1. Mimi and Friends are on a mission to educate children and their families on how beneficial insects contribute to the well-being of humans, animals, and plants and by offering healthy pet treats and other products made from insects. They will offer informative bi-weekly blogs with helpful links, interactive puppet shows, and educational curriculum that can be shared and discussed.
2. Mimi and Friends are also on a mission to educate and assist children and their families on
the best practices for caring for their pets through live puppet shows, live and interactive radio shows. We will feature interviews with veterinarians, pet trainers, pet stores, pet owners, pet and child psychologists who will talk about the importance of caring for pets and fun contests with the “Cricket Club”, too (stay tuned)!
3. Bonyappetit is all natural and nutritional! All natural insect protein treats for your pets. A sustainable superfood pets love! All of our ingredients are organic and extremely healthy for your pets. Our main ingredient is insect flour made right here on Mimi’s Country Porch. Our first offerings of insects will be from crickets and mealworms. We will soon be farming other protein filled insects as well. Bonyappetit will begin by offering our treats for dogs initially, but we will be offering our treats (with a few tweaks of our recipe) to other family pet members such as; birds, reptiles, guinea pigs, sugar gliders, reptiles, cats, squirrels, hedgehogs, rats and many more.
4. Bonyappetit spoils their Insects! Mimi and Friends raise and cultivate insects in safe and clean conditions. They have even dubbed the insect living quarters, ‘The Cricket Hotel” and there is an insect nursery within. All of the insects are treated with kindness and respect – after all they are giving up their lives, at the end of their life cycles, by giving sustenance for your pet friends.
5. Bonyappetit is good for and is doing good things for our environment! Mimi and Friends feed their insects organic and quality fresh foods from gardens tended right here in Liberty Hill, Texas – home of Mimi’s Country Porch! We will be using the innovative Crop Circle technologies of growingtogive.org and organically growing our own carrots, potatoes, squash and some dark leafy greens. Crop Circles® are small round gardens® that get big garden production from small garden spaces. Perfect for the backyard, a community garden – even a rooftop. Crop Circles is a "grow anything anywhere" food technology the world has been waiting for. It’s easy to use, simple to install, incredibly productive, water efficient and climate adaptable. Mimi and Friends know and understand the importance of feeding their insects quality food because after all “WE ARE WHAT WE EAT - EATS!” Mimi and friends are very aware of our environmental changes and are proud to be able to utilize the technologies from Crop Circles to conserve water usage while producing thriving and healthy plants.
6. Bonyappetit is a good and responsible environmental steward! Mimi and Friends understand this.
Per Wikipedia research:
- Raising livestock is responsible for 18% greenhouse gases emitted. Alternative sources of protein, such as insects, replace protein sourced from livestock and help decrease the number of greenhouse gases emitted from food production. Insect farming has negligible emissions compared to livestock.
- Raising Livestock accounts for 70% of agricultural land use and this amount of land-cover destroys local ecosystems and displaces people and wildlife. Insect farming is minimally space intensive compared to other conventional livestock, and can even take place in populated urban centers.
- As opposed to meat, lower costs are required to care for and produce insects.
- Faster growth and reproduction rates. Crickets mature rather quickly and are typically full-grown within 3 weeks to a month and an individual female can lay from 1,200 to 1,500 eggs in three to four weeks. Cattle, however, become adults at 2 years, and the breeding ratio is four breeding animals for each market animal produced. Unlike meat, insects rarely transmit diseases such as H1N1, mad cow disease, or salmonella.
- Reduced feed: Cattle use 12 times the amount of feed that crickets do to produce an equal amount of protein. Crickets also only use a quarter of the feed of sheep and one half the amount of feed given to swine and chicken to produce an equivalent amount of protein. Crickets require only two pounds of feed to produce one pound of the finished product.
7. Bonyappetit uses freeze drying techniques to prepare their pet treats. Freeze-drying retains nutritional value better than other drying methods. Freeze drying maintains 97% of the nutritional value of the food. Dehydration removes about 90-95 percent of the moisture content while freeze drying removes about 98-99 percent. Freeze-dried foods will have a longer average shelf life, 25 to 30 years if stored properly. Diane Barrett, a food science and technology professor at UC-Davis, says once rehydrated, freeze-dried food is similar in nutritional value to fresh food. Your pet will have healthier snacks that last longer in your cupboard.
8. Bonyappetit stone grinds their seeds and nuts! We use the finest organically grown ingredients in our pet treats. We use a grist mill that stone grinds our natural ingredients.
Stone grinding produces an end product which retains the natural, original proportions of the seeds and grains being ground. Stone grinding releases the natural oils and distributes them uniformly throughout the product creating a wonderfully smooth and creamy product. Yummy for your beloved pets! Let’s Bonyappetit y’all!
9. Bonyappetit will use solar panels on their Insect houses such as our “Cricket Ranch Hotel”. No greenhouse gas emissions are released into the atmosphere when we use solar panels to create electricity. And because the sun provides more energy than we will ever need, electricity from solar power is a very important energy source in the move to clean energy production.
10. A percentage of each product sold will go to a worthy cause!
We are starting a program called “Senior Pets for Senior Peeps”! Funds will go towards finding good homes for Senior Pets who have been left behind for whatever reason and now need a good home to spend their last days in – a home with patience, love and time.
Studies have shown that animals can help reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and increase social interaction and physical activity with the elderly. Pets can also have a wonderful effect on symptoms of depression and feelings of loneliness.
Studies have even witnessed animals’ ability to prompt better memory recall in their elderly owners. Those with memory loss interact with an animal and regain access to memories from long ago. Having a pet helps the senior focus on something other than their physical problems and negative preoccupations about loss or aging.
Animals benefit from adoption, too, particularly when seniors adopt older pets. Retired adopters tend to have lots of time to devote to a previously unwanted pet, forming a lasting bond. “Senior Pets for Senior peeps!”
