Bunny Bites?

Bunny Bites is the name given to a cookbook (now available) created from recipes submitted by friends of Heartland Rabbit Rescue. Volunteers worked on creating the cookbook as a fund-raising activity on behalf of the bunnies that live out at the shelter.

The recipes are vegetarian or vegan with information in the front of the cookbook about various ingredients that can be used make a vegetarian item into a vegan one.

Cover photo

We just tried out the submission by a 6 year old bunny loving girl from Australia (Elisheba) and it is very good.....I fully expect it to become a regular dish at our house. She named it Shrek Soup (subtitle: swamp slime with eyeballs). Her imagination sounds like mine was at age 6 (and still is to some degree).

The ingredients include cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes and spinach (with some others). The first two are definitely not foods I was familiar with at age 6. If her soup is any indicator, she has a bright future at creating recipes that will knock your socks off.

The book also contains bunny anecdotes from folks that are privileged to live with these fur people.

So....the book sells for $10 (plus shipping...email for details) and  ordered by emailing bunnybitescookbook@gmail.com.

If you live in Norman Oklahoma the books are also available at Earth Natural Foods and at Main Street Photo/Video. Should you decide to order a number of books and are in the area....some sort of delivery or pick-up option can likely be worked out.

There are about 120 recipes of all types including appetizers and desserts. There is a black bean dip recipe in there that results in absolutely the best bean dip I have ever eaten.

The editor of the cookbook writes an interesting note at the beginning about her relationship to vegetarian and vegan cooking as well as the impact volunteering has had on her.

The best thing about the cookbook (aside from the food that can be prepared) is that all proceeds will go toward supporting the fur folks that live out at the shelter.

It would make a great gift item.....one with a dual mission.....maybe introducing someone to vegetarian/vegan cooking and........providing funds to care for animal people with no forever family to live with.

Jack says "buy the cookbook"

Gwendolyn says.."buy the cookbook".

The baby boys....are too young to talk.

Midnite says...gimme a carrot.

All the above fur folks live out at Heartland, buying  the cookbook helps them. Thank you.

Even if you can't help out by buying, do take some time a find an animal shelter that can use your efforts.....volunteers are vital to keep most rescue operations going. If you can't adopt, foster....if you can't foster,volunteer....if you can't volunteer, donate. Do all of these things if possible.

The vast majority of animal people that end up in shelters do so because some human animal(s) screwed up or were cruel or neglectful or irresponsible or interfered in their lives some way or another.....the animal people did not create the situation that led to their being in a shelter.....we did.....and whatever we can do to make life better for them.....is only proper.

Bunnies, humidity and Benson

Benson, September morning, 2010

The remarkable run of humid, muggy, sort of yuck days finally ended here in central Oklahoma, this past Sunday brought a cool front and some version of fall weather.  I saw a notation in the newspaper that this past Monday night marked the lowest temperature the area has seen since May the 11th (about 4.5 months).

Cooler temperatures mark the onset of bunny weather. These animal folks do not thrive in warmer temperatures, once 85 degrees or so is reached their risk of heat stroke rises right along with the temperature/humidity ......so.....now begins the good times outside for the rabbits at Heartland Rabbit Rescue. Jeannie and Brad (and the volunteers) work at not only doing all the daily tasks that must be done for bunny care.......but also at setting up safe areas outside so each of the resident bunnies get the opportunity to spend time hopping, sniffing, running, digging or lallygagging.....in the great outdoors.

Fun times. Benson, the hermit rabbit, is not neglected when it is time for his neighborhood to migrate outside for some play time. Yesterday morning I took time to supervise him on a foray around the sanctuary grounds.  He took off once placed in the grass and made a tour half-way around the warren building and back.

He continues to be somewhat reclusive, but accepts handling without much fuss. Benson probably weighs around 2.5 lbs. I weigh (roughly) 80 times what he weighs.....my size is as much larger than Benson as a 16,000 lb creature would be to me (8 tons is a little larger than the largest elephants).  You or I would be a little intimidated, I suspect, if we were being handled by (or even in the vicinity of) some being 80 times bigger than we are.

Last week he actually did a small binky in his living area......which is pretty rare behavior for Benson.  Note that Benson's eye does not typically look quite as fierce at it appears to be in the photo, the morning sunlight caught it just at the right angle or maybe the inner Benson was just shining through.......

Here is a video of a cat person hanging out with a bunny person. The cat person is named Timothy and the bunny person is named Bunny. According to the info with the video, Bunny hopped up on the bed and lay down beside Timothy. As you can see, Timothy decided to provide some grooming. We humans aren't the only animals that can provide comfort and care to those who are different than ourselves.

If possible adopt from a local animal shelter, if you can't adopt, foster, if you can't foster, volunteer, if you can't volunteer, donate......do all of these things if you can.

Finally.....remember, it is almost impossible to eat the flesh of an animal or something produced by an animal without being responsible for suffering and death. Begin your journey toward a vegan lifestyle and you begin your journey toward not harming those who have not harmed you.

Bunny snacks...............

Mother bunny, who was featured in a video here on July 26th, continues to thrive.  She is an excellent mom and her two little ones are growing, growing, growing.  All this parenting takes energy and mom is quite a chow hand. Here is a video of her getting free access (briefly) to a raisin bonanza. 

She resides at Heartland Rabbit Rescue and you can read about the odyssey which led her to the shelter using this link.   Rescue and shelter operations like Heartland are often the last resort for animal people with no where else to go.  These are private organizations dependent on the resources of the folks that run them, donations from the community and volunteers.  They would not exist without the dedication of the folks that run them and often the demands and expense of caring for the animal residents is staggering.  I am in awe of these heroes for animal people and urge you to seek out shelter and rescue operations in your community and donate what you can, money, services, labor, time, etc.

The payback for volunteering is immense, one of my biggest pleasures from spending time out at Heartland is having the opportunity to become acquainted with so many different rabbit people.  Each one is a unique individual, with their own way of being in the world and their behavior changes from time to time depending on how they feel.  Just like human animals (but you already knew that).  Volunteer, help out, it is good for your spirit and for the animal people.

Now, if you will take a moment to follow this link you can view a brief (about 60 seconds) video of a cottontail rabbit person obviating the notion that all rabbit people are timid, frightened beings that flee danger quickly.  Rabbit people are as different from one another as human people are, if you doubt that, go ask the snake person shown in the video clip.

The Oklahoma Connection

The post on July 22, 2010 mentioned an Oklahoma connection associated with the beagle rescue.  In addition to the beagles, 55 macaque monkeys were taken from the animal exploiting laboratory.  A primate rescue/shelter here in central Oklahoma, Mindy's Memory, has become the home for 8 of the rescued animals.  You can follow their progress by visiting the Mindy's Memory website.

Midnight is the individual wearing black.

Earlier this month, Heartland Rabbit Rescue had some visitors from Austin.  The photograph of the visitors shows them with the resident Rabbit Rescue pony, Midnight.  There are several hooved folks that live there, including 2 donkeys (Judy and Molly).

The girls (Judy and Molly) are very diligent in sounding the alarm if marauding dogs or coyotes approach their home although their skills at detecting hungry hawks still need development. 

Below is a photograph showing a young visitor from Norman along with Molly and Judy.

Molly has a white forehead, Judy has a gray forehead and the visitor wears a red football shirt.

Christina, over at the Rabid Tidbits blog has posted some current photographs of the baby bunnies recently born at Heartland Rabbit Rescue.  It is astonishing how fast they are growing.

Most of us who live in cities are rather limited in the variation of animal species that we have the opportunity to interact with. One of the many benefits of volunteering at a sanctuary or rescue facility is the chance to get to know different kinds of animal folks and different individuals.  Each rabbit is unique with her or his own likes and dislikes, behaviors and moods.  Just as is each donkey, each pony, each dog, cat or human.  We humans tend to lump other species all together and presume that we then know about them.  This is no more true for human animals than it is for rabbit animals (or others).

Volunteering, especially for young humans, offers them the opportunity to become more sophisticated in their knowledge about the other Earthlings they share this planet with.  Once you become friends with a living being, it becomes more problematic to then see that being (or others like her or him) as a "thing" to be exploited or abused or killed.  For most of us, anyway.....there are exceptions.