New Cat Sensation: Faux Rat Tail

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We’ve discovered a thrilling new cat toy: a long tail from a beet root. Yes indeed, it looks exactly like a hairy, dismembered rat tail, right down to the bloody stump. Even better, when batted, it moves like a rat tail.

In fact, the excitement around this toy was so great that I could not capture any decent images of our cat, Buck, and his rat tail, which he would not share with the other cats (who were wildly envious), or slow down his play so I could get an clear shot. By the next day, when he tired of it, the tail had dehydrated into little more than a rat whisker.

This Root Simple Approved Artisanal Feline Play Device contains no artificial flavors or colors. It is 100% organic, raw, vegan, locally grown, cruelty-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, compostable, non-toxic, derived from renewable beet crops and only somewhat staining to carpets.

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Free Online Chicken Behavior Course

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Thank you to reader James for this tip:

Coursera is offering a 5 week online course on chicken behavior, taught by the staff of Scotland’s Rural College.

For those of you who haven’t heard about Coursera, it’s an online platform offering free courses in a wide variety of subjects, taught by professors from genuine big name universities, via video. The classes may or may not also include homework and discussion groups, but these are optional, and required only for those who wish to receive a certificate of course completion (which is not the same as credit from the host university.)

The chicken class has already started, but don’t worry, you can jump in and catch up. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe you can look at the class video any time, but you may not be able to access the teachers via the forums after the official course run is finished. This one is in its first week still. We’ll be watching!

041 Sounds of the Homestead

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Kelly and Erik discuss some of the unusual sounds heard around the Root Simple compound: chickens, cats, bees and, yes, Kaiser Permanente’s music on hold.

If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.

040 Natural Beekeeper Kirk Anderson

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Our guest on the podcast is the one and only Kirk Anderson, a natural, no-treatment beekeeper and our mentor. Kirk tells a lot of funny stories and shares his wisdom on how to keep bees in a big city. During the podcast we discuss:

If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.

Why We Have No Vegetables: Raccoon Gangs

This week, our Crittercam revealed yet more nocturnal raccoon antics in our vegetable beds. Not only are the raccoons digging for grubs, but they are also using the vegetable beds and bird netting as a sort of trampoline/wrestling ring. Apologies for the haphazardly applied banjo music.

The Crittercam may have revealed an emergent phenomena: raccoons in urban locations discovering the benefits of social behavior.