Bella was right. There is something very special about Emily right now. When I saw her the next day and smelled noses through the fence I could tell she was bigger and slower but she was feeling good and she was happy.
It’s because Emily and Hugo are going to have bunny babies. They will be very small and not even have fur at first. They will be here soon. There might be five or six of them. They will all look a little different.
Bella and I never had any but we always wanted to. Maybe Sara and her sisters can take care of two of them. Otherwise Pedro will have about seven bunnies to take care of. We can’t wait to see them.
Sook takes magic pellets from us and from Emily and Hugo. The man at the community garden said he could see a difference in his patch of spinach already. He told the people at two other community gardens in our neighborhood. Now she is bringing them some to experiment with.
They said; “Rabbit poop? Nobody ever brought us rabbit poop for the garden. Does it make things grow better?” Sook said: “The worms love it. They get big, fat and happy so they multiply. Their castings – their poop- makes everything grow faster. Many people say rabbit poop is better than chicken manure.” The people said: ”We can’t wait to try.”
Sara’s younger brother decided to become a beekeeper. They got him a little white beekeeper suit with a special hat and gloves. His sister said: “You look like an astronaut.” Now they are figuring out how to put together a little house that the bees will live in. So we are going to have a lot of bees here.
Imani who is Jayden’s sister said her favorite thing in the world is raspberries. She asked Pedro if raspberry bushes would grow here in a backyard here in Brooklyn. I hope so because rabbits love the leaves of raspberries, the sticks and twigs, the roots and the little red sweet part too. Also a big raspberry bush makes a perfect hiding spot. In our garden where we used to live that was my best hiding spot until Bibi figured it out.
Pedro said he thinks anything can grow anywhere if the worms are happy in the soil and there is sunshine.
Imani and Jayden told their parents they want peaches and raspberries in the backyard. Their parents laughed. But they said:” If you want to clean up the backyard, and take care of trees and things, you can. We will buy you the trees and the bushes.” Jayden said: “Everything is growing like crazy in these backyards now. Bibi and Pedro have rabbits that make poop that makes everything grow. Pedro gives us a bag every day.” Their parents laughed again.
Pedro got everyone together just as it got dark at night to play with fireflies. Now it’s everyone’s favorite game after dinner over in his backyard. He told them that they all have to put their old food in the ground. He said he has two real shovels and if they want to use one they can. He told them that the more the worms get happy, the more everything will grow here, and if they always bury the scraps of old food, the monster mice will go to some other street. One of Sara’s sisters said: ”OK I will start digging tomorrow.” Imani said: “I will start digging too.” Sook said: “I told my parents about this and they are already doing it. We bought a shovel.”
Boxer and Hugo dug a little tunnel under the fence that no one can see between our backyards. Maybe we can visit them on their side one day. Bella and I want to see the babies when they get here.
Pedro doesn’t even know that Emily is going to have bunny babies. If she has five that will be 1,000 more magic pellets every day. But not right away because they will be so small. At first they will be the size of the normal mice we had in the country. I don’t even know when they will start making magic pellets but they will.
At night when we cleaned each other the bugs were singing for us. It sounded so good. I love those bugs. There are still loud sounds here that I don’t like but every day I hear more birds and different birds and every night I know the bugs will sing for us as long as it’s summertime.
I dreamt that five bunny babies and us five grown up rabbits had a raspberry bush jungle and it was so big and full that we could all hide under there and relax and go to sleep if we wanted to. We were outside but we were safe. Nobody was chasing us. I saw two orange butterflies. I was dreaming the little sweet red juicy part almost fell into my mouth when I woke up because Bibi said in a loud voice: “REALLY?!” to Sook who called to tell her something very exciting.
********************************************************************
Welcome if you’re just joining us! This is the story of three bunnies who moved to Brooklyn, and revolutionized the gardens in the neighborhood, using the magic of something only they can produce. This tale is told by Sandra The Free Range Super Bunny. The working title is: ”Sandra and the Backyard Revolution”
As she has never written a kids book before, we’re sharing this first draft on Substack to welcome your feedback and participation, as we grow our community.
If you are so inspired, we would appreciate your feedback about the content, either at the conclusion or as we go along.
If you would consider becoming a yearly paying subscriber, or a founding member, we will also include your name on the Thank You page of the printed book, of which you will receive an autographed copy (US and Canada)*
We intend to have them printed in time for the holiday season of 2022.
You will receive two chapters a week in your inbox. We’re jumping in with simple text, and illustrations will be added subsequently as they are finalized.
For those just joining us: Sandra has written a whole book on her adventures prior to this. You can read it HERE.
Click on NEW to have them desplay in chronological order.
We are thrilled you are joining us!
*This offer is not for monthly, but for yearly and founding subscribers.
“It’s a won-der-ful world in the summer, When the soil brings your fa-vo-rite plants/
From a little care/
Given here and there/
And seeds you buried with your own hands.
“It’s a won-der-ful block when the children/Find that bunnies have the ma-gi-cal poop/
Scattered in their yards/
Gives a jumping start/
To all their fruit and veg’ta’ble shoots” :)
Baby bunnies! Bees! Raspberries oh my! Be still my beating heart!💜💜💜