provide eggs, they were Rhode Island Reds.  A few years later I discovered hatcheries on the internet and we added a wide variety of chicken breeds to our flock.  Later on I added guineas, ducks, turkeys, geese, and quail to our modest flock.  Due to the number of birds we kept, we had to add a larger poultry pen to accommodate them all.

Unfortunately, in summer 2003 I decided to concentrate on rabbits and cavies and so I sold the majority of the flock leaving just one pair of Guineas, a handful of laying hens, and a single duck hen.  Eventually I may get back into poultry keeping, but for now downsizing is good.

was purchased by a friend with the sole intent of using her to nurse an orphaned foal.  The twin kids she bore were whisked away at birth and were given to me to raise.  The buckling was wethered and later removed.  I kept the doeling for breeding.  She gave birth to a single buckling in 2001, and a pair of twins in 2003.  Her doeling so far is the only one that has been kept.

Naming:

In 2000 I began to tinker with names for our fledgling farmstead, which by then consisted of a small rabbit herd, poultry flock, dairy goats, and Dax, the wonder dog, who pretty much ruled the farm with an iron paw.  It was actually my mother who suggested the name Falls-Acre Farm, 

and it stuck.

Since then we have refined our rabbit breeding program, added and lost many working class pets, added the caviary, and cultivated contacts with other breeders around the country.  We have also become involved in several national animal registries including AKC, ADGA and ARBA.

As well as some smaller clubs such as the NMRRC, HLRSC, BRGC and MACBA.

I obtained my first rabbit as a college freshman, in 1995.  Lonely and far from home I soon took it upon myself to visit the local pet store where I found a beautiful Siamese Dwarf rabbit of questionable ancestry.  Thus began Rabbit fever.

Right around 1996 I became enamored of the idea of keeping a few breeding rabbits to supply fresh rabbit meat. I acquired a few New Zealands from local sources and stumbled on for a few years before a pack of local dogs came and decimated my small herd.

In 1999 I came upon my first Holland Lop.  A beautiful solid black doe we called Ebony.  About this time I decided to get back into breeding rabbits and chose to breed Mini-Rexes for their beautiful soft coats and curly whiskers.  I managed to pick up my first pair through local sources, both were Harlequins, and later acquired a REW doe.

After a short while I decided to see if I could find a mate for Ebony and found him in a local rabbitry of a person that specialized in Hollands.  She sold me her blue herd buck and I also selected a nice black tort doe to make my first Holland trio.  It was around this time that people started realizing I was going to be operating a rabbitry, and began giving me different mixed ancestry bunnies.  I continued on for a couple years this way, slowly adding a purebred here and there.

In 2001, I decided I was going to specialize in the Hollands and Mini-Rex and began weeding out all the "junk" that had accumulated.  I was also going to try my hand at creating a breed, the Dwarf Velveteen Lop, but decided after a year's worth of effort that I needed to establish myself as a reputable breeder first.  In mid 2002 I decided to try my hand at showing and attended my first rabbit show.  After that I was hooked.  I'd already been an ARBA member since 2001, so all that needed to be done was to find the shows, pick the entry and attend.

Not surprisingly, the blue buck was my first rabbit ever entered in any show.  He did miserably!  Coming in last place for being out of condition, but rather than being discouraged, I started working hard on perfecting my rabbits to win on the show tables.  I purchased a copy of the ARBA standard, and switched feeders to attached ones.

 I've since added some fantastic show animals, and even the Himalayan breed, to my rabbitry.  I've won a few small awards with my rabbits, and with time I hope to be able to win some of the big ones as well.  Best of all, I've started keeping show animals back into my herd and have even started showing and winning with a few of them.  It's nice to win, it's even better when it's your name on the winning rabbit!

A History of Falls-Acre Cavies

I went into cavies with my eyes wide open.  I knew I wanted to show them, so I did some research into what there was to show and to locate local breeders (if any).  I stumbled across the ACBA website and was able to look at the 13 different breeds.  I didn't care for the long-haired cavies, they seemed like too much with which to start out.

I really fell for the photos they had of the Teddies.  So I went along looking for that breed.  What I found was that there are no Teddy breeders in my state.  I did manage to find a "local" breeder in eastern TN, the Williams'.  They invited me to what was to be my very first cavy show, or show of any kind.

I drove out and arrived relatively early for the event, and stayed through the entire show.  I spoke little to anyone, as I'm actually a fairly shy type of person.  But I looked at everything there was to see there, and there certainly was enough to look at!  At that show I was able to see different varieties of Teddy, Peruvians, Silkies, American and American Satin, Coronets, and even a Texel!  I fell in love with a set of red Satin Americans, of which I now own a pair.

I went home that evening happily carrying a trio of dalmatian Teddy cavies.  And though that trio has long since gone, the flame that was sparked with them has remained.

The Original Trio

Antioch                            Peppermint                                 Paisley

Future Intentions for FAF?

I've always been attracted by the exotic, those animals I have never kept.  So someday I would like to try my hand at keeping Llamas, Vicuñas, Reindeer and maybe a miniature donkey.  In poultry I'd love to try raising Peafowl and  Pheasant.  Some more common livestock I'd like to keep are beef cattle (specifically Black Angus and Limousin), sheep (Suffolk and Barbados Blackbelly), and perhaps even a few horses. 

I am, of course, a realistic person and understand that while I may never own all of these, some are quite expensive and difficult to obtain and maintain, I can always dream, hope, and plan.  After all, that's all any of us can ever really do.  

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