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          Garden Gate Rabbit Park Calendars are amazing and quite extraordinary in every stage of their development and production! After talking with our printer Jordan Finn today about our Rabbit Park calendar ( which is currently at Indexx)  and explaining some of the work that we do, the need to share our story was pointed out.
People need to know much  more about our fascinating rabbits and all the labor that is necessary to produce our beautiful pictures  with those amazing  rabbit expressions and poses. Since we raise several different breeds of rabbits there are different sizes of bunnies.Those are some of the challenges we have as we determine which size to work with and which rabbit will be the best color of rabbit to feature in the picture! I take time to sketch the kind of a picture I want to take, where  it will be taken and what extra flowers or details will be included. We  have rabbits pose in our garden areas where real flowers and real plants are thriving. The planning stages take time and then if I need to make a hat, bonnet or item for a rabbit to wear that is the  next creation I work on. If there are special miniatures to be built then time is needed for that too.

My pictures are taken outdoors and only on clear days . When the wind blows in- our work has to be delayed!  If our rabbit is sleepy then we either choose another rabbit or wait for another day!  We take 75-100 pictures of one rabbit posing just to get one clear sharp photograph!  People always ask me how do I get my rabbits to sit still?  I am hoping to find the answer to that question myself!! That would make our work easier and many people would have greater success! We get multiples of blurry pictures where bunnies twitch their ears, wiggle their nose, and make excited leaps about the set!  Every session for pictures will have some unexpected interruption,  a visiting guest with 2-4 legs,  an insect or bird flies in for a close look or a lizard may drop in!  Our pictures are examined on our computer, selected, cropped and sized for the calendar layout next.  Everything requires proofreading and correction before going to the printer who will make preparations and more proofs for examination. That summary of our work still sounds pretty pleasant. We have not found an audience yet that likes to hear about all the detailed rabbit hutch building or repair and maintenance work in addition to the daily cleaning  and feeding chores! The nail clipping and grooming between shows and working with the bunny litters are pleasure filled days for us.  It would be great if we could make a living raising rabbits and sharing their pictures in calendars! It takes so much time to produce a calendar that even $50 per calendar would not cover our time and expense each year- these past 6 calendar printing years. While we meet the challenges to improve our rabbit breeds we also continue our worthy work to protect several rare breeds from extinction. While we share our joy of rabbits with you we are truly grateful for everyone that shares in our work by purchasing our calendars to use in their home, at work, and when gift giving!!
Where else in the world can a better rabbit calendar be found? !
Remember to buy your  Garden Gate Rabbit Park calendar every year! Our calendars feature different breeds of rabbits (which we identify in the monthly footnotes) quotes, and scripture verses each month. Holidays are marked as well as the seasons. We support several rabbit clubs, ARBA Shows and local businesses loyal to American made products too.

Give your favorite school teacher a Garden Gate Rabbit Park Calendar!
When you give Garden Gate calendars you are sharing smiles that last all year!
Did the mail carrier get one?
The soldier, marine or sailor?
The butcher, the baker, the tailor ?

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Greetings!
      Welcome to Garden Gate’s website!  Allow me introduce you to my dear family, our sweet rabbits and our extraordinary work.  While raising and showing pedigreed rabbits we are sharing our delightful experiences through the photographs I take of our rabbits that we dress and pose to illustrate our books, calendars, notecards and various Garden Gate® products. Meet famous rabbits and their families on our “Rabbit Park” pages, read stories and press releases on the “news” pages, and enjoy shopping at our store where you can buy our extraordinary books and gifts!
Each morning we visit our rabbitry where we are greeted by our eager bright-eyed furry friends. Our bunnies have wonderful ways of expressing their excitement! Whether they tug at their hutch doors, rattle their empty feeders or bound back and forth momentarily stopping to peek out of their hutch window to see if you are coming over to visit with them, they anxiously await a visit to their hutch. Our rabbits are not camera shy and you will see on our website pages how they like to pose among the flowers and explore our gardens! We certainly enjoy working with our rabbits and we hope that it shows! Hopefully, you will fall in love with our rabbits and want to take a bunny home with you! We have now made that possible-when you buy a Garden Gate® Note Card!!
Here in South Carolina at Garden Gate Rabbit Park  our family raises award winning show rabbits. Our rabbits have pedigrees too!( Imagine that!) Of course our rabbits love the gardens as much as we do, and only  briefly pause to pose before nosing about to find something edible to nibble while I take their pictures. Photographing rabbits can be quite a challenge. Rabbits do not stand  still. There are many distractions when toads hop onto the scene, a clumsy skink (lizard) drops down from the tree branch over head or a neighboring dog comes down the road for a visit!  We never know when our flower garden or one of our flower “settings” will become rabbit lunch! The more pictures that we take the more proof we have that the lovely flowers are irresistable and are disappearing!
Garden Gate® Cards and books are the result of much hard work done by my family. We are sharing with you a personal  experience  or special occasion we have had with our rabbits through every illustration and photograph!  Those precious rabbits and expressive faces make Garden Gate’s  beautiful products possible!  Our very popular  “On the Banks of Durbin Creek” children’s book series endear our rabbits to everyone’s heart while leading readers on an adventure!  Every color photograph features  real flowers, lovely gardens,  and our adorable bunnies! Garden Gate® products are a feast for the eyes and food for the soul! What  delightful greetings and gifts you can send to your family and friends! Our products are made in America of the finest quality and are truly extraordinary in every way.  They are beautiful for personal use and appropriate for any occasion and age group! Garden Gate® Cards are a beautiful way to share sunshine and flowers with a dear friend!

 

 Remember to send our beautiful Garden Gate Cards……

“What a wonderful way to be remembered!”
~Loretta

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Our Newest Book in the “On the Banks of Durbin Creek”  series!

 

                                       This is truly an extraordinary book  with an exciting perspective
as you see our wilderness along the banks of Durbin Creek through the eyes of our adventurous rabbits Chip and Sherwood! From sunrise to sunset there is adventure as you meet the wild animals, travel the wooded paths and are thrilled at the close up encounters! The beautiful detailed full page panoramic photos show the “rabbit’s eye view” of the forest foliage, the gardens, berry patches, the thickets and follow the rabbit visits to the sandy shoreline along Durbin Creek. What a visual feast for the eyes that every reader enjoys whatever their age.  Loretta Hayward’s amazing collection of photographs depict the challenges of capturing pictures of wildlife especially rabbits. Every page is a splendid  teaching tool with helpful footnotes identifying  new animals that are introduced throughout the story.
Readers will also enjoy searching some of the special pages for camouflaged creatures! Those activities will heightening their awareness of  life surrounding them and the animals that are watching the  rabbits on the trail.  Our four page illustrated glossary is another valuable asset  for vocabulary development and reinforcing new reading skill development. Adults are enthralled as well as youth!  Elementary as well as high school teachers also use our fascinating books in their classes and instruction.

” Immeasurable benefits result from the reading and handling
of excellent bound books whether common or rare!”
L. Hayward

 

 

 

                    

 “Sow a seed of friendship today!”

 

“Anyone can count the seed in an apple
Only God can count the apples in one seed.”
                                                                Robert Schuller

 

KIND HEARTS
Are the gardens

 KIND THOUGHTS
Are the roots

  KIND WORDS
Are the flowers

KIND DEEDS
Are the fruits.

 

“Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent
if no birds sang except for those that sang best.”
~ Henry van Dyke

 

 

 

We met Jack Roper and his wife at  “Pioneer Day” in Gray Court. He told his producer about us and the work that we do with our rabbits here at Garden Gate Rabbit Park! We have had the wonderful opportunity to be on the TV Show “Your Carolina”  with some of our rabbits on two different occasions! It was a joy for Gloria and I to make new friends and also introduce some of our interesting show bunnies as well as some of our rare rabbit breeds!

 

“Whenever you need a smile~come back to see us!”