Introducing my precious Teddy baby ♥

My handsome baby with a little twinkle in his curious eyes! ;)

In case you hadn't seen in my profile already, I have a great love of all bunnies. I gotta say though, my little guy, Teddy, has the biggest place in my heart! He was the source of inspiration for Carrots for Two as the name for this personal blog of mine... mainly because we share about 90% of the same food, so actually a lot of other veggies and fruits are for two!
Teddy is also partially responsible for having me think deeper about what it means to value the importance of all living things... I adopted him when he was just a teeny tiny 7-week-old kit, and in the last year and a half since he's been with me, he's had to go through a lot (i.e. having to move from apartment to apartment for three months before I finally found my own place due to drama with my old roommates who didn't want him around). At the time, I was under a lot of pressure to find a new place to live, in addition to being financially constricted AND on the hunt for a new job. If you're trying to build out your career in your mid-twenties and living in an expensive area like DC like me, then come aboard the struggle bus... although, that's a whole different story I may touch upon another time. In any case, because of these circumstances, I had seriously considered giving Teddy away to someone else who would be able to provide a better home for him and I even put up a Craigslist post to start screening potential adopters. It was such a sad time, but I prayed and prayed for things to work out and some how they did! Thankfully, I found a studio with ample space for the both of us so I signed the lease and took down that post immediately (and since then I've vowed to never do that again)!

It wasn't until then that it dawned upon me-- Teddy is truly helpless without me, and he was at the mercy of the decision I would make, and if I had chosen to take the easy way out, he could have easily ended up at the local shelter. I still shudder at the thought of such an outcome... so since then, I've committed myself to becoming the best bunny mama :]

Now, mind you, being a bunny mama might sound silly and you would think "how hard could it be to take care of a bunny?" or "don't they just stay in a cage?", but both questions are derived from common misconceptions. No, bunnies are not necessarily the easiest to care for, and they do not stay in a cage either. Like dogs and cats, bunnies are just as social and need to be able to hop around freely and they also require interactions with us to be happy. Also, bunnies have a specific diet that needs to be balanced, consisting of 80% hay, 10% veggies, 5% pellets, and the other 5% being the occasional treats like fruit. I did extensive research before adopting Teddy, and I adhered to this strictly to maintain Teddy's healthy diet without ever sneaking him improper foods, even if he hovered over my lap with his best prairie dog pose!

[Flashback to one of my pre-vegan days]:

On one particular day after work, I was feeling too tired and lazy to make food or do much at all in the kitchen, for that matter. I considered just skipping dinner, but decided against it and pulled open the fridge... only to find a lone bag of spinach, some leftover baby carrots, and an apple sitting on the bottom shelf. Not having much else to choose from, I took out those three items and plopped down on the floor to make myself a boring raw spinach and carrot salad with an apple for dessert. As soon as I opened the bags and set things up, Teddy came running over and stole a few leaves of the spinach and came back to nibble on the carrots as well (at this point I dove to make a save for my apple)! He's fast when he knows what he wants, that bunny. This was the first time he made an attempt to steal food from me and was successful at it (followed by many other similar incidents), but then that got me thinking: bunnies are natural herbivores and they live perfectly well and happy just eating plant-based foods... did that mean we could too? Humans aren't like lions or tigers where it's necessary for us to make meat our main food source... were we not always omnivores? Perhaps, and maybe the evolution of societies influenced by cultures and traditions over time molded our view and mindset around the norm of including meat and dairy in our diet. After all, we were most likely gatherers first before we became hunters once weapons and trapping devices were developed. My train of thoughts and questions went off like this continuously, and I decided to do some research about it. I was very surprised to find many resources and studies that pointed out that the first humans may have been herbivores and in the present day, we are behavioral omnivores because we are taught at an early age to accept meat as an important food group. Intrigued and curious, I dug deeper into documentaries and other studies on this topic.

Then I also happened to find out that one of my good friends at work is vegan, and while at the time I was quite unfamiliar with the term or what it meant, she was open to explaining it to me. From that point onward, I took off on self-educating myself about the plant-based lifestyle. Although it was distressing, I also learned about the horrible and hidden world of factory farms all across our country, cases of animal abuse and cruelty rampant in slaughterhouses, circuses, zoos, labs, and fur/leather/wool industries, the many health risks that are attributed by meat and dairy consumption, the impacts of animal agriculture on the environment and our ecosystems, etc. etc. It was all so eye-opening, and I couldn't help but be moved enough to change my way of life.

In a nutshell, that is how I ended up with this great passion for the vegan movement! By no means was it an easy decision to commit to, and even now I still find it difficult to answer certain questions without being perceived as pretentious or pompous by others. The jokes will never stop; I've come to accept that, especially when I'm with the bf and our friends poke fun saying they feel bad for him. A mildly irritated nerve twitches somewhere in the back of my head when stuff like this happens, but I've learned to laugh lightheartedly with them and answer questions on what it's like to be vegan whenever I'm asked.

My own personal experiences so far have taught me that while walking this path, having grace and patience is key, not only for my individual growth as I continue to learn, but also for giving others the opportunity to be curious, to inquire why I do it, what it's about, and what they can take away from what I share. Such is why this personal blog came about, so that I can keep sharing my ideas, thoughts, and sometimes random musings, along with many themes around food-- because who doesn't like food?

Speaking of which, Teddy is nudging his veggie dish towards my foot-- that's a signal for dinnertime, and on the menu for this evening is... Carrots for Two!