Little Tomato Thief

 

"Do you need me to build a fence around your raised bed garden ? " Rob asked.  "No" I said . "The only thing interested in my garden last year was the flea beetles and that won't keep them out.  Nothing else seems to have the slightest interest in my little garden".

And somewhere in the woods, all the little chipmunks cheered.  But I didn't hear them.

When the three lined potato beetles arrived and began eating my tomatillo plants I looked it up online, and then began diligently removing the larvae that were decimating the leaves. I scraped them off (did you know they cover themselves in their own excrement to deter predators? Well it deterred me too at first).  I dumped them and any adult beetle I could find into a container of hot soapy water.  I then sprayed my plants with a bit of soapy water just to make sure.

It took a couple of weeks, but eventually I seemed to be making headway. I was pretty pleased with my efforts.

Then one morning this week I was on my way out for a nice relaxing walk and stopped for a quick check on my garden. I was more than dismayed to see part of a big lovely green tomato lying in the garden bed, with half of it chewed away.  I assumed it might be deer, so thought I might have to put up a trail cam later in the day to make sure, and maybe a solar power motion detector light to deter them.  I tossed the tomato out and went for my walk.

On my return I decided to check around the garden to see if there were any deer tracks. There were no tracks at all.  There was however, the remains of another chewed tomato lying in state.   Not to mention a cute little chipmunk playing hide and seek in amongst the tomato plants.  I clapped my hands and made hissing noises but it just hid behind the tomato plant leaves, now lying all broken in a heap.

So I looked up "do chipmunks eat tomatoes? "  Well yes they do.  Not the whole tomato of course, just parts of it before moving on to removing and chewing on the next one.

"They are just thirsty" said one person in an online gardening forum.  So I kindly filled a ceramic dish with water for it, and placed it nearby.

Hmmm... but now there were three more tomatoes lying in state.

"Place ground up cayenne pepper around the plants"  was the next suggestion.  I used Jalapeño powder instead as I had lots of that available. I sprinkled it on the soil, and for good measure, all around the perimeter of the garden.

A short while later there were two more half eaten tomatoes now lying in plain view.

"Sprinkle used coffee grounds around your plants " was the next suggestion.  So I scraped out the grounds from the morning coffee filter, and spread them all around the tomato stems.  As the sun hit the soil, I could smell the grounds. "Yay" I thought.

A quick check an hour later and there were more chewed up tomatoes, and now some of the cherry tomatoes were added to the pile.

"Spray a mix of garlic and cayenne chiles that have been steeped in water" was the next suggestion.  So I boiled up some Ghost peppers, (I'm not messing around any more !) and some garlic in two cups of water. I strained it, let it cool, poured it into a spray bottle, donned safety glasses and gloves and sprayed the tomatoes, leaves, soil and for good measure the wooden planter sides too.  I washed my hands well afterwards just in case!  (20 years in the chile business taught me that !)

I was beginning to wonder why it was that all these people even thought that chipmunks actually have a sense of smell ?  And why would they think that chipmunks specifically don't like the smell of garlic, or chile peppers ? There were no large tomatoes down the next morning, but the cherry tomatoes were definitely now next on the chipmunk hit list. 

"Cat hair on the soil works every time" was the next suggestion. I brushed our sweet old cat and prepared to scatter cat hair all around the base. By now the garden needed water, so I watered the garden and reapplied coffee grounds and sprayed more chile pepper/garlic infused water on everything, and then carefully placed cat hair all around.

For a couple of hours there is no activity, but of course just when I think I have been successful, more chewed up tomatoes appear. 

"Electric fence" is Rob's suggestion.  After I calm down, I learn that he doesn't mean to electrocute them, but that we can devise one as a deterrent.  I am not convinced that we can accurately figure out what sort of electric current would scare them without harming them so I go off to the store and buy Irish Spring soap instead. It was the latest suggestion in that gardening forum. For some reason I feel a need to tell the cashier it's not for me.  "It's for the chipmunks" I think of saying, but somehow that doesn't sound right so I keep quiet.  

I carve the soap up into small pieces, scatter some around the plants, rub it into the wooden planter sides, and place more pieces of it around the perimeter, and wait.  

Twenty four hours later, the garden appears to be untouched.  All I can smell in the area now is Irish Spring Soap though.

I keep garden notes each year to remind myself of successes and failures.  I'm hopeful this last attempt is a success but I don't have high hopes. Regardless though I am already designing next year's garden to include a fence. Not an electric one, just a fence. Hardware cloth has been the most frequent suggestion.

I check back on the gardening forum.  There is one more suggestion.  "Take $50 and go buy tomatoes from a local farmer's market for the rest of the summer.  And enjoy your cute little chipmunk".

They are awfully cute, aren't they ? 

Hints of spring

It's perhaps a little early to think about spring, but with the sun now rising just before 7 a.m. and setting shortly after 5:45 p.m., our day light hours are slowly getting longer. In the evenings, because of the snow on the ground, it is still quite light outside even after sunset. We are often out playing with Jet, or getting our last walk in for the day long after 6 p.m. When the moon is out, we can stay outside even longer!

We've been getting up a touch earlier now as well, so that Rob can get a bit more time during the day to work on house plans. We were both feeling that our days were a bit too fragmented by our other daily activities. The earlier start seems to be working well for us both.

The house plans are going well, and Rob has spent so much time on the design that he can imagine himself in every room now. But I think we both get somewhat overwhelmed by the huge number of choices that need to be investigated. Rob has spent a lot of time researching off-grid options, and the amount of information out there can be pretty daunting at times.  We need to think about things like back up systems in case one system fails, and whether what we are installing will be easy to use now, as well as in the years to come. Every choice we make seems to affect another option. If we go off grid, then the best choice is a propane stove in the kitchen, so we then need to research which kind we should get, and where to purchase propane and propane tanks. The same decisions go for other appliances, like the clothes dryer. Front load washers are more efficient than top load, but which kind is the best? Do we need a gas generator or a propane one? Can we really go solar, or will we find there are too many trees blocking the sun? Should we install a wood stove, what kind, and where should it go? Will we use hydronic heating in the floor? Should we then leave the floor as concrete, or put tiles or something else on top? And how do we balance our desire to leave a smaller ecological footprint, with the budget that we realistically have?

Rob has programs that help calculate the possible sun power we can expect in this climate. He has formulas for the size of windows, and which side of the house they should be on. But he is also trying to consider the design and our future living space. There will be a beautiful view out the west window towards the river, but he has to weigh in on the advice that a west window will allow too much sun in during the summer. The north view looks over a pretty clearing, but north windows allow too much heat out during the winter. Somewhere, he has to find a balance.

Almost daily this week we have stood among the trees trying to imagine the house there. Neither of us wants to remove any more trees than we have too. The spruce bud worm decimated our spruce trees, and we will have to take all the dead spruce down in the area, as they are slowly snapping off one by one. There are a lot of dead spruce on the house site, so that will create quite a bit of open space where we need it. Still, it's hard to imagine the house, when we are standing in amongst the snow and trees. As soon as the snow level is down a bit, we will go out and mark off the site. This is roughly looking east from where the house will be located.

And of course there is still the option of being on grid. So we need to calculate the pros and cons, and that includes the costs. We already have hydro running to the cabin, so we could tap into that line and extend it over. But that means we would have to take down yet more trees, so we need to figure out what is the best route possible. Rob did a budget and estimate before we began all this, but now we need to get some detailed information, and start making our choices.

When we think that we can't possibly discuss the new house anymore, we switch gears to thinking about "easier" things - like paint colours, or choice of tiles. Bathroom layouts, or kitchen ideas. When that seems to be too much - we simply go for a walk. It always seems to settle us down.

While Rob is busy upstairs working diligently on the house design, and all the possible combinations and permutations, he still gets pulled aside for the never ending business paperwork that continues to haunt him. This week it's T-4's, tax filing, and today a bill for a long forgotten phone line!

I continue to try to structure some time into my days to pursue some of the things I've wanted to do over the winter months. It's hard to believe that we closed the company down almost 10 months ago now. I had imagined that I would be back doing some clothes embellishing long before now, but I guess I've been busy with other things. Like learning to make bread! Sorry - I can't resist posing more photos - this was my latest attempt at a rye bread. It was delicious but a tad light for me, I would prefer something a bit denser.

This was a rosemary raisin bread that was fabulous, well at least one loaf was. The recipe made two loaves, and the second one had a pocket of sweet yeasty something that wasn't so good. I am not sure if I didn't bake it long enough, or this portion wasn't mixed properly. Still, the rest of it was fine, so not a big deal. This week I hope to try a recipe for an olive bread.

As for clothes embellishing - well I had convinced myself that there was simply not enough space here to work on my clothing projects . But I was inspired recently by some photos our friend Ross had posted. He seems to be able to set up his paints no matter where he is, whether on a dock, or on a beach, and he produces unbelievably beautiful artwork. So, I dragged out my boxes of brushes and paints and stamps and the second hand tshirts I had purchased last spring, and got to work, in the dining room. It felt really good to be back at it, and it just showed that I really don't need much space to do it. I'm looking forward to doing some more.

I am also determined to learn more about my new camera, and photography in general, so on Mondays I try to set aside time to read a small section of my camera manual, clean up my photos, and learn at least one new tool in Photoshop. I also try to go out everyday with my camera, and I always start by walking along the river's edge. When I spotted some unusual tracks and markings in the snow on the river's edge, I thought it might be the mink I had seen in the fall. But Rob and I were out one day and saw what we thought was a river otter further up the river. Sure enough, later on in the week, the otter was at the bend in the river, near to where I was walking and I managed to get a shot. I had to blow up my photo quite a bit, as the otter was pretty far away still, but I was so excited to have a chance to watch it that I didn't mind that I wasn't able to get a clear shot.

Earlier this week I sat at the river's edge and listened to the sounds of the ice breaking up. Where I sat, the shoreline was exposed right down to the bare earth, and the sun was lovely and warm. It was the first time in months that I was out without my hat, scarf, mitts and winter coat!

There are stretches of open water along the river, followed by iced over sections. I watched as the ice would break up with a rushing sound, flow along the open water, and then disappear into a whirling hole under the frozen sections of the river. Then I could hear the sound of the broken pieces travelling along under the ice. It sounded like thunder in the river and was amazing to listen to.

Thoughts of spring soon changed though with the arrival of a winter storm, and about 25 cms of heavy wet snow. We woke up to the gorgeous sight of snow covered trees this week and everyone was eager to get out for a good walk and some play time. O.k. - actually only Jet was eager. We had plowed and shovelled enough the day before that we were happy to at least have another cup of coffee before we went out. But it was stunningly beautiful.

 

 

When I commented this week at the store check out that it had been a pretty easy winter so far, the sales people looked at me like I was insane. They all replied that they felt that this was a bad winter, and one person said it was the worst he's experienced in the 3 years he's been here. Our neighbour had said it was the worst December he'd seen in 8 years. I guess maybe I was expecting worse, or maybe it just seemed easier as we didn't have to commute on snowy roads every day. Maybe we just like winter a lot. Even on the snowiest days we are outside with Jet 3 or 4 times a day, and we dress in lots of layers so that we stay warm and dry.

Which is probably a good thing, as some days we have to stand around in the cold for a long time waiting for him to give up his toys! At the end of play time, it's a race to see if he can gather up all his "wubbas" (toys) and then he doesn't want to give them back as it means his play time is over.

As we head into March, I am a little bit reluctant to give up on winter. I have loved the crisp air, the crunch of the snow, and the pristine white that coats the trees around us. I've enjoyed looking for tracks, and watching the changes in the ice along the river.  I have spent lots of time sitting at my PC with the warmth of the woodstove at my back, and the view of the wintery forest out the windows.  Every evening we sit in front of the woodstove and reflect on the day, and take time to read and relax. Spring will bring new joys I know, but it will also bring some busier times as we begin to build. And I can't help but think that next winter we will be busier, both with the new house, and the possibility that I will have found employment somewhere. So I can't help but want this magical time to linger on just a little bit longer....