Dang! You are in full knowledge absorption mode! You are going to be writing your own homesteading books before long, I will be first in line to buy the orchard one lol!

WSU is Washington State University (we are really close to Washington up here in the Idaho panhandle), and the university ag extension offices up here run master gardeners and beekeeping certification programs. If I remember right, my journeyman beekeeper class was like 9 weeks. I learned a ton, and the teacher worked out a smoking deal with a bee supplier so we were able to purchase nuc boxes at below market rate for our first hives. (This was quite a few years ago, but I am sure the programs are still around, I see the extension bee keeping folks at the state fair every year with their educational exhibit).

I love bees! My neighbor has hives so I don't have to keep any right now, with the kids being in high school I am running around a bit more than I like, so I will hive some girls once the chaos dies down a bit. And your future grown up orchard is going to love them!

Ahh, Cornish X. They are something aren't they? I ran a pastured poultry operation for a few years here on the farm, and while it was a huge and semi-profitable learning experience, I'm glad I don't do that anymore, lol! One time my grandpa fed 25 Cornish X's 110 pounds of feed in 48 hours when I was gone. He said they always, looked hungry...sigh...

Rabbits are just solid gold! The manure alone is worth keeping them, but production value alone makes them awesome. I am a bit on the lazy side though, and really enjoy pigs as far as an input/yield ratio goes. It's probably because I have a pig barn with automatic waterers/ feeders, and pasture for them to nibble on.

Seriously can't wait to see more posts on all that you are working on!