December Conservation Tip

Here we are again, searching for meaningful gifts for family and friends.
At the same time many of us are de-cluttering and favor the "less is more" movement, so another tie or book is just not going to do the trick...

How about a Gift Donation then? There are always the well known organizations, that come with nice certificates and even small plush toys, like:

World Wildlife Fund

Defenders of Wildlife

Polar Bear International

Heifer


This year I also looked out for some smaller, more individual organizations, that need your support and are just a bit more specific:

Want to protect the oceans?

There is no better way than support the Sea Sheperd Conservation Society!!


How about this for the horse lover:

Support the American Mustang Movie!
Great gadgets with your pledge!!
More here:




Having a heart for elephants?

Foster an orphaned elephant with the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust , the perfect gift for any elephant friend and a great help for these gentle giants!


Want to stay closer to home and do something for the farm animals ?
An organization that I personally really admire since they are taking in the beaten and sick, no matter what, is the Gentle Barn. You can adopt a farm animal, bid to name one of the rescued ones or support them by getting one of their Christmas ornaments.

Another farm animal related group that needs support might be especially interesting for my German friends: Kuhrettung

Watch the movie, it will make you smile!





Not into animals? How about helping to fund some cancer research?
Zach Sobiech, a teenage boy with a rare form of cancer, a osteosarcoma, wrote the song, "clouds" last year about him dealing with his imminent death. He debuted it last December. He died in May 2013.
This December a choir of about 5000 people sang his song....



You can buy the song on iTunes and 100% of all net proceeds benefit Zach's Osteoscarcoma Research Fund. Or you can directly donate to the Childrens Cancer Research Fund.

You have already the perfect gift? All you have to do is to wrap it?
Consider wrapping it in reused paper. Regarding to "Give a shit about Nature":
If every American family wrapped just three presents this holiday season in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
Now, that's a lot of paper!

There are certainly many more good causes out there that need support and would make a nice gift. I will keep my eyes open and will post more ideas on my facebook site.

In this spirit

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Adapting

Well, the temperature was dropping fast over the last couple of days and every time I thought it can't possibly get any colder, it did exactly that....

This morning we woke up to a record so far of -32ºC/-24ºF, and that was at 9 am, I don't want to know how cold it was during the night....

Surprisingly the chickens are doing ok, they do not like the snow, but I put a lot of straw down for them to walk on and also insulated their coop and parts of the run with straw. They seem to be content and my one adult hen is still laying.

Lexie, the outdoor master, is doing great! I had her inside though for parts of the day, but then she got really bored and wanted to go out.

Fin and Mr. B have some frost mascara and enjoy the extra hay and grain I am feeding to keep them warm.

And as the saying goes, there is no bad weather just bad clothing, right?
That's how Ex-Californians dress up to withstand the Canadian winter...;-)

Some typical tools at the farm, like a wheelbarrow for example, are utterly useless in deep snow, so we just switched to the "winter" wheel barrow...

Feeding evolved to sledding down to the pasture while sitting on the hay, it's way faster and more fun than pushing the wheel barrow, I will miss that come spring.

Although even weather.com calls these temperatures "bitterly cold", it is sunny and just gorgeous

And since it's too cold for lots of outdoor chores there is more time to bake cookies,

or watch the colorful sunsets!!