Brummet's Conscious Blog

 --  Gift Idea -- The holidays are fast approaching and now that people are spending a lot of time indoors it is, perhaps, a good time to consider giving books for Christmas and upcoming holidays over the winter season. As such I'd like to suggest this book below for several reasons. First of course, book purchases support our work. Second, this book will make a real and measurable difference for the recipient.  -- Purple Snowflake Marketing  - How to make your book stand out in a crowd. -- This book was written after nearly 3 decades of  business experience, blogging,  writing and managing 2 talk radio shows - sharing the best of what we learned in a step-by-step guide.  This book will be useful for anyone with a product or service as they just have to substitute the word "book" with "product" or "service" and follow the guide from there. Purple Snowflake will save the recipient a great deal of time and money as we have already taken numerous busin

Alternative Gift Ideas Looking for the perfect gift for an upcoming holiday?  Something useful, that will help reduce waste?   Consider purchasing a set of sturdy, square bottomed, reusable, washable shopping bags. There are a lot of varieties to choose from, including those that are created from recycled plastic bottles, coffee sack material, renewable crops such as bamboo or hemp, and many other environmentally friendly options.  Go a step further and purchase a set of smaller, fine-mesh produce bags – this gift will reduce, or eliminate, the need to use the clear bags offered in the grocery store’s fresh produce department. These are washable, see-through and made of a very fine mesh material, weighing next to nothing, so they will not affect the cost when scaled at the checkout. Just how many bags per recipient? Typically 12 bags will likely cover most of the shopping activities for a family of 2-3, while 6-8 bags is appropriate for an individual. Want another option for reducing p

-- Oh the Garden --  Earlier this month I promised some photos of our garden harvests. It was a very productive year and we've filled our pantry, freezers, and cold room with processed and stored foods. I've shared a few processing-day photos too. I didn't take pictures every day - I simply just took a photo spontaneously when ever the feeling came up, and no - I don't take the best pictures - lol - but here they are for you to enjoy - as promised. 

 --  Gift Idea -- The holidays are fast approaching and now that people are spending a lot of time indoors it is, perhaps, a good time to consider giving books for Christmas and upcoming holidays over the winter season. As such I'd like to suggest this book below for several reasons. First of course, book purchases support our work. Second, this book will make a real and measurable difference for the recipient.  Trash Talk - It's Easy To Be Green, Book One BrummetMedia.ca Imagine if one could see all the trash generated in your lifetime trailing behind you like a jet-stream. All the baby food containers, diapers, packaging, food waste, bottles, cans – all of it. Now imagine that we all have a jet-stream that we left behind somewhere and you get an idea why it is so important to re-think our thinking. If everyone could simply cut back a small percentage of their contribution to the landfills it would make a huge difference! Trash Talk will give you the knowledge to do that and

Kudo's !! Regular blog readers will have noticed over the years that we take every opportunity to celebrate green/sustainable business initiatives  whenever we hear of them. today I'd like to feature KIND Healthy Snacks . I'd not heard of them until recently but their media release states that all of the almonds for their products will now be sourced from certified bee-friendly farms by 2025. This one company's commitment will support the long term health for pollinators. They also have other inhouse programs helping out local communities, connecting diverse classrooms, rethinking packaging, becoming powered by wind, and inspiring everyday acts of kindness. Apparently this company buys a  LOT of almonds... as one of the largest almond purchasers in the world, their impact with this commitment is huge.  Farms that become certified have shown that they have increased pollinator diversity and populations through integrated pest management, changes to landscapes re: water r

Recommended Resources This beautiful video put out by the University of British Columbia shows us how trees are the most efficient air conditioners, pollution and water erosion controls we have and how to make a difference in your own neighbourhood: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=333168328089151 * Note of appreciation to Patricia Zurita (CEO of Birdlife International) for sending this info our way: A report put out by the Birdlife Partnership covers 2019 and has numerous stories of tangible progress and numerous interviews and more. check it out via this link (download pdf):  https://birdlife.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9d038fec22941c8c91b775879&id=fd9bc5b8ee&e=310b6cd3fb And here is another link from the same outfit via Stuart Butchart (Chief Scientist) who kindly sent this information to me: Click here to download a digital copy of Birds and Biodiversity which analises data relating to birds, targets, projects, and more. https://birdlife.us7.list-manage.com/track/cl

Quote of the Day  © BrummetMedia.ca "Never change your originality for the sake of others. Because no one can play your role better than you. So - be yourself. You are the best."  ~ Author Unknown -- Visit the Brummets @  www.BrummetMedia.ca --

Pollinators With the recent fire epidemic in the US a lot of smoke was produced for everyone. You may have been in one of the communities affected where air quality warnings were issued. Perhaps you had to shut your windows because the smell bothered you, or it was bad enough to avoid being outside at all. If you were in the epicentre you probably had breathing gear on.  Have you ever stopped to wonder what happens to bees and other wildlife? They are my first thought. The innocents. The animals, the precious flora and fauna, the delicate butterflies, the eggs in nests, the young ones, the ones that can't run or fly away.... Tragic. Just tragic . Not to mention the forests themselves. The diversity. The environmental impacts to come.  Thankfully there are thousands of organizations out there that work for pollinators, bee and butterfly organizations, bird and wildlife rehabilitation centres, tree planting and native seed supply organizations. Numerous organizations also support fir

Adopting New Fur-Family Members !! Today we celebrate the adoption of two new fur-kids. It is a very interesting story how this all came about. After the loss of our Skyla, Duchess fell right into senior mode more than ever. Duchess began showing more signs that the 10 years she's lived is getting her a bit tired. She wants to sleep more, do less, and keep to herself... except for food and cuddles.  So when it came to looking for new dogs we determined we should get two, so that Duchess will not be bothered by the young energy as much - the young ones would play together rather than bother her. Sadly for weeks we scoured local shelters, then broadening our research to up to out of Province (Alberta and NwT). Only the northern shelters had dogs coming up and so transport logistics were going to be an issue. The other shelters had older or aggressive dogs - not what we were looking for. Then, all of a sudden, two dogs came available locally - within days of each other. These were re-

Quote of the Day  "Grief never ends... But it changes. It's a passage,  not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness. Nor a lack of faith... It is the price of love." Author Unknown -- Visit the Brummets @  www.BrummetMedia.ca --

Recommended Resources As many of our loyal readers are already aware, this genre of blog posts offers recommended resources, typically 3 at a time, that may benefit or at least interest our readers.  Today I'd like to start by thanking Jessica Baker (Junior Content Marketing Specialist with SiegeMedia.com) who queried us about sharing this amazing resource designed to help people with natural disasters, in particular during the hurricane season. It lists what you should do before, during and after a major storm like a hurricane and is a valuable resource.  https://floridapanhandle.com/blog/hurricane-safety -- National Wildlife Federation offers this interesting piece on how to attract birds to your back yard:  https://blog.nwf.org/2020/10/five-ways-to-attract-birds-this-fall/   -- And here's an amazing grant for attaining seeds for flowers that will support bees! The Pollinator Partnership organization and Flow  Co. are proud to partner in support of Bee Friendly Farming Cert

Author Interview One of my favourite activities here on this blog is to host author interviews, and today I have the pleasure of featuring Karin Thompson ( www.KarinThompson.com ) who has recently published a somewhat religious memoir that she hopes will help victims of abuse begin healing, take back their life, and overcome negative habits they've developed - often as a defence mechanism. Q: It is really nice to have you here today Karen! I know you've recently released a christian-themed inspirational aide book but what I'd really like to learn today is more about your journey as a writer. Tell us, who inspired you to pursue a career in writing? I wanted to share my life story and to encourage others. This inspired me to write and help others. I had no idea where to start and even how to go about it. But God placed people across my path that we can help me. It is utterly amazing. I write about what I know and subjects that will help others. I wrote mostly on the weekends

-- Pet Grief Poem -- Today I'd like to share with you a poem that Dave's dad Frank Nick Brummet wrote when we were grieving our first dog Skylo. Yesterday's post shared the journey we underwent with our grandma dog Skyla. Yes the names are similar. After Skylo passed on nearly 13 years ago, we found Skyla in the paper a few months later - listed as available through the local SPCA. It felt like a sign - the similarity in names... and so she joined our home 12 years ago. This poem, however, is about the previous dog. Weirdly, since poetry has always been my emotional outlet,  I've never been able to write one about the heavy grief from pet loss as it hits me far to deeply. I can tell you it sits on your chest like an elephant's foot, each breath burns deep in the chest and the world becomes fuzzy and grey while your focus is on grief. It fades somewhat with time, but the pain resurfaces at the most unexpected times. Skylo's passing was shocking - as he darted aft

Celebrating Skyla Skyla came to us as a puppy 12 years ago - rescued by the BC SPCA from a puppy mill in Prince George... sadly during that rescue only a few puppies and dogs were in a state that the SPCA could save, a lot were put down. Skyla was emancipated, had a heart murmur, worms, and a sensitive-afraid-needy nature... she survived by eating other dogs' poops and any dropped snacks she could find. She was just 4 months old and barely filled in a tile on our kitchen floor.  She was my baby, my fur-child. ...Always at my feet in the office. ...When she was young I was still running the radio show and you could hear her chewing her squeaky toy and doing her best to keep my attention. Talk about me learning multitasking skills, lol.  She joined us camping, hiking, mountain biking on the old railway beds, snowshoeing in the winter, pacing by the lake edge while we played in the water... she never did like getting wet or dirty or messy and always avoided puddles when we walked. She