Sunday, September 27, 2009

Giving Back!

For the last few months, due to your purchases, we are now able to give back! We donate up to 10% of our sales to various charities every month. We do this by donating products or gift cards for fund raising events.

Some of the charities we have assisted so far:

History Starts Now- They are dedicated to stop Child trafficking in our country.
http://historystartsnownyc.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-post_23.html


Camp To Belong - The mission of Camp To Belong is to reunite siblings placed in separate foster homes or other out-of-home care for events that encourage emotional empowerment, social maturation, positive outlook, fun and sibling connection
www.camptobelong-ga.org


11th Annual Sister Run 5K Run/Walk, Fundraiser for Ovarian/Gynecologic Cancer Aliance in FL

The Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League (www.magdrl.org)


Charity Bachelor Auction benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation New Hampshire


12th Annual Community Charity Baby Shower Michigan http://www.waynemetro.org/

Friday, September 18, 2009

Tuna Kitty Cookies

Tuna Kitty Cookies

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 (6 ounce) can tuna in oil, undrained
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or bacon grease
1 egg

Combine all ingredients; mix well; add small amounts of water if mixture is too thick. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/4-inch thick. Cut shapes with a cookie cutter and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until firm. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Note: Before you cook for your cat, it’s recommended that you seek advice from your veterinarian as to what food/ingredients are appropriate for your cat. If you are doubtful about any ingredient, replace it or simply leave it out.

Need a cute cookie cutter? We have what you need!
Bone shapes, Hearts and Dragonflies
http://www.haileysdragonflygarden.com/Pet_Corner.php

Enjoy!
Hailey's Dragonfly Garden of Botanicals

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Stray and Feral Cats

And homeless near a thousand homes I stood
And near a thousand tables pined , and wanted food.
William Wordsworth

Stray and feral cats need your help . Many of the strays you see wandering around most likely belonged to someone at one time. People move leaving them behind. Or people decide they no longer want the responsibility so they toss them out or drop them off in a different neighborhood.

Either way this cat is now homeless and winter is coming. Some strays can be caught and relocated to a new home via a rescue group. But many of the strays are feral.
A feral cat is the wild offspring of domestic cats and are primarily the result of people failing to spay or neuter their cat or abandonment of their cats. These cats survive as best they can - near restaurants, shopping centers, parks, dumps, or in rural areas. Feral cats often live in loose groups, or colonies, and usually go out of their way to avoid human contact.

A pair of breeding cats can have several litters per year, and their descendents can theoretically produce about 250,000 kittens over a five year period.
Without human intervention, many of these cats have short, painful lives and often die from disease, malnutrition, exposure, by car accidents, or predation. Feral cats are almost impossible to socialize unless captured as small kittens. Like other wild animals, they should not be handled without following instructions from feral cat rescue groups or shelters.

There are programs at most cat rescues and local pounds to help the feral population with reduced priced spay / neuter programs. The programs are usually offered because the cat population is so huge, its impossible to find homes for them all. A lot of cats that end up in shelters are put to sleep. So they offer this catch and release program for strays and feral cats. If the cat or cats in your area are wild and not just strays most shelters will provide a trapping cage to collect the animals. Then you just drop them off one day and pick them up the next, setting them loose again in the area you found them.

Other things you can do are build cat shelter for them for the winter. There are many good sites out there that will give you ideas if you are interested. The boxes I have created are from this site.:

http://www.urbancatleague.org/SheltersMike.html

The shelters are made out of storage bins. They are very easy to make and an efficient design.



Leave some food and water out in the area they are in.

If you find a litter of kittens, try to bring in the mother and babies to a cat rescue, as they try to find homes for them.

Most of all, if you have a cat, spay / neuter them.

If you are thinking about getting a cat, remember it’s a commitment of care, feeding and love you will need to supply besides vet costs for shots, check ups and other possible care.

A cat can give you many years of love and are a priceless investment.
Enjoy
Hailey’s Dragonfly Garden of Botanicals

Friday, September 4, 2009

Stand By Me

I love music! So I had to share this with you.

I belong to a few Yahoo groups, and a friend, Robert Miller, also know as Grandfather Oak,from one of my groups sent me this. He states and I quote, "Below is a link to one of the best pieces of sound engineering work I think I have ever seen. It is a composite audio/video of song whereby additional Tracks were laid in by different singers and musicians from different places Around the world. The finished product is tremendous! The song itself is that classic standard "Stand By Me" originally released In 1955 by The Staple Singers and released again in 1961 by the Drifters.This composite version is a real toe tapper, so turn up the speaker volume and enjoy:Listen all the way to the end!!"

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around The World from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.




Enjoy!

Paulie Our New Garden Friend


We just wanted to share a picture of our new garden friend, Paulie, the Praying Mantis. He is living in our Morning Glories.