Varmints

One of the biggest challenges for gardeners, especially in a place like ours that's deep in the woods, is the constant battle against the critters who want to eat the yummy things we grow. We've managed to keep the deer out by installing an 8 foot high fence that surrounds our whole yard, about an acre and a half. It runs through the woods, nailed to the trees so its unobtrusive to us but keeps the big guys out.

Within that frame we have a smaller fence that surrounds the vegetable garden to keep groundhogs and rabbits at bay. We've had major groundhog battles for years that led me to actually take a course in how to handle and shoot a 22 rifle a couple of years ago through the NC Wildlife Commission's "Becoming an Outdoors Woman" program.

This past week we came home after being gone all day to discover that a ground hog had managed to get one of the makeshift gates to the vegetable garden open and he had helped him self to most of the lettuce and ate the tender centers out of the best looking crop of lacinato kale I've ever grown, I was planning to harvest it this week.

Ground hog ravaged kale

Squirrels are our other nemesis. Impossible to keep out of anywhere, I've pondered razor wire in the orchard. They have now eaten every single peach off of our young peach tree, peaches we were really looking forward to. All of this prompted me to finally make a target and take the 22 rifle that David bought over the winter down into the woods. After about 30 rounds and gradual adjustment of the scope I got the thing properly sited and ready to go, and got some target practice in as well. Since then we've killed 5 squirrels. Our clever technique involves shooting at them through the kitchen window when they come up to scavenge seed from under the bird feeder, they don't ever see it coming.

Now I feel pretty bad about taking these guys out and I don't like to see them suffer when I make a less than perfect shot. I know they are just trying to survive, but I really want to harvest some berries this season and last summer they completely tore up both the blackberry canes and the blueberry bushes climbing around on them and eating most of the fruit before it was even close to ripe. So call me a murderer, I am.

Just now David called to me that Chucky was in the yard, there had been no sign of him, I thought the sound of gunfire was keeping him away. I took a shot at him but missed and he scurried off into his hole. Ground hogs are wiley, I've only managed to kill one in the past two years and it was trapped inside the vegetable garden.

I'm curious to see how many squirrels we might kill before it seems like we got them all. I know of course, that we will never get them all, but you can't knock a girl for trying.

Just call me Annie Oakley.

More Squirrel Antics

So I'm standing there making coffee yesterday morning, feeling a little bleary-eyed and see something orange go flying up the side of a tree and wonder if I'm imagining things when I realize, it's a squirrel.

This is not a great photo but if you look close you can see the little guy above the big orange towel on the side of the tree. Yes, this is a full size bath towel that was left out to dry, fortunately, one classified for outdoor use at this point, that the squirrel spotted and must have thought "Wow, all the chicks will be comin' over to my crib when I get it all pimped out with this plush orange lining."

It got hung up and he abandoned it in the branch. This morning I noticed he had managed to move it another 12 feet or so towards his nest, but now that it's raining and the towel is soaking wet I'm betting it won't move any more until it dries out a bit- I was surprised he was able to carry it as far as he did.

Oh the continuing saga/joy of living with squirrels. Last week it was the lawnmower, David filled it with gas only to discover the squirrels had chewed a hole in the gas line and gas was leaking all over the ground. He managed to make a repair but not after a few choice words directed towards our furry pests.

Today I am enjoying a lovely rainy day and looking forward to one more weekend to be inside before getting pulled outside to endless chores which I think should start about wednesday when the weather clears and warms again. I want to put in another planting of lettuce, a few greens, more beets and carrots, the ones I planted in February didn't come up- too cold I guess, so I'll try again. And of course its time to weed and mulch, always time to weed and mulch.

Mushrooms, Onions and Bunnies. Oh My!

So remember the bit about mushrooms everywhere? Check these out.

I've been calling D. "Mr Mushroom" this week as he brought about a bushel of boletes to the house over the course of several days and spent hours poring over his mushroom books to try and decide if they are edible. He finally called a mycologist at the UNC Department of Biology who referred him to a local expert on boletus. D. hauled a cooler full of mushrooms to Owens' house and they sat around the kitchen table looking at books to determine species, chatting about stem qualities, spores and coloration. The upshot is we now have two trays of sliced boletes drying in the back of my car for Porcini and D. cooked up a skillet full that rendered a couple of cups to go into pasta for dinner and extras to the freezer.

Yesterday I braided these onions up for storage, this is only about a quarter of the onions that we grew. I'm thrilled, they are big and delicious and we have been eating them in everything. I hope they will store well into the winter.

I also put up 6 pints of dilly beans, my new favorite pickle as of last summer, hot peppers, garlic and fresh dill heads and seed make them extra tasty. They are crisp and the ultimate addition to tuna, egg or potato salad.

Took a couple of shots at the squirrels yesterday but missed, of course the minute we decided we might try and exterminate them they disappeared from view, though they're still marauding in the tomato patch. Given the fact that the kitchen counter is already covered with tomatoes I'm not sure why we care, but we do.

Now this little guy is one of a pair that are entirely too cute and the chicken wire that we added around the inside base of the veggie patch fence seems to be keeping them out of there for the time being so they live on. I admit we've been discussing how good they would be grilled if they are still hanging around this fall and a bit plumper.