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11 Comments

  1. Oh my goodness this is hilarious! I added it to my pinterest under the category “DIY: For Your Home”. I hope it brings more people to your blog too.

  2. ARE there solutions to keeping them out? I have a neighbor who has essentially given up on their fruit trees because the squirrels eat EVERYTHING. 🙁

  3. This is precisely the sort of alarming book my husband loves, minus the dead animal. The very idea of using what other people discard to create something useful or beautiful (in his mind only), thrills his inner pack rat to its very core. He has stacks of Popular Mechanics from the 50’s and 60’s that he clings to with the idea he will build the projects therein. His mini-kingdom (the garage) is a testimony to his fervent belief in the redemptive power of junk. Like a benevolent god, he sees value and potential in everything. Lacking his divine vision, I see a pile of junk.

    It would be very dangerous for him to get his hands on such a book. I will not let him see this post.

  4. mjlai – Tell your neighbor to invest in a small Hav a Heart animal trap and bait it with peanut butter on a saltine cracker (squirrles love it!). He can then decide whether or not to “relocate” the offending squirrel(s) or euthanize them. I trap between 24 -30 squirrels and rats/year and have minimal fruit loss.

    • I’d advise against relocating any animal. It’s far more humane to use instant kill traps. Animals have territories they know how to exist in and relocating them, even to the other side of town or a nice field is usually dooming them to a slow, frightening death. It seems like you’re doing something good, but it’s like letting that rabbit go in the park that your kid lost interest in two weeks after Easter.

  5. Oh, how I loathe squirrels! Tree rats. Bleah. When my dogs were puppies, they were trained to “Girls! Squirrels!” and would run barking ferociously at them. They taunted me, they stole my harvest, and they generally annoyed me. A pox on them. No, you need not ask me how I *really* feel….

  6. tell your neighbor to invest in a 20 gage works almost every time Plus it’s “greener” no gas used to relocate them

  7. Consider Squirrelitos or Risotto Rodentia. Squirrels are delicious and even the urban variety provide healthy protein. I explain how to do it in my blog Essential Bread. I’ve been tanning the pelts (they were used as currency and only royalty were allowed to wear them in medieval times) and can’t wait to make a squirrel lamp. RootSimple, you rock. And I’m so glad I have your books!

  8. @Melany: Thank you so much for sharing your post. It’s fantastic. Very helpful.

    Here’s the link for everyone. But don’t go unless you’re serious about eating squirrel, because it shows you how to butcher:

    http://www.essentialbread.com/2011/10/meat-mr-squirrel.html

    Personally, I don’t know if I’ll ever eat squirrel, but I’ll admit I do have murderous sentiments as I watch them ruin my avocados. It is indisputable that they are a very sensible, healthy source of meat. Plus they are so darned fat and glossy-coated and smug…

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