bunch of different herbs.
It's as simple as taking the waste w**ds and herbs that have been used as bedding by the rabbits (containing manure and urine), inside and below the cage.
Housekeeping with a secret motivation to harvest their natural fertilizer to grow great vegetables!
Our tomato plants are about 6 1/2 feet tall and loaded with tomatoes. Other plants are growing well with the increased nutrients from the rabbits and seem to only need a weekly sprinkling of calcium.
Match the garden size to the rabbit hutch "fertilizer factory" size and all will be taken care of.
We're liberal with hay (used for the rabbits) and cut grasses to heavily mulch the garden and the paths.
No biggie if grass or w**ds poke through. They just become part of our secret plan to feed the rabbits fresh grasses and w**ds. [Maniacal laugh begins---'we've been waiting for you...'] jk 😜
But now back to the 🐰---instead of the drudgery of rabbit keeping, they've become "fertility creators" (and meat providers). Instead of hating to have to w**d the garden, the w**ds that persist become bunny food. Waste gets used by the other partner in the system. (Not every w**d or plant material is edible or good for the bunnies, but most are. Do an online search if you don't know the plant well, and get introduced to the plants in your yard and the benefits or drawbacks they may have. W**ds are plants in the wrong place---in our plantings or in our minds. 🤔)
So, this is a simple system showing a permaculture beneficial relationship. The biological benefits are real, and the psychological benefits are real as well, as it seems a little bit less like a chore when you see the wastes become the golden links that complete an abundant natural process. It's very important to keep biocides out of this loop, as it affects everything.
Studying the natural design, we can see many connections just like this one. Why? Because they were all made by a Creator Who put these basic connections in place. His design always works! Designing with His creation as the model is smart😉.
