Treasury Tuesday – Sweet Bunny Blue

Etsy treasury sweet bunny blue

Click on image to visit Etsy treasury

I created this treasury a few days ago dedicated to an Etsy Rabbit’s team member in honor of a bunny she lost way too soon. The combination of the lovely soft blues, the florals and the sweet bunny feel is proving to be well liked. So I wanted to share it here too for others to enjoy.

Sassy Rabbit Supervisor Still Hard at Work

sassy concrete rabbit garden stateu

Our sassy garden rabbit supervisor is still minding the plants needing to be potted.  I can just imagine what she is thinking:  ” I’ve been minding these plants for 24 hours now.  You wanted the Purslane to show blooms, now you got blooms!  Get these poor plants into the pot.  Its hot out here and they need to get a good drink and get some rest.” 

Our concrete cottontail will just have to wait a bit longer.  Only the black thumb is home right now*.   The green thumb is off at his day job. 

* It is sad but true that Blaine took immediate custody of all my house plants when we got engaged, to save their lives.  I’m good with rabbits, awful with plants.

Sassy Rabbit Supervisor

Sassy concrete cottontail

Everything is a bit hot dry and parched here in Georgia right now. So we hit some garden centers this weekend and picked up some succulent style flowering plants.   They hold more water in their leaves to survive and thrive in low rain conditions.

These will make a pretty planter for our back patio. Our sassy concrete cottontail supervisor was on hand to check all the supplies out as they arrived. Unfortunately for the picture, the coral Purslane’s proved bashful and closed their beautiful blooms before I could snap a group shot.

All Kidding Aside, Bunny Poo Is Great for Gardening!

Bunny poo fed blooms

Bunny poo assisted blooms in our garden

I have been poking fun at rabbit manure for sale on the web for a couple of days.  It is funny how silly some serious listings and terminology can sound when the product being sold is poop.  Today I switch over to the real value of bunny poo.

If you have a rabbit and a garden, rabbits really do create the perfect compost.  If they are fed properly, the only things going in are veggies or hay products.  Then what comes out of a healthy rabbit are nice dry round bunny poo marbles that have extremely low odor.

Someone connected with a rabbit rescue told me they have provided gardeners with rabbit manure and used the rest for gardens around the rescue building.  I think that is terrific idea for rescues.  Added value to the community with a usable product and use it to make the grounds of the building more attractive.  It also provides another positive talking point on an unexpected side benefit of having a house rabbit.  Waste not!  What other composter will look so cute?  Rabbits are just so totally vegan, green and eco conscious little beings.

Here in Georgia, the soil is red clay based, so the soil needs improvement for gardening.  We moved in with the rabbits nine years ago and have regularly used their offerings in the parts of the yard we picked out for our gardens.  I won’t say we have had raging success, because our part of Georgia has been in and out of drought mode with a switch over to flood stage a couple of times.  To say our plants have been stressed for much of the time we have been here is an understatement.  We brought in several rain barrels to collect water from our gutters when it does rain and are putting in more plants that tolerate heat and low water conditions, xeriscaping.

The other thing we have noticed in our gardens is lots of wild cottontail rabbits who will come to visit.  It seems to us that the bunny poo fertilization has hung out a wild bunny welcome mat.  They will sit right below the windows of the house eating quite comfortably.  One time a mother brought her babies with her and they were snuggled up underneath her as she ate.  The babies took off running when we accidentally moved.  I found one of the babies napping in the sunshine curled up in a patch of grass by the backdoor the next day.  We can watch the bunnies through our windows and sometimes sit on the back patio and enjoy the yard with them as they feed. 

So use the poo, its good stuff!  On to the plan for the remainder of this week and next.  Tomorrow, I am going to talk about rabbits and territorial poo, bunnyproofing info.  Thursday, I plan to share some of the unusual things for sale on the web related to rabbit poo.  Friday, I will have a follow suggestion or two.  I figured on getting all the messy stuff out-of-the-way this week, since the first week of August is designated as a Simplify Your Life week.  During that week, I plan to share lots of the tips and tricks and supplies we find most handy for keeping things clean and simple with rabbits in the house.

The Wonderful World of Bunny Poo

oat hay & rabbit poo

Oat Hay + Rabbit = Cheeripoos ?

As a cottage industry, seriously.  I have often fantasized about getting the bunnies to earn their own keep.  I had read at one time about a how-to book that had information for using bunny poo to start a worm farm and then sell the worms to fishermen.  Blaine has a wonderful green thumb and we use bunny poo in our garden.  So I have always been aware of the rich fertilization in the poo since it is already composted veggies and hay.  It is also nice hard dry little marbles that are easy to pick up and don’t have much of an odor.

However, I had never heard or thought about the possibility of actually selling bunny poo online.  I had just recently joined the Creative Breakroom forum.  In one thread I learned about a challenge they had a while back for “Jars O Crap”.  Everyone was to take a Mason jar and fill it with whatever, take pictures and then list their jars online.

Looking through the challenge thread and the very creative responses had me laughing myself silly.  This is the one I loved the most:  Un Bocal des Peaux D’Oignons.  Oh so very special, I am almost tempted to buy it myself.  If I had been there at the time to take part, the title had me thinking quite literally about my most available free item here, a jar of bunny poo!

So I got into a discussion in the Breakroom on the topic of bunny poo.  What do you say the expiration date is on a bottle full of bunny poop? What kind of shelf life does that have? Or does it become vintage at some point? Rapid thoughts were running through my head as to whether that would be tagged as handmade or a supply.  Do I say I made it myself or it was created by my rabbit collective?  Some pointed out that a bottle could have explosive gas issues and that holes in the top or a plastic bag with a nice label might be better. 

As we were verbally flinging the poo back and forth in this discussion, one member asked another if they had heard back officially on this.  That is when I found out that someone had investigated whether selling bunny poo on Etsy was allowed.  They were told that it was, as long as local laws and regulations in regards to animal compost are met.  Hey, I am living in a farming community!  I will just bet I can find out about that!  That is where hysterically funny idea meets up with actual business opportunity.  Too funny! 

I suppose I should be incredibly alarmed with myself that the idea of selling bunny poo has generated more creative marketing ideas in my head than anything else this year.  Perhaps there are whole huge cottage industries out there for the unemployed to sell pet waste and help feed their families.  I did check this morning on Etsy and there are current active listings there for both Rabbit Manure and Llama Beans.  

Objectively, the picture for the Llama beans was a great deal cleaner (does that term ever apply to compost?)  than the Rabbit Manure.  The Llama Bean title is also more appealing than Rabbit Manure which sounds a bit too down on the farm for eco conscious urban viewers.  So I sense an opportunity to upscale the market for rabbit compost / fertilizer.  I am intrigued in my research today on Etsy to see how many people have tagged their items with fertilizer when they aren’t selling compost ???  I am not at all certain about the thinking on that one for SEO keyword searches.

At this point, I have no idea where I am going (is that a poor word choice?) with this.  The minimum I expect is to have some great fun and laughs here for the blog.  Since laughs have been in short supply at many points this year that will be oh so welcome.  So stay tuned for poo!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Worn

Blue sky through pine trees

I hope everybunny is enjoying a wonderful day.

WordPress had suggested a photo challenge this week of worn and for me that just kept coming out as worn out.  It has been a long and tiring week of on and off storms rolling through.  For us that means powering down computer equipment a lot and then sometimes working late into the night trying to catch up.

When I am worn out, I love nature as a pick me up.  This photo is sunshine and blue skies shining down through Georgia pines, the view you get laid out in a lounge chair or hammock.  I hope you all had or have a chance today to kick back, relax and just look up at a beautiful sky.  So relaxing!

Tuesday Treasury – Animal Quirks Mode

Animal Quirks Mode Etsy Treasury

I was in the mood for a laugh. So I created this quirky animal treasury on Etsy.

Click Here to go to the treasury and see these items.

Afternoon in the Garden

Concrete Cottontail Napping in Living Green Rabbit Ears
We’re all ears here …

Sleeping in the sunshine … This is the concrete cottontail that sleeps in the patch of fuzzy green rabbit ears that grows by our back door.  The expression on this sleeping bunny’s face is so sweet, it always makes me smile.

Photo Challenge: Morning

Good Morning Concrete Cottontail
Good Morning Concrete Cottontail

In our garden we have many cottontail bunnies.  Some of them are brown with fluffy white tails and we scare them off if we move too fast.  Others are concrete cottontails that we have placed around our garden. This cute little guy is our first greeter for visitors walking up to our front door.  I love the way the morning light is playing up the bushes on one side but still leaving our little friend some shadows to hide in and surprise people when they first see him.

Fun Photo

Bunny sticking tongue out

Yuck, icky tasting grass!

Popping in quickly here this evening.  We were with power and without power on and off as thunderstorms rolled through here this afternoon.  That is a mixed blessing.  We need the rain, but not being able to trust the power to use the Internet is hard when you have web based businesses!