Category Archive

animals

5 tips to get your rental application approved, even if you have bad credit and pets

In a competitive rental market you want your application to be approved. I’ve been a property manager for over 10 years, so I have five important tips to help get your rental application approved! These tips are especially helpful if you don’t have the best credit, or if you have an animal…

My hairless cat smells like potatoes

This is my cat, Oliver Star. He was named after our favorite cow. True story. No, no — don’t adjust your screens. He’s a hairless kitty! He’s just like regular kitties, except he ain’t got no hairz! Oliver’s good looks usually garner one of two responses – either “awwww, look at de bebe!!” or “OH MY GOD!!! WHAT IS THAT?!?!?! SEND IT BACK TO HELL!!!!!”

Poor guy. He has feelings, too!

Why fostering animals is worth the emotional pain

Most charities ask that you give up either a little time or a little money to support a worthy cause. But there’s one form of aid you can give that doesn’t really require either of those, at least if you already have a pet. It’s animal fostering, and it is such a roller coaster ride I had to write about our experiences in the hopes of encouraging folks to foster, and to emotionally support those who already do.

Come the revolution: Homesteading as an act of radical resistance

We wanted land. We wanted to grow real food, and raise animals for real milk and real meat and real eggs. We wanted to sit at our dining room table without a goat jumping from chair to chair. I had enough of a background in historic agriculture (to say nothing of a full-time job doing historic agriculture) that I was willing to take the leap out of the suburbs and into hobby farming. My husband quickly jumped onboard. We are the ones who are actively resisting the industrial food systems of the twenty-first century. Are we radicals? Absolutely. Are we rabid? No. We’ve just simply assessed the way things are going locally, nationally, and globally, and chimed in with Bartleby the Scrivener: We would prefer not to. We are not alone.

Sex, death, and recycling: Lessons learned growing up on a homestead farm

Nowadays, homesteading is a cool new trend for city folks to “get back to nature.” I want to encourage those of you interested in homesteading to give it a go! I spent my whole life on a homestead, before it was something trendy. Here are the things I learned from growing up on a homestead farm…

Beekeeping: You will probably get stung, but it’s worth it!

I started keeping bees two summers ago. Bees are fascinating creatures, and learning about their social lives — the workings of a hive, how they make group decisions, and how to help them thrive — has been a highlight of the last two years for me. Beekeeping is not a hobby for everyone, but beekeeping is definitely an awesome hobby!

Taking taxidermy to a whole new level of strange

Artist Sarina Brewer describes herself as “a self-proclaimed science nerd melding her past formal art education with her passion for biology and the bizarre.” And she does not disappoint. Her creations are inspiring and provocative, violent and poetic. In any case, they are definitely unique.

Do I have to surrender my backyard to the spiders?

Our lovely Portland, Oregon backyard has transformed into a spidery wonderland during the past year. Spiders are awesome and super important for the environment, but we need our personal space! What can I do to de-spider the back yard, short of spraying with pesticides?