Once upon a time... there was a man. He was walking. On the side of the road. He was disheveled, his hat askew, his shirt torn and shredded, his pants with holes in them, his shoes coming apart at the seems. And yet he whistled. And a jaunty tune it was. A smile brightened his face, his eyes gleamed in merriment.
A passer-by worked up the courage to stop him, and ask. "Why sir, are you so cheerful? You look totally destitute."
"I am."
"Do you not have a home?"
"Nay, sir, I do not."
"No money?"
"No, sir."
"Then pray tell, why are you so cheerful? What puts such a spring in your step and a joyful whistle upon your lips?"
"Why, good sir, I have just been to a Fluffle, over at BirdHaven Ranch. You know what a fluffle is, right?"
"Oh, yes sir I do. I remember reading about such a thing only a few weeks ago."
"Then, sir, you know perfectly well, or can guess, why I am in such a fabulous mood."
"Ah, I do indeed perceive! Jolly good, sir, jolly good."
"Indeed, indeed. For it is a treasure to attend a BirdHaven Ranch Fluffle. You must give it a try sometime."
"I do believe I shall, indeed, good sir, I do believe I shall."
I would like to share such a treasure with you. This particular treasure can't be counted in the bank roll. It's not buried in an old chest in the sand. It's not held securely under lock and key, guarded by the latest and highest tech security systems. No, this treasure is a real, honest treasure.
This treasure is emotional! And it's the best kind of treasure!. As far as valuation goes, it has a similar value to everyone. Yet your return on investment? Why it's as unique as you are, for this treasure is experienced differently by everyone also.
What is this treasure I speak of? (Hint: I did kinda give it away above) Why, it's the treasure of enjoying the pleasure had by veterans and the elderly and a young, special needs child as they hold a bunny and pet it.
Yet you don't need to come all the way out to BirdHaven Ranch to enjoy our bunnies. We don't discourage such visits, and in truth we love showing people around. Yet, for the most part, we actually take our bunnies out and around, and bring them to you. How could it get any better?
We take eight to ten of our bunnies to the local veterans senior home. When we arrive, we are met by staff who first ooh and awe at the bunnies and then escort us to that day's group of veterans. Sometimes we go to a space used by a group, and other times we are taken to the galley.
After jokes of how to fix rabbit as a meal, the fluffing begins. Gale will get a bunny and follow me as I take a blanket to a person. After I have laid the blanket in the person's lap, Gale will set the bunny down. As we make sure the bunny is content, the veteran appears to start softening. These veterans are not hard, though the years of trauma are evident in their faces. No, these veterans simply appear to rest with an unemotional attitude.
Well, with a bunny now in his or her lap, a smile might begin sneaking in. It is a soft, gentle smile, as you might have during a memory of a good time had with friends. The smile gets a little deeper as a story begins to be told. Sometimes the story is about bunnies he raised on his farm as a youngster. Sometimes the story is about a grandchild and the joy had during some animal interaction by that child as witnessed by the storyteller. Sometimes, we are told about the wild bunnies viewed through the windows, on the lawn.
Usually, the bunnies stay still. The veteran will pet the bunny, sometimes with a short, slow massaging motion on the bridge of the nose; sometimes with a long stroke from the bridge of the nose, over the ears and along the back. The bunnies enjoy this activity. When it stops, the bunny may start looking around wondering what the delay is. The veteran usually calls someone over, and suggests the bunny is interested to visit someone else, sometimes they even suggest who should be next.
One of the common questions we get is regarding names. What's in a name? Does it matter by what other name we would call a rose? Surely it would still smell as sweet. And thorns. It would still have thorns.
"Psht." (that's the editor, by the way, stage whispering to get my attention), "Psht. We're talking bunnies, not Shakespeare!"
"Ahhhh, but why shouldn't I quote Shakespeare? Well, fiddles! And here I was waxing so eloquently!"
Oh well, So, names. Right. Bunny names. We have some bunnies we've named. We have Maisie, Daisie and Jimmy, our adults. We have Honey and Honeydew (who used to be called Cantaloupe--but more on that later). Honey's called Honey because she's sweet. And, well her name was chosen by a sweet little girl whose aunt supports our purpose and provides screen printed shirts and ranch merchandise. So Honey's doing double duty! Ha! Advertising and supporting our sponsors!
Anyway, Honey's girl is interested in taking her to 4-H, so we are helping Honey learn how to be handled, very frequently.
Then there's Honeydew, named for a melon which is a favorite food. This isn't her first name. No, her first name was Cantaloupe. However, we have discovered "cantaloupe" is not a good name because the bunny takes it as a challenge--as in Cant-a-Loupe, get it?... and she started trying to figure out how to escape. Seriously! I mean it! Anyway her efforts all failed, you see, our rabbit hutches on our farm are very secure. The challenge arose when we take them out to the corral for on-farm-fluffling, the corral is less secure. The possibility of little Cantaloupe escaping became far more likely. So... we changed her name, and now she gets confused whenever we call for Honey but not her. Names and words are important and can carry energy with them which can be perceived as guidance to individuals.
On our ranch we encourage everyone to think about the way their words and talking affect others they might be talking to, or whom might overhear them. Though we realize some things may be said in an effort to explore feelings connected to it, we strive to be supportive, understanding and accepting and expect the language used to be beneficial to that goal.
Back at the veteran's home, fluffing the fluffle, many people begin to look a little drowsy. The nurses are all beaming, so pleased to have enjoyed the bunnies. We put the bunnies back into their cages. We collect our blankets. We take the bunnies back to the truck and home again. We usually work to get rescheduled pretty quick, it's so much fun to see the pleasure.
We look forward to continuing to provide this service to veterans in our community. Any donations we receive to continue this are welcome.
But, before I leave... no you're not done yet! Ha! I've been playing around with some ideas for the bunnies. I see how amazingly they calm the veterans and elderly, and I got to thinking: why not other people as well. And you know, BirdHaven Ranch is a beautiful property. Green, and lush and vibrant!
So... why not combine the two? I mean, what could be better, right? Fluffy, snuffly, gentle, loving bunnies in a pristine, bucolic, beautiful environment?
So, I came up with the idea of bunny meditation. What do you think? Come on out to BirdHaven Ranch, and we'll get you settled down on a peace of God's wondrous ground, you can hold the bunny, and close your eyes and let your mind and body relax.
I haven't finished fleshing this idea out yet, but I thought I'd present and see what you all thought of it. Let me know, shoot me a message, or stop on by, we'd love to have you! And yes, we would most certainly love any and all donations you felt in your heart you could help us with!
Thanks for reading!
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