Now Playing: Guest Blogger: Beebe-Bunny!! Yo! Where's My Food?
Note Frum George: In keepin' wif Tradishun, I was gonna habba Guest Blogger yestiday, and it was gonna be Beebe-Bunny!! who has sumfing impawtant to say - BUT - wuldn't you know datta whole HAY DIARIES web-site was down and onna'count ob dat I couldn't publish Beebe's artykul? I mean, rilly! Anna web-site won't let me put enny pikchurs inna HAY DIARIES, eidder and it's beginnin' to rilly ged on my wast nerb...
So, ennyways, heer is Beebe's Guest-Blog dat was typed Yestiday, but is appearin' Tiday onna'count obba Fakt datta stoopit web-site is messin' up, wif my apologies toda Beeb, who is, afta all a Senior Bun and ebberyfing heer at Our Warren...
YO! WHERE'S MY FOOD?
Beebe-Bunny!! heer.
George sed I could be a Guest-Blogger tiday.
So, Lookit...
It has comed to my attenshun datta ConTammyNayShun Obba NaShunal Food Supply has reached EppyDemmik P'porshuns.
Uh huh... I hab heard abouddit frum Maman and George who read stuff inna Noospapers.
Dere has been outbreaks ob illness associated wif all kinds ob CommerShilly-produced Greens (da biggest being an outbreak ob E-coli bacteria contamination ob iceberg lettuce atta Taco Bell eating places inna Norf'east) and for a commershilly-produced greens-eating consumer (namely HouseRabbits) dis issa calamity!
I'm tellin' ya, da salads served to us Bunnies may not be safe!
And I hab seen dis wif my own eyes heer at Our Warren!
'Cos I amma Senior Bun and I was around whin Maman was serving bagged salads. Bemember those? Handy bags fulla great-looking greens, already labelled as "Pre-Washed" and "Ready-to-Serve" - dey were eberything a HouseRabbit could want, all in wun bag, washed, mixed and ready to be heaped up high on a 100% made-frum-recycled-paper paper-plate and served to hungree bunnies!
And dat's whut it sed onna label: Pre-washed and Pre-mixed! Bagged Salads wassa boon to the busy Mother of HouzRabbits, ebberywheres - but especially to Maman who had 10 HouzBunnies, inklooding one seriously sik bunny who was inhaling 3 salads a day, ebbery day.
So Maman served up two salads dat nite - from Bagged Salad called "Sring Mix" - salad dat she had washed herself, ebben though the bag sed "Pre-Washed".
By da nextest morning, LuckieBunny (who ate one salad) was critically ill and da udder, Belinda Bunny, was showing symptoms. Bof were rushed toda V-e-t's. LuckieBun, who was so sweet and silly and wuld nebber hab burt ennybun, died ob mycotoxin poisoning associated wiffa bagged salad. Dis is scientific Fakt (yeah, Maman and Dadda went toda trubble to hab it verified). Belinda recobbered.
Now Maman nebber, ebber buys Enny bagged or boxed salad! And she nebber, ebber buys enny salad product marketed unner da name ob Dole.
And dat's A Fakt.
Onna'count obba fakt dat Belinda was so critically ill, and she taked so much intensive nursing, and just da way udder hoomins nebber seem to unnerstan aboud HouzRabbits, in General, and LuckieBun's leaving forced Maman right through Anger, and Out Da Udder Side, to Resignashun. So she nebber "Made An Issue Ob Contammynated Salad" inna court, ebben though she hadda Proof Obba Troof. Where issa point, Maman axted us, in doing ennyfing bar warning udders ob danger? No munny can ebber bring LuckieBun back...
So Maman gotta Stone Rabbit for LuckieBun to put in Hunny's Our Warren Memorial Rose & Herb Gardin...
But Our Warren doesn't fortyged. A Senior Bun Bemembers and adds Warnings innu Da Lore: Nebber Eat Bagged Salad!
Now, lemme tell you sumfing aboudda E-coli bacteria. It issa a natchurally occuring bacteria. It comes frum cows and pigs, mainly da wuns dat are let innu fields ob greens, or near to fields ob greens. It also gets innus greens when manure frum cows-fed-on-grain (not grass) is used on fields ob greens. It also can come frumma unclean hands ob hoomins who picks and processes greens.
In udder werds, E-coli can come frum all-ober.
It is also a "sticky" bacteria, so it is almost impossible to ged it ALL washed off ob greens. Eating as liddle as 10 orgaisims ob some strains can make a hoomin sik (cit.: Noo Yawk Times 1/2/07 artykul), so you can imagine whut a few obb'em do to a bunny!
I'm telling you dat Our Supply ob Fresh Greens is Not Safe!
So Whut Can A Bunny Do?
Well, yo! Ged your hed outta your butt and listen up!
Furst, your hoomin has gotta Make A Decision - shop for greens atta giant SupaMawkit or spend a widdle more and Buy Local?
Buying Local means your hoomin has gotta find a Farmer's Mawkit and find a Farmer, a person who ackchually digs inna dirt and raises food. Den your hoomin has got to tawk to dis Farmer person aboud how dey Farm Da Land: do they use pesticides? Whut kind? Do they use fertlizer? Whut sort?
Da werd "Organic" on greens is no Gar-an-tee ob ennyfing these days! Just cos your hoomin goes to "Whole Foods" or buys Wal*Mart "Organics" doesn't mean da food is safe for a bunny to eat - it is still mass-produced, and much ob it is growed far, far away in places where using chemmykals and stuff is *okay* or da greens hab to be shipped long distances or processed a lot before they gets it to your habbytat!
Now da BESTEST idea dat I hab heared aboud for Knowing Your Food has come frum Auntie Laura Hardy who libs heer in Noo Joisey - and dat is POTS.
Yup.
She plants Herbs-In-POTS on her Frunt Steps, and she has these Big-Liddle Gardens, right outside her door that grow fresh for the cutting for her Bunny Salads!
Now the thing about POTS issat they can come *INDOORS* when da wedder turns cold, and they will keep Growing Herbs!
Yup!
We're talkin' your very OWN
- Mint,
- Dill,
- Cilantro,
- Dandelion,
- Flat Parsley,
- Curley Parsley,
- Basil,
- Wheat-grass,
- Lettuces,
- Right on up to your own Carrots and Radishes!
You just get dirt, sum seeds and wadder and you are On Your Way!
Cheap, Easy and SAFE!
But I gotta tell you dat supporting your Local Farmer is also a Great Idea, too, onna'count obba Fakt dat if you don't support your Local Farmers, preddy soon all you are gonna hab are Far-Away Food Sources - food dat hasta come frum places you nebber heard ob, food dat hasta be preserved in order to reach where-you-lib! And dat means chemmykals dipped and sprayed onna stuff dat goes in your mouf!
You want dat?
Yuck.
Not me.
But I DO want fresh salads - ebbery nite! - and I DO want good hay frumma local source dat I know alla'bout, inna bale, not in sum plastik bag.
And da way to ged dis stuff is to tell your hoomin:
"YO! YOU! Ged off your butt! Start a Gardin, or gedda pot! Ged sumfing goin' around heer so I kin EAT!"
You gotta put your paw down. Dere are Times Whin Bunnies Know Best - afta all, we hab bin eating salads a wot wonger wif bedder results den most hoomins.
So it is Time we Bunnies made Our Voice Herd:
- We NEED SAFE FOOD!
- WE NEED LOCAL FARMS and FARMERS!
- No More Bagged Salad!
- No More Salad-Inna-Box!
- WE WANT FRESH!
So, wike, YO! Whut's in your 'frigerator?
------------------ By BeeBe-Bunny!!