Pequoda's Rabbit Hutch

Enlarge Image Image Gallery If you can't afford it, learn to build it.                Pequoda (otherwise known as J. N. Peterson)

James N. Peterson has spent over five decades rambling the globe in search of the Good and the Beautiful. His restless quest—through hobo jungles of the big Depression to plush, catered clubs in South Africa, from sweeping floors in a mill to pacing the bridge of a luxurious passenger ship—has finally brought him full circle to his starting point: A family, small farm, the woods and the soil. Along the way, Jim has picked up a wealth of practical experience and a warm, comfortable view of life.

"The bounty only ceases when you fail to acquire the knowledge necessary to reap the harvest," he says. "I figure many problems in alternative living, communes or homesteads are about the same any place you go. And—whether it's the mountains of Colorado, the woods of Minnesota or the Hills of Oswegatchie right here in Connecticut—you'll most generally find an ole-timer who's already solved those problems.

"A good many of today's young folks are looking for an alternative to the rat race and I don't blame them. I just wonder if they realize that a number of us older geezers have been living such alternatives for years. Trading the so-called security of the establishment for the freedom of a simpler life, we've lived on the perimeter and made our own Good Life from the things provided by the Good Earth.

"In our case, my lady and I cut a spread out of rocky, bushy, wooded hills so dense even the copperheads had to use what was left of the old wood trail to pass through. We had to go the organic gardening route to have any plant life other than bullbriers or scrub blueberries on the land, as it is truly worn out. Along with the soil and reforesting bit, the husbandry of animals is in progress and our hillside is slowly being covered with small coops and sheds, each an experiment in limited costs and maximum serviceability.

"One of our most satisfying projects has been the raising of rabbits. This economical endeavor produces both high protein food and exceptionally rich garden fertilizer (rabbit manure outstrips poultry, horse and cow manure in nitrogen and phosphate content and matches horse manure in potash values) and has been too long overlooked by most folks.

"Even a small-scale rabbit venture pays solid returns but fancy breeds, fancy coops and fancy feed won't teach you any more than trying the same thing with a buck and a doe from the guy down the road.