IN THE BEGINNING... It all started in 1999 with Puff the Magic Rabbit. A friend found a very tame chocolate rabbit in his yard, his daughter adopted it, and named him Cadbury. She had a friend with a black rabbit and so there were more, and I adopted Puff. Click his name for his picture and story.

AND THEN THERE WERE 3... In my research, I found that rabbits might not like being alone so I kept my eyes open for a buddy (not a mate) for Puff. One day in March of 2000, I saw a sign in town that said "Rabbit Show". I had no idea rabbits came in so many beautiful varieties. It's there I saw some that looked a lot like Puff, so he may have been part Havana. I saw many Netherland Dwarfs and since I had been interested in them but never saw them anywhere for sale, I got 2, Joey (chinchilla) & Amie (black Himalayan). From these 2, I got 3 kits, originally to raise one as a pet. I kept DeDe and sent the others off as pets. I fell in love with these little rabbits and wanted to raise more.

The photo on this page is Swihart's Amie and her 3 wk old babies. That's DeDe in the grey fur coat. She's since gone to a new home, and the last I heard, living out her days in a petting zoo. I lost Amie due to complications after weaning that litter.

More research taught me that my original pair were not compatible colors and so I began to search for local breeders who had what I wanted. My original stock came from Bielings' Bunnies, Vermander's Hair Raising, and Swihart's Rabbit Habit.

BUNNY RUN was established. Bunny Run was the name of a road in the neighborhood I grew up in. The pedigree prefix was DBR's, and there are still some DBR pedigrees in MI.

Since then, my rabbits have steadily improved, and I can now claim some important winners in my lines. I owe much to all the friends and breeders in MI who helped me, whether providing me with breeding stock, or just being there to answer my questions and offer advice.

AND THEN THE BIG MOVE... After retiring from GM, I left the bitter, snowy winters of Michigan behind and moved to East Tennessee in August 2004. The property is located at the base of the Applalachian Mountains in the Cherokee National Forest. Since everything was new, I decided the rabbitry needed a new name. There is a spring-fed creek on the property which supplies our water. Spring is my very favorite time of the year.

SPRING CREEK GEMS® - Rabbitry # X326 was officially registered with the American Rabbit Breeders Association in December 2004.

Since moving south, I've met so many nice new friends. Southerners are just such nice people! I've added rabbits from these breeders to my herd and the quality of my Netherlands has again moved forward.

It has always been my goal to show rabbits that I bred, not someone else's. It was a good year into the hobby before I showed for the first time. I rarely show a bunny acquired for the breeding program. As a result, the hobby has been a slow and sometimes painful learning process for me. I've culled hard and weeded out the original unproductive or undesirable lines to develop my own. I've learned that a well-known rabbitry's name on the pedigree doesn't mean all that much. It's what they produce that matters. Often a tightly-bred line just doesn't mesh with your own. That awesome 3-figure buck may never produce anything as good or better than himself. Even if I could afford such pricey rabbits, it would be an expensive risk. I'll just plod along and do it the hard way. I still have a way to go, but I'm getting there.

MORE ABOUT ME here.