All the stuff you never knew you needed to know about life in rural France.....and all the stuff the books and magazines won't tell you.

Sunday 13 December 2009

Into The Unknown....

I would like to ask a favour...and it may end up costing you money, so for those for whom the sight of an open purse is likely to cause trauma, stop reading now.

A blog I follow with deep interest is

'France and The Unknown'

I apologise for not giving its' URL or whatever it is called as my machine still will not copy and paste. Bring back Gutenberg, and all the printers of British newspapers known to the taxman only as 'Mickey Mouse' and 'Donald Duck' in the days before Rupert Murdoch.

Frances, who writes the blog, has come to France and has discovered not only a new land but a new life. From eating animals, she has become vegetarian...and would be vegan, I think if the hens would only stop laying. She has rescued horses and gives them a good life on her property and has now started to rescue chickens and rabbits from local markets, destined for the table, to give them a life instead.

To do the latter takes money, more money than she currently has available and she could do with some help.

Now, whether or not you are vegetarian, whether or not you get uptight about modern farming practices, please take a look at her blog and you will discover that she is doing her bit to change things in a direction she thinks is beneficial.....
She is doing what most of us don't...not only deciding something is worth doing, but going out to do it, and the favour I would like to ask is this.

Would you please read her blog, and if, as I know some of you do, you have blogs with hordes of followers, could you please make mention of

'France and The Unknown'

and ask them to read it too.

Some might feel able to make a donation. That would be wonderful if people could afford it, but encouragement would help too...you can feel very alone when you start something like this.
It's always easier to do nothing, to moan and to complain that something is wrong. I should know, I do enough of it, but when you come across someone as open as Frances is about how she has come to make changes in her life and lifestyle, then I think they deserve encouragement whatever the cause they espouse.
You might think what she is trying to do is great...you might think it is downright silly...but she is doing something she believes in and it's not hurting anyone.
I think that's a good cause in itself.

8 comments:

  1. Fot the love of all things meaty... a Vegan is it? Nae bother hen, I'll do my bit for nature and put down my tasty lamb chop as I read.

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  2. Jimmy Bastard, a gesture like that...words fail me!

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  3. I'll go take a look, but I'm not going veggie

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  4. Mark, I'm not veggie either.
    What I admire about what Frances is doing is that she has come to certain conclusions and is trying to live up to her convictions.
    What she is doing won't change the world, but she's trying to change her bit of it.
    I don't have to be veggie to admire someone doing what they feel is the right thing - and being honest enough to say that she needs a bit of financial help to do it!

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  5. Dear Fly,
    I have just emailed you, but I wanted to say how very much I appreciate the post you wrote today. I don't blame some people for thinking that what I'm doing is silly, because I wonder too sometimes what it could actually change and if I'm being mad (especially when I'm cleaning out another hutch with marble-sized poos - massive!). But when I watch the bunnies racing around, barely believing it and high hopping - like a kid on a new bike doing a wheely - and see what a difference to them, I realise that's all that matters. Hopefully in the future I can help more animals too.

    Thank you for your kindness and financial support. You're one in a million.
    fx

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  6. Frances...tush! Just get on with those hutches....

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  7. I think it's a lovely thing that Frances is doing. I'm not in a position to help financially as I have a struggle myself trying to find enough money to feed the stray dogs that I have recently taken in. The donation issue is a risky one. Someone recently offered me a donation to help with my dogs and I refused to accept it. Not because I didn't need it but because I have seen the problems it can cause. A couple of ex-pats where I used to live did something similar. They took in stray cats and dogs, and many of their friends and family gave money to help them. Unfortunately there was criticism from some areas and suspicion (quite unfounded) about how they were using the money.

    So they became a registered charity and have gone from strength to strength, everything is now open and above board, and they even have a purpose built rescue centre.

    I can see that Frances is still in the early stages here, but I would strongly recommend that if she wants to continue on her mission that she too register as a charity.

    I have made a personal choice to stick with my 4 dogs, but if at some time in the future I decided to take in more, I would probably need to do the same. It's not possible, unless you are well off, to carry on without some financial help.

    I do wish Frances good luck.

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  8. Ayak, how right you are...people can be so unpleasant. That's why I suggested that Frances start a 1901 association - equivalent to charity status in France, in short, to cover herself ad her activities.

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