Contributors

Rach

I'm daughter to Lissie, sister to Jess, wife to Brien, mom to Hannah, Lily and Eleanor. I am a stay at home mom to my girls, and my free time is dedicated to gardening (I confess I'm still a novice and look to Lissie and Jess for advice), baking and cooking, and card making. I'm doing my part to make the earth a bit greener, trying hard to avoid processed foods and HFCS, and find the "slow food" movement intriguing and inspiring. I love visits to my local farmers' market, fresh produce, reading, getting out in nature, and spending time with my family.

Jess

Catholic, homeschooler, lover of books and great wine and an amateur gardening addict.

Lissie

I'm Melissa aka "Lissie", mother of Rachael and Jessica, and grandmother to a passel of the sweetest children on the planet. I'm a semi-retired public educator and professor who works from home for a small publisher. I am a lover of all things beautiful ... flowers, the mountains, nature scenes, the innocent faces of children, and my rock and fossil collection, to name a few. I enjoy shopping at the farmers' market for fresh foods and then experimenting with new recipes. Good food and good wine delight me. I love to travel so my suitcase is always packed. Like my daughters, I take pleasure in simple things ... clothes drying on the line, tomatoes so fresh they are still hot from the sun, good books, and interesting movies. I'd like to know everything before I die.
Blood Thirsty

I have murder in my heart.  I have a hit out on a little brown bunny and I will show him my southwestern VA roots if I catch him.    I don't think there are any members of PETA who garden or they would no longer have such warm and fuzzy feelings about animals.  Many years ago I read a book called This Organic Life by Joan Gussow.    In the book she goes round and round with possums, rabbits and other critters who want to use her garden as their personal buffet.   A student in one of her classes displayed shock at some of her critter control tactics (traps and drowning to name two) and she was amused by their naivety.  I could relate because there is nothing more aggravating than working hard and looking forward to your harvest or blooms and realizing that a little pesty creature is benefitting from all your hard work.   My children love the book "Whose Garden Is It?" and I've got to say I always identify with the gardener!

I've come to the conclusion that I am far more tolerant of mammals and birds than I am of bugs and reptiles.   I don't care if it is their habitat that I am intruding upon - get the hell out of my yard!  Bees and pollinators - fine.  Please come visit.   Spiders are occasionally tolerated if they help manage the swarms of mosquitos that seem to enjoy eating my kids and me alive from late afternoon through evening, but only in small doses because I am not particularly fond of hairy, creepy spiders.   The japanese beetles have descended upon my yard and I am not happy.  I've never seen them so thick in any year before and I am at a loss on how to control them.  I'm thinking of getting several bag traps and hanging them in the woods that are near my house to try and draw them away.

Let's just say that after gardening for a few years I have a lot more empathy for large scale farmers who are trying to grow produce to support their families.  I can see why big agriculture has turned to pesticides and insecticides and who knows what else.  It would be devastating to lose your entire crop because a swarm of something decided to come in and decimate it.  I'm not justifying the use of poison on food, just that I can understand wanting a little security.


Yikes! 

My neighbor snapped the pic of the bunny eating my corn a couple weeks ago.  She was looking out her kitchen window when she spotted him.  


-Jess


 

1 comments:

Rach said...

But he's so cuuuuuuuuute. ;o)

I think the bag in the woods for the beetles may be your best bet. The neighbor across the street has the beetle bag and I'm eternally grateful.





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