Rabbit regenerative farming: how I plan to cut my gardening costs in half for 2025

Regenerative farming is one of the fastest ways to heal the environment and fix our soil. I have set up my own regenerative loop using a lesser-talked-about animal: bunnies.

Nearly three-years ago when I lived in Southwest Florida (Matlacha) after having moved from New York City in 2020, I saw an unusual sight in the woods near my mom’s home. We observed what looked to be domesticated rabbits running for their lives in a woods filled with deadly wildlife, from alligators and ospreys, to venomous spiders and snakes.

It was one-week after Easter, and a post in a local Facebook group let us know it’s sadly all-too-common in the Cape Coral area that people buy baby bunnies for their kids around Easter - and then let them go once the holiday passes. Since Southwest Floridian weather stays above freezing (almost always), people think it’s OK or ‘humane’ to dump their pets outside once they are tired of them. I saw this often. It’s one of the main reasons why invasive pythons reaching 20 feet in length are slithering rampantly around the Everglades right now.

My mom is an animal whisperer and a ‘longevity expert’ as someone who can extend the usual lifespans for just about every animal we’ve ever had, from ponies and draft horses, to chickens, cats, parrots, and ducks. She couldn’t watch these docile, innocent rabbits fend for themselves, awaiting the day when an eagle snatched them up for breakfast.

She set out animal traps to try and save some of them. She caught (who we’ve now named) Athena and Zeus first. Then one day we spotted Hercules lounging underneath a garden bed, panting from the heat (rabbits do not do well in temperatures above 80 degrees - their ideal temperature is 55 degrees). He was exhausted, dehydrated, and starving. I maneuvered around him to get him to go into the trap (these were spacious animal traps that do not hurt animals, I promise).

We went to Tractor Supply and started shopping roomy two-tiered cages for them. After that, my mom purchased a big fenced-in cage that would go around their individual cages to create shade for them and act as a barrier against Florida wildlife.

We didn’t realize Athena was pregnant at the time, either, which meant many baby bunnies were on the way. That’s how we ended up with the 9 we have today. We have gotten to know each of them over the last few years, and also had the boys fixed - except for Hercules - who remains our stud.

I learned a lot about rabbits that I did not know, starting with how smart and emotional they are. They are incredibly sensitive. One sound or touch they don’t like and they will slam their back feet down, making a sound you can hear across the yard. They do this to warn other bunnies in the colony of danger. They don’t like being held, but they do love being pet. They have very distinct personalities. You get the picture.

Hurricane Ian

September 2022 brought Hurricane Ian with it, which you all know kick-started my farming adventure after I lost my house to flooding. I break down my background story here. We emergency brought the bunnies inside at the last second and put them in my bedroom - and thank God we did because the hurricane annihilated their enclosure. The storm was a million times worse than they had predicted for the Cape Coral region.

I decided in 2023 I had had enough - the northerner in me was ready to freeze my ass off again in Upstate New York - happily. I built out a farm with the Amish and embraced a new path for myself. By May 2024, our 9 rabbits arrived to the farm, courtesy of my stepdad who drove them 1,000 miles and moved into their brand new cages we had awaiting them (my mom and I have since put the cages on stilts so they are higher off the ground).

Today, they are integral members of my farm, and unexpectedly, gardening assistants for me. They did more for my first few months gardening that I could have ever imagined. It led me to realize that rabbits are an incredibly valuable part of any regenerative farming operation, and though I see people touting chickens, pigs, and cows for this kind of loop, I don’t see that many people talking about rabbits. Don’t worry - I am happy to fill in that space!

Before I dissect the regenerative farming loop I have created with the rabbits, I want to mention something that I think may makes its way into scientific journals or literature to come.

I discovered something special this past summer.

I used my rabbit manure in all my gardening. For my sunflowers, I hoed a row, sprinkled in rabbit pebbles and some shavings (that were soaked with their urine), added in the seeds above it, and closed in the rows. The sunflowers thrived - and I mean really thrived. I did nothing else! But more importantly… I had zero issues with pests.

I had no fencing. I had no sprays. I had no netting. Nothing. And I live in a massively open agricultural area that is abounding in wildlife. Deer SLEEP on my land. Not ONE touched my plants this summer, anywhere on the property. I later learned if you have the scent of multiple animals’ pee around your plants, it signals to other animals there is a large colony of potentially angry mothers and their mates ready to attack.

The smell of 9 different rabbits’ droppings and urine warded off all pests - even aphids. I had ZERO pest issues.

I am excited to explore this further - definitely spread the word on this to a gardener in your life! (Even my apple and pear trees needed zero caging around them)

Regenerative farming

People are waking up to the detrimental effects of mass corporate farming methods today. Monoculture farming is leaving soil depleted and stripped of its organic material, torn up season-after-season with tilling machines that lead to erosion. Without plant diversity, farmers rely on pesticides to keep pests off the plants, which contributes to the overall health crisis in this country. It’s not sustainable.

I stumbled upon Joel Salatin through YouTube last year, discussing the benefits of regenerative farming. I had never even heard the term! He was demonstrating how he has created entirely self-sustaining loops at his Polyface Farms in Virginia, about six-hours south of where my farm, House of Green, resides. Joel claimed that if you farm in accordance with the land, using livestock and animals as part of the operation, you can create all the manure, materials, and inputs you need to generate farming outputs without spending more money.

Most importantly, farming in this way heals the land. He discussed how the organic matter in the soil at his farm when he first bought it was only at 1%. After (I believe, don’t quote me on this) 5-8 years or so, he said that figure increased to 8%.

How was this possible?

Through the animal droppings. Applying fertilizer obtained on his land with other throwaway materials, like wood chips, stored and churned with no chemicals, Joel was feeding the land over-and-over again without tilling. People often refer to this method of gardening as the Ruth Stout method, as she demonstrated that it was possible to deeply mulch around plants, suppressing weeds without ever tearing into the soil. Joel Salatin was taking the Ruth Stout method and pairing animals into the loop.

Here I was in Upstate New York, never having farmed or gardened a day in my life, already discovering that rabbit urine wards off gardening pests. What else was I going to discover? I thought to myself.

Hop in: we’re rabbit regenerative farming

Still a novice farmer and gardener with big plans for my farm this year, here is how my bunnies are going to take my operation to the next level.

• Manure: rabbits provide ‘gardening gold’ as some call it, as their droppings are a cold fertilizer. Whereas cow or horse manure is hot, and needs to be aged or cooled before its applied to plants, rabbit manure is ready-to-go. The second it leaves their little furry bodies, I can use it in my gardening. I am collecting their droppings and putting them in a big manure pile outside, including their shavings and urine.

• Vegetable tops: rabbits want to eat the parts of plants we do not. We want the carrot - they want the carrot top. We want the peeled potato - they want the potato skins. My gardening is going to produce nutritious food for my rabbits, while still yielding me products I can sell.

• Pest control: by using rabbit fertilizer, I will not have to put pesticides, sprays, fencing, or other fertilizers. This is a HUGE cost savings, in the thousands.

• Organic farming: since I won’t need pesticides, I will be able to file for an organic farming license and grow pesticide-free food that is highly sought-after and can fetch an even higher price tag at my farm stand (I will not be inflating my food prices though, do not fret).

• Interactive farm activity: who doesn’t want to pet or hold a rabbit? We all read the same Beatrix Potter books, or watched the rabbit lead Alice into Wonderland. Rabbits have been part of the human experience for thousands of years. Kids, and adults, will want to come to the farm to meet the rabbits on certain public days (my mom is open to offering rabbit meet-and-greets and teaching visitors about proper animal caretaking and welfare). Therefore, the rabbits will be a ‘tourist’ attraction that get people to my farm to do other things, like pick-your-own or farm stand perusing.

• Prolific harvests: everything I grew with rabbit fertilizer last year flourished. Their droppings ensure rich, prolific harvests, which means more food for them and more food for me to sell for a profit. With more money made, and none on pesticides or fertilizer, I will be able to turn a larger profit more quickly.

• Healthy soil: lastly, applying rabbit fertilizer to my soil will increase the organic matter, making the soil richer and healthier for future generations.

You get the idea! For those of you who like to process meat (that is not my calling on this planet), there is obviously throwing that into this mix as well. Rabbits are regarded as one of the best animals for a homestead for that reason, along with goats.

And though I can’t say too much about this yet, I come from a long line of artists on both sides of my family. Let’s just saw our cotton-tailed friends may be making their way into different paintings and products that will be part of my farm experience.

I share this in hopes to inspire anyone reading that we’ve barely scratched the surface of modern homesteading, farming, and regenerative gardening. There is a lot to be discovered! It’s an exciting time to jump into the mix - and with $24 trillion dollars worth of farmland about to be for sale in this country over the next 20-years - it has never been a better time to become a first-generation-farmer (you do not need 10+ acres to do this - many are doing it on less than an acre).

As for buying this land, I break that down extensively on my Substack here, so follow along. Here is an article where I go over 3 reliable ways to finance the farming dream as well.

I cover all things land loans, the incoming farmland revolution, first-generation farming, buying raw land, Amish culture, and opening my farm for the first time this year. Come along for the ride!