Hillside Farm Hawaii Angora Rabbits

Aloha! We are Hillside Farm, which although we are on a hillside, we aren't really a true "farm" in the traditional sense. Since we have "micro sheep", we are a "micro farm" and it all fits in the backyard. These micro sheep are better known as English angora rabbits. The fuzzy, fuzzy bunnies don't take up a lot of room or make any noise so they are perfect livestock for a backyard farm. We are in Honokaa, which is a small town on the slopes of Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawaii. Which is better known as the "Big Island". Being the Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii can be confusing sometimes. The bunnies produce luxurious fiber which is hand spun as well as commercially spun into luscious soft angora yarn. The fiber is either combed or sheared off the bunnies and they aren't hurt in the process. If anything, they are much happier having all their soft fiber cut off and bounce around afterwards. They get about three haircuts a year. We usually have 100% angora yarn available and occasionally, angora rabbits, too. There are also yarns from other local fibers such as Merino and Clun Forest sheep's wool and occasionally cotton. We've just started the cotton from some Sea Island White seeds, we will see how that goes as we get further into it. Since I'm outnumbered by bunnies and they have been making fiber faster than I can spin it, some of it now gets sent off to a small family run wool mill and is spun into yarn. This incredibly soft yarn is then sold as our "Hula Bunny Yarn". Hula Bunny Yarn is 40% English angora fiber, 40% fine Merino sheep's wool (gives the yarn bounce), and 20% silk for shine, strength and adding depth when dying the yarn. Hula Bunny Yarn is also sold at a shop on main street in Honokaa called Vera's Treasures. Currently, Hula Bunny Yarn comes in three colors. The first one is "Beach Bunny" which is a soft sand color and is made with fiber from the tortoiseshell and fawn bunnies, white Merino fiber and white Tussah silk. The next color is "Moonlit Dance" which is a lovely silvery gray color. That is the fiber from the black bunnies (although their fiber actually comes out as a gray color) and blue bunnies as well as the agouti bunnies, too. Agouti is the wild bunny color. Moonlit Dance is the angora fiber along with white Merino and white Tussah silk. We now have a new color which is "Lava Rocks". Lava Rocks is a dark gray color. It is made with the same fibers as Moonlit Dance except black Merino is used instead of white Merino. So far we haven't had enough white fiber to send to the mill so all the white yarn is Hillside Farm Hand Spun and not the commercially spun Hula Bunny Yarn. When we do get enough to send to the mill, that will be "Coconut Smoothie", so we have the name although we don't have any of the yarn yet. We may start farm tours this year by going into partnership with a local sheep owner. She may set up some bunny hutches near her small flock of Clun Forest Sheep along with a demonstration area so folks could visit with bunnies, see the sheep and see how bunny fluff is made into yarn. At some point we should make some Hula Bunny tee shirts since we have a great logo for the yarn. So, our upcoming plans are more yarns, more bunnies, upcoming farm tours and we may work up a commercial cotton yarn, too.