Author: Bryan Housel

Hello everyone, Oh the critters! Last week it was the coons in the corn; this week our watermelons have started to ripen, and the crow are descending on them to poke them full of holes! We have covered them with netting and old tattered row-cover, but it is a lot of extra work, when we already have too much to do. It is also not completely effective, impedes the growth of the vines and complicates the harvest. Soon the cantaloupes and other melons will be ripening, and they will be feasting on these as well! I have never been good at napping, but I may have to give it another try, since I need to go out at midnight to scare the raccoons, and get up at 5 am to chase away the crows! (more…)

Hi Folks! Our first planting of transplanted sweet corn started maturing over the weekend. The raccoons usually let us know when the ears are ready, and then we put up a temporary fence around it to keep them out. We even use ground staples to peg it down so they can’t slip under it. But they are good climbers and the plastic fencing ripped under their weight. It must have been quite a party out there on Saturday night, because out of more than two thousand ears, they left us about a hundred. There are various other plantings that will be coming in over the next couple of months, but we are going to have to get out the Have-a-heart traps and start a raccoon relocation program. (more…)

Hello Folks! I suppose that you don’t need me to tell you that it has been raining a lot. We were fortunate not to sustain any damage from the storms, and we are blessed with sandy loam soil which absorbs the rainfall nicely. I was able to get some planting done mid-week before the rain rolled in. Most of our crops were unscathed by the heat wave- having well saturated soil helps. (more…)