From the Land... WOOD GOURMET GNAWER TREATS

Last month... as I was browsing through Bunny Treasuries... that's right, Etsy treasuries that feature rabbit art and supplies (I have a couple of EFA team colleagues who are just nuts about rabbits & hares)... I fell upon a listing of apple wood gnawer treats. I was just about to begin pruning the apple trees here at Twilight and... since I have been wanting to expand my existing 'From the Land' product line... me thought: why not share some of my prunings with them, rabbit folks ?

I got all excited because not only do i have apple but also pear, quince, mulberry, olive, nectarine, prune, apricot, cherry, figs. Of course I had to do some research about what was safe for bunnies. I found out that apricot, cherry, and fig wood is toxic to the little guys. Not sure yet about mulberry, olive, nectarine, prune.

I contacted an Etsy seller, PhoenixFarm.etsy.com, and made some inquiries. Dawn was very helpful and encouraged me to sell both apple and pear wood... especially since I was in California and she cant ship her apple wood gnawers to Cal due to Ag rules/regs. She has over 200 apple trees on her farm and her rabbits and chinchillas love apple & pear wood. Do take a look at her wonderful store when you get a chance !

So... I created bundles of 24 ounces of APPLE wood... cutting the wood down to 8" and providing a variety of widths (1/8" to 3/4"). I raise my fruit trees myself and do not use ANY spray on them, either chemical or organic... so the wood gourmet gnawer treats are 100% all natural, unsprayed, untreated raw wood.

The weight amount was determined by how much i could safely stuff into a flat rate priority envelope... giving the best-est price for my rabbit/chinchilla customers ! I also created a 4 pound box in order to maximize the medium size priority flat rate box.

I'm almost sold out of the apple :) and I only have one more apple tree to prune... so not much more apple wood gourmet gnawers left... A friend suggested that i make smaller bundles and I'm going to think about setting that up !

If you want to try something a little different... I just pruned my quince trees a couple of days ago (Feb 18th) and have two bundles of 18 ounces to share... There's some yummy buds on the QUiNCE wood because the weather has been rather mild these last couple weeks. Quince is part of the same family as apple & pear so i hope somebunny will find them equally delicious !

Next on my agenda is to prune my four pear trees... and make some bundles of PEAR wood gourmet gnawer treats... I'm just so thrilled to be able to put the wood to good use and sales will benefit Twilight and help me to preserve the habitat I have been creating over the years. A habitat, i might add, that attracts & helps to sustain bees, birds, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds and dragonflies. Twilight is a noteworthy natural breeding ground for the former !

Of course, outside the compound and on the ranch we have hares, snakes, wild pig, wild turkey, bobcat, lynx, mountain lion, elk, deer, fox, coyote, squirrel, skunk, lizard, the occasional bear, too many birds to list but eagle & crow noteworthy, frogs, salamanders... its a natural zoo :)

CLick HERE to visit Brizel4TheAnimals store and my 'From the Land' product line which currently includes the organic wood Gourmet Gnawer Treats, Spiral Lavender Sachets, and Brigit Crosses. It is my hope to develop this product line with more homegrown goodies and crafts !