In the spring of 2020, Rick Kalinowski of Haverford, Pennsylvania, fixed a miniature wooden picnic table to his garden fence, set a small bowl of food on it and waited. The squirrels that visited his yard took to it almost at once, sitting at the bench like tiny diners. His photos spread across Facebook and news sites within days, and the demand was so strong that he began selling the tables, kits and building plans on Etsy.
Here is how the little table came about, why it caught on during a difficult year, what squirrels actually do with the food we put out, and how to build or place one sensibly if you want your own backyard picnic scene.
How a backyard project turned into a small business
Kalinowski runs a plumbing, heating and cooling company, so carpentry was a sideline rather than his trade. According to accounts of the story, he built the first table from leftover wood in a few hours and mounted it on his fence. Within a day, a squirrel was perched at the bench, eating from the bowl as if it had booked a table.
He shared the pictures on Facebook, and the response was far bigger than he expected. Laughing Squid, which covered the story on 1 April 2020, reported that the attention pushed him to open an Etsy shop called SquirrellyTreasureCo. It offered three options: a fully assembled table, a kit to put together, and a pattern for people who preferred to cut their own wood.
Kalinowski said the squirrels clearly enjoyed the new furniture. "I really believe they love it," he told The Dodo. He described the table as a thank-you to the animals he had watched for years over his morning coffee.
Why a tiny table struck a chord in 2020
Timing mattered. The photos circulated just as much of the United States entered its first coronavirus lockdown, when people were spending far more time at home and looking out of the same windows every day. A small, gentle project that anyone could copy was exactly the kind of story many people wanted to share.
The design also does something clever with scale. A picnic table is instantly recognisable human furniture, so placing a squirrel at one makes ordinary feeding behaviour look like a scene from a children's book. The animal is not "having a picnic", of course, but the familiar shape invites us to see it that way.
The video shows the table in use: a squirrel settles on the bench, leans over the bowl and eats with the quick, alert movements typical of a garden visitor that is always half-watching for danger.
Copycat builders and what they learned
Kalinowski's posts inspired many people to build their own versions. One home builder who wrote about the project on the blog Runs for Cookies on 1 April 2020 made hers from a single warped board originally meant for shelving. It took about twelve hours, including several pieces she had to take apart and redo, and her sister suggested adding a tiny umbrella.
Her results were honest and useful. Some days several squirrels showed up, some days none, and a bird landed on the table within minutes of the first visitors. Squirrels that already took food from her hand did not necessarily prefer the table. In other words, the furniture is charming, but wildlife makes its own choices.
What squirrels really do with the food you leave out
The eastern grey squirrel, the species most often seen in North American gardens, is a "scatter hoarder". Rather than keeping one big larder, each squirrel hides food in thousands of small caches every season. Some are temporary and later moved; others stay buried for months.
Finding those caches relies on a strong spatial memory, with squirrels using nearby and distant landmarks, helped by their sense of smell. They can even fake it: when a squirrel suspects it is being watched, it may pretend to bury a nut while keeping the real one in its mouth.
Common myths
- "Squirrels only eat nuts." Grey squirrels are omnivores. Alongside nuts and seeds they eat buds, flowers, berries, bark, fungi and insects, and occasionally eggs or small birds.
- "Squirrels remember every nut." Memory is impressive but not perfect, and some forgotten caches are thought to help trees spread.
- "Feeding squirrels has no downsides." Squirrels are known to raid bird feeders, and animals that move into attics can chew electrical cables.
Building or placing your own squirrel picnic table
If the photos have tempted you, a few simple choices make the project kinder to wildlife and easier for you:
- Place it away from the house. A fence or post several metres from your walls avoids encouraging squirrels onto the roof or into the loft.
- Offer simple, unsalted food in small amounts. A handful of plain nuts or seeds is plenty; the table is a treat, not a main food source.
- Keep it clean. Remove old or mouldy food regularly and scrub the bowl now and then.
- Watch, don't hand-feed. Squirrels can bite and scratch, and wild animals are healthier when they stay a little wary of people.
- Use untreated wood. Animals will gnaw on it, so plain timber and non-toxic finishes are the safer choice.
Check any local rules too. Some towns and housing associations discourage feeding wildlife, especially where rodents are a problem.
A small gesture with a long tail
Kalinowski did not set out to start a business. He built something small for the animals that kept him company and shared a few photos. That the idea travelled so far says less about squirrels than about people: during an uncertain time, many of us were looking for a reason to slow down, notice the creatures outside and make something with our hands.
Sources: Photos and video by Rick Kalinowski; Laughing Squid, "Man Builds a Tiny Picnic Table and Attaches It to a Wooden Fence For Squirrels" (April 2020); Runs for Cookies, "If you build it, they will come" (April 2020); Wikipedia, Eastern gray squirrel.
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