James Vreeland has always been cool about leaving nuts and seeds out for the birds, squirrels, and other wildlife that came into his yard in Oak Park, Michigan, but now that he’s spending more time at home, he’s decided to make the animals’ visits a bit grander by building them a tiny restaurant at which to enjoy their meals.
- It’s called “Maison du Noix.” For all the plebs out there who don’t speak French, that translates to “House of Nuts.” Vreeland presumably chose the nuts since that’s the #1 food choice for most of his guests, so it makes sense!
- So far, the tiny restaurant has been an incredible success. The animals just keep on coming, happy to dig into the variety of treats he leaves out on the little wooden picnic tables in the fenced-off area where the restaurant is.
- Vreeland has a pretty sweet variety of snacks for the animals. The tiny restaurant, which is adorned with mini menus as well as a squirrel statue holding up snacks to go along with the little treats in bowls on the tables, is basically THE place to be. “We’ve been offering an opening course of a seed medley, followed by peanuts on the full shell, house-cut breadsticks, and a dessert of counter-softened apples,” Vreeland told The Dodo. “The squirrels and blue jays have been loving it.”
- There was even a live stream of the tiny animal restaurant online! Thankfully, Vreeland knows the kind of content we’re all looking for right now and he put up a stream of the restaurant, meaning wherever you are in the world, you can see the action with your own eyes.
- More little restaurants for animals, please! This is totally a silly novelty project but it’s also really heartwarming and a lot of fun. Anyone who passes by Maison du Noix must be enthralled with it and I totally get why they would be – it’s adorable!
