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!
