The Farm wouldn’t be complete without the people and animals that make it possible.
Crew
Raederle “Red” Clay
My name is Red, I’m the owner/operator of Wind’s Four Quarters Farm. I grew up on a small family farm in central Idaho. I earned my Associate’s degree in Web Site Design & Management at Idaho State University. I lived in Minneapolis for ten years; after purchasing my first home in 2011, a friend of mine and I started a “thought experiment” to answer how much room we would need to create a completely off-grid, self-sufficient and self-sustaining homestead. Over the next few years, this thought experiment started to become a reality (with a LOT of refinements!), to become what the vision is today. In 2018, I sold my house in Minnesota and moved back to Pocatello, Idaho, to pursue making that vision a reality.
Cast
Meat Rabbits
Andy and Tex are the primary livestock on the Farm today. They are bred a few times a year to produce litters that are raised for meat. Some of the kits are also sold as breeding stock or for 4-H projects.
Andy
Andy is a buck. He is half Rex (a standard meat rabbit breed), quarter Silver Fox (a heritage rabbit breed), and quarter Champagne d’Argent (a non-standard meat rabbit breed, believed to be descended from the Creme d’Argent heritage breed). His coloration is known as “otter.” The tan coloring comes from his Champagne heritage, while the “salting” throughout the rest of his coat comes from his Silver Fox heritage. He has a thick, soft coat that is a classic Rex trait, but with some long, stiffer guard hairs that come from his Silver Fox genes. He was born in June 2016.
Tex
Tex is a doe. She is half Californian (another standard meat rabbit breed), slightly less than half Rex, and some small amount Silver Fox. She has the classic Silver Fox coloration (black face, black undercoat, silver guard hairs), which is genetically dominant to the Californian coloration, so we know she didn’t get the gene from her dam’s side; her sire was supposedly pure Rex, but his genes are the only way she could have gotten the Silver Fox coloring. She was born in February 2017.
Supporting Cast & Crew
Head Supervisor
Squeak is a half Maine Coon cat. She has the classic Maine Coon markings (and everyone asks me whenever we go out!), but she’s smaller. She also has the classic personality traits: behaves more like a dog, “talks” a lot, and is very social (with me, anyway – she’s a bit standoffish with strangers). Despite being declawed (a requirement of the apartment we lived in when I adopted her), she is an excellent mouser and has even caught a handful of birds. She loves going outside and supervising activities in the garden.
Head Handyman
Steve is my dad. I learned a lot of skills from him, most notably carpentry. He has been a hobbyist woodworker for many years and followed that passion to become a machinist in 2000. He now heads up the machining program at Idaho State University. He is my go-to person when I have an engineering problem or need to build something (his toolbox is still quite a bit larger than mine!).