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    Home. Made.
    Home. Made.
    Home. Made.
    Ebook167 pages2 hours

    Home. Made.

    By Michael J. Baines

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Detached from the city in a small Thai village surrounded by lush rolling hills, cassava fields, and blooming plumeria, lives a man and his dogs - all 766 of them.<

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWitchcraft
    Release dateAug 25, 2024
    ISBN9798991078412
    Home. Made.

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      Book preview

      Home. Made. - Michael J. Baines

      image-placeholderimage-placeholder

      This book is brought to you by:

      Executive Producer, Samantha Wilson

      Lead Editor, Maggie Menendez

      Assistant Editor, Caroline Oatway

      Final Editing, Samantha Wilson

      Cover Photography, Maggie Menendez

      Cover Design, SO CREAT!VE

      Special thanks to Jeff Draeger, Chris Chidichimo, and Chelsea Kau

      Photos provided by The Man That Rescues Dogs Foundation, Michael J. Baines, and Maggie Menendez

      www.heywitchcraft.com

      ISBN 979-8-9910784-0-5

      Copyright © 2024 by Witchcraft Creative, LLC

      All rights reserved.

      No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

      image-placeholderimage-placeholder

      Witchcraft is an all-female, women-owned publishing start-up dedicated to amplifying stories that matter. Our mission is to produce books that spotlight social impact leaders and their organizations, bringing awareness to critical issues and inspiring positive change.

      We believe that conscious consumerism can drive real-world impact. That's why we give 70% of book royalties back to the featured organizations, helping them fund their missions without having to rely as heavily on grants and sponsorships, which often perpetuate systems of oppression. This model empowers consumers to support the causes they care about by using their purchasing power to vote for the world they want to live in.

      At Witchcraft, we craft stories that elevate marginalized voices and champion social justice—because storytelling can change the world.

      Thank you for your support.

      Contents

      Dedication

      Introduction

      By Samantha Wilson, Executive Producer

      The Tour

      The Sweetness

      The Formula 1 Wannabe

      The Neighbors

      The Wonder Woman

      The Other Mafia

      The Misunderstood

      The Good Girl

      The Land of Smiles

      The Wedding

      The Watershed

      The Wheelchair

      The Restaurant Critic

      The Musician

      The Dream

      The Divide

      The Video

      The Whistleblower

      The Reunion

      The Convict

      The Realization

      The Lessons

      The Promise

      Gallery

      Home. Made. Recipes

      Boiled Mussels with Beer and Cream

      Risotto with Mussels

      Avocado and Green Mussels Salad with Pomegranate

      Mum's Red Lentil Soup

      Färskpotatissallad (Swedish Potato Salad)

      Swedish Potato Salad

      Pasta El Diablo

      Knäckebröd (Swedish Hard Bread)

      Swedish Cinnamon Buns

      Kaow Kha Moo

      TMTRD Dog Food

      FAQ

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      To my beloved dogs, those still alive, and those off on an eternal adventure. You made me a better man.

      In loving memory of my father, who left too soon.

      For my incredible Mum, the cornerstone of our family, who tirelessly provided for me and my brothers. Thank you for everything, Mum.

      To my friends near and far, ingen nämnd, ingen glömd.

      No one mentioned, no one forgot.

      image-placeholder

      By Samantha Wilson, Executive Producer

      Be careful who you follow on Instagram.

      You never know what small insignificant actions will change the course of your life, how the click of a button, the lightest pressure of an index finger on a phone screen, a fleeting moment on an ordinary day, might change the course of your life.

      I don't remember the date that I began following The Man That Rescues Dogs on Instagram, but I will never forget the date that I sent that fateful message.

      It was February 5th, 2023. I had fought my impulse to reach out for a few weeks, but my internal tension was building, I wasn't going to be able to fight it off for much longer. There was a story that needed to be told here and my internet sleuthing had informed me that it had yet to be recorded in ink. Looking back, maybe something in me sensed the gravity of what I was about to do, the offer I was considering making, the crossroads I found myself standing at.

      Hi Michael and team, I’m dropping into your DMs because I founded a publishing company that works to help organizations like yours…Your post about the pup you couldn't save broke my heart and I would like to support and bring more eyes to your mission.

      A few months prior to this message I was about to send, I had found myself in a state of purposelessness. I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, and with even more certainty, I knew I wanted to focus on social impact. I had entrepreneurial experience behind me, having lost a business to COVID- a barre studio called Rally, a name that I later learned was significant to me and Michael. But what I didn't yet have was a structure for these experiences- something to pour my heart into and provide me a way to be part of the social impact arena through entrepreneurship.

      Hi Samantha, my name is Chris and I work for TMTRD. Can you email me some more details about what you'd like to do? Once I have more info I can present it to Michael and hopefully arrange something. Sound good?

      I had also finished a certification in professional publishing and established a publishing house of my own because I had just been heartbroken by a vanity press publisher, where I submitted a manuscript pitch titled How Dare They. This title was a culmination of years of my research on the link between the media, marketing messages, and eating disorders in women and girls. I wanted to be among the whistleblowers working to alleviate the pain and social issues associated with women's mental and physical health, but my hopes were dashed when at the end of an elaborate submission and interview process that took weeks, I learned that I had been tricked by a vanity press. This publisher didn't care about my work- they only cared about what I would be willing to do for them.

      Hi Chris, thank you for responding. I'll send over some literature on what the project could look like and what I hope it will do for your incredible organization. I am in the U.S., and assuming you're in Thailand, please excuse me if it takes a day. Thank you again.  And thank you for what you do for the dogs.

      I felt so foolish that I had let my hopes of publishing How Dare They become so vivid that they felt like a miracle- one that was shining a bright and glowing light upon a path with a golden sign staked into the ground at the start that read Samantha's Life Purpose in lights. How could I have known this was a marketing trap meant to prey on the desires of hopefuls like me?

      No worries! Yes, we're in Thailand (and I'm from New Jersey). Thank you for your kind words and I look forward to hearing from you.

      And yet, maybe I did find my path…

      The only natural next move for me to make to soothe my aching heart was to spend months continuing to research the publishing industry. I learned how unfair traditional publishing is to authors and how predatory vanity and hybrid publishers can be. But still, books are such magnificent pieces of art that have the power to move readers to tears and to action. Maybe, I thought, I could establish a production house focused on social impact stories that could serve as an evergreen funding tool for social impact organizations so they didn't have to rely on grants and corporate sponsorships that so often reinforce the very systems of oppression that they are working to dismantle.

      Samantha! Michael said in greeting on our first Zoom call.

      Hi Michael, thank you for meeting with me, it's so great to connect with you. 

      Yes, you too. So you want to make a book about me? he asked with a grin.

      Yes. And I want it to help fund your work with the dogs. I've fallen in love with them.

      Well, that's easy to do. I've been asked to write a book before but it's never felt like the right time… Maybe now is the right time?

      I was about to find out that the path to purpose, my path to purpose was a dirt road shared with four dozen dogs in wheelchairs in the middle of the cassava fields of a Thai jungle that my team and I visited in November of 2023. Despite being located near a landfill, the easy breeze moving through the sanctuary grounds is fresh and welcoming. Miles of lush greenery fills the space between watering holes and ponds, a muddy oasis for members of the rising stars of Michael's mutt-ley crew.

      Here, the palms produce the most vibrant blooms of orange and pink between bunches of wild hanging bananas that will never be eaten, and coconuts that will never be opened. The red clay dirt that founds the winding paths of the dogs that call this place home no longer billows as dogs that can't walk, run at full speed with the help of their custom wheelchairs. The dirt has been packed down by the gleeful paws of pups who were given an opportunity to live beyond even their expectations. I am yet another underdog who arrived at the sanctuary in need of a chance- or more accurately, in need of someone to take a chance on me. And that's what Michael did.

      It's actually what Michael does.

      Everyone who arrives at the sanctuary has a story, be it dog or human, and you will soon learn how this ordinary man with a past built a home of second chances for them all- an extraordinary sanctuary that covers 8,000 square meters with over 750 dogs and feeding countless more on the streets daily.

      He took a chance on me, a new publisher with a new purpose, just as he does on the unlovable, hopeless, and broken dogs that he and his team rescue. Just as he does on those who come to the sanctuary to heal, and stay at the sanctuary because it becomes home. Just as others did for him, in the pivotal moments of his becoming that he now understands as defining moments of his existence, the greatest lessons of his life.

      I hope that his reflections reinvigorate your faith in ordinary people doing extraordinary things despite the stories of their past. I hope you find your own second chances, and I hope you give them, too. I hope that you laugh, and I hope that you cry. Most of all, I hope that your faith in humanity is refreshed and that you find your own sanctuary in these pages.

      And with that, it is my pride and pleasure to present to you,

      Home. Made., the story of The Man That Rescues Dogs.

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      Michael J. Baines

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      Most people hate the sound of howling dogs. It brings me intense joy, because the sound of a barking dog is the sound of a living dog.

      But still, I can appreciate these 5:00 a.m. moments of quiet before the sun rises over the sanctuary. These are the only waking minutes that I am alone with my dogs. All 776 of them. The smell of freshly brewed hot black

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