I should have told you all, sooner than now, that a little over a month ago, practically all of the kale and cabbage starts that we put in the ground were eaten down to the bone by some unwelcome, previously unseen critter(s) down at the food plot we are managing. My first suspect was rabbits, but I could not find or catch any down at the plot (nor have I ever found any rabbit poop about). Shortly after that, when we put some beautiful new squash plants in the ground, we soon found several of the best plants with almost all of their foliage eaten. WTF?!?!
What in the world eats squash plant leaves? I'd never seen this before... researching, I found some people claiming that woodchucks might like them from time to time. Well, I eventually caught the culprit -- sure enough, a woodchuck -- and relocated him. Dried apple slices did the trick.
However the damage was still done/ =( I had hoped to have kale in everyone's share for week one... alas, we are left to focus on other gambles. Tomatoes are looking great, but their payout is some time down the road. Same for cucumbers and peppers! I have some of this conserved from last summer that I will share with you all soon. Other berries (black, wine) are soon to be in boxes, and I think the strawberry patch has more to give, too. We'll make it interesting whatever the setback! =)
Before I go, here are some pics from things that have happened in the last week or so: (hope you appreciate these little windows into the nuts and bolts of our attempt at multi-family homesteading)
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| Anyone want a rooster? We've got four, but wanted zero. They are cute and have personality, but... don't lay eggs! |
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| Mr. Jerkface in the flesh, who single-handedly undid four hours of careful transplanting and watering, plus laid waste to half of our expensive (ie, not started in-house) squash seedlings |
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| A chicken masqueraded as a duck, and laid on the ground (vs. in the more typical raised nesting boxes) |
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| One of our few remaining leghorns died from a rapidly progressing internal condition. Egg bound or internal infection due to broken egg? She always laid these strangely thin-shelled eggs with dimples -- despite getting plenty of calcium. RIP dear 'Turkeyfeather'! |
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| Damn potato beetle larvae, trying to eat our tomato plants (they are related, and I'm sure leaves taste similar to them)... Josie and Yanusz and I must've removed about three hundred of these, until we couldn't find any more! |
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| Relaxing with my family on a blanket in the grass for daddy day... and enjoying some belly time with our most friendly chicken (who I am convinced thinks she's a person) -- Lazy Eye aka 'Knucklebird'! |
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| Doro and Josie, helping me start one of the four new ~30 ft seed beds we made this past weekend. Sooner-to-mature stuff like certain herbs, greens, and small rooties (radish, etc.) should make it into your later-in-the-season boxes thanks to these! |
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