Varmints, gardening

For the past year or more Mama and I have been dealing with mice and rats both in the house and in the coop. It is understandable to see the rodents in the coop, but the number we have been seeing in the house is concerning. Heretofore, I have been unable to rid the house of the infestation, but a couple months ago Victoria bought some rat sticky pads. They are huge. About the size of a half sheet of paper. I was not impressed by the idea, but since they were available, I gave them a try. They have proved to be extremely effective. When I began setting them out, I immediately began to catch mice on the pads. My first success was in the shop when I placed the pads below the sacks of feed. Each pad catches multiple mice. On one pad, I had seven mice entrapped in the goo. With that success, I have replaced the traps under the feed sacks to make sure a trap in place at all times.

Well, the other day I set out some of the pads in the house, specifically in the small closet in the hall bathroom where the hot water tank sits. We selected that location because Victoria had seen a mouse dart out from underneath the door one evening. So far, I have gotten four mice on that one pad in two days. When the first one became trapped, I left the trap in place with the expectation that other mice would be drawn to the trap. That seems to be a winning solution on my part. Not so much for our little furry invaders.

So, we are having some success in the house and shop, but the rat in the coop still eludes all my attempts to dislodge it from the walls of the coop. My next move is to remove the plywood on the interior wall to eliminate its hiding places. Unfortunately, that will remove some of the barrier to the cold that the chickens have enjoyed for the last several years. It is kind of funny, but every time I clear out the accumulated refuse the rat piles up to barricade his entries, he will poke his head out to see what is going on. So, we often get to make eye contact. That is not comfortable for Mama, but I find it amusing – mostly.

I have also set out traps to catch whatever varmints are stripping our fruit trees in the garden. So far, I have no takers of the bait I was told to use, but I am not giving up. I would really like to get the fruit from our nectarine and pear trees but for three years we have been denied that produce by some bandit or group of bandits that strip the fruit from the trees before it has a chance to mature. My assumption is that the thieves are raccoons or squirrels, possibly opossums, but I very much hope to catch the culprits this season. I considered moving the nectarine tree to the back yard where I have some control over access to wild animals, but that is a very big task. Certainly, too much for me to tackle on my own. Maybe this winter I can solicit help, but it is way too late to make that transplant now. Our only chance to pick fruit from the tree is to trap the varmints that are stealing that fruit. I do not have a strong expectation of winning that battle, but I will try.

After a very long conversation with a friend from church Mama got some guidance on issues we are having with our garden. The person Mama talked to has a truck garden. She and her husband have about an acre of vegetables they raise and sell every year. So, they are quite successful. One of the pointers she gave Mama was to water the garden in the morning versus doing that watering in the evening. Evening waterings have been our practice because that is when I am available. Mama has been watering in the morning ever since that conversation. We will see if it makes the difference. I have high hopes that it will. In the hourlong conversation there were other suggestions for specific vegetables as to how much water they need versus what we have been doing. The short version is that we have been watering some too much and others not enough. It was by far the most helpful conversation we have had about gardening since moved to the farm.

Since we clipped the wins of our chickens, none have gotten into the garden. That is a blessing. Unfortunately, the fence that keeps the chickens out does not exclude the other furry critters living in the woods around us. But we do what we can to try and balance our needs and expectations of harvesting the fruits of our labors against the survival of the wildlife close by. I do not like to kill those critters unnecessarily, but at times it is unavoidable. I even let most of the snakes we catch in the coop live. I just relocate them and hope they do not come back. Not so with opossum and raccoon that invade us.

Maybe this year those sneaky thieves will find elsewhere to feed themselves…maybe.