Baby bunnies, oh my

We had some new additions to our backyard. One of our female rabbits gave birth to three cute bunnies. The kids were over joyed and although I smiled too, I could not stop thinking about how are we going to get rid of them. Well, as nature would have it, bunnies are prolific and predators are crafty. Without saying anything else, we now only have one of those bunnies left. The gods favored the predators and in the process we achieved an equilibrium that I can live with. Having so many animals around our home has taught our girls that the cycle of life is much bigger than our emotional attachments. Whether the predators were owls, opossums, or snakes is irrelevant as the creatures of the wild need to live too.
    This is such a different world from the suburban bubble that we used to live, in our yesterlife. In our former hermetically sealed lives everything was so uniform and neat. Tuna came in a can, Chicken came in pieces, everything was so tidy, and there was never any blood, or loss, ever. Here, like other rural communities, we eat somewhat closer to earth. For example, our neighbor regularly butchers his animals and occasionally ours too. Eating a rooster that was crowing 3 hours before is now our new definition of fresh. The meat not only tastes sweeter but our appreciation for Robert the rooster means that we don't waste anything either, and I mean anything.
   We have some Italian friends (from Italy) back in Texas. Prior to our trip to Latin America grandma Linda said, "As a little girl I used to get a bunny every Easter as a pet." We replied like usual people by saying, "Ah, how cute." She then finished her story by saying, "We ate my pet rabbit every Christmas... and I got a new bunny every Easter." Our jaws dropped, we stood there in shock. We were mortified. What do we say? We managed to stutter that we were sorry she had to go through that. She simply smiled, like a reminiscing grandma would, and softly said, "That's the way it was back then and I was happy to do my part for the family."
    Fast forward 3 years and I get it, I truly get it now. Living closer to nature, unfiltered, with its dirty beauty is the truest way that I have ever lived. More importantly, my daughters get it too, and thankfully at a much younger age than I.
   For the record: Our bunnies are off limits to human consumption as I apparently swore under oath to my daughters that we would never have Hasenpfeffer :)

Baby bunny bliss.

Even my wife got in on the bunny lovin'.

Mother nature's fast food.

Zoe's best friend loves all animals.

Cutest to the tenth power.

Sierra put hibiscus flowers in her hair to keep them away from the bunnies. She later pulled the flowers down one by one when she was ready to feed the bunnies.