Day 1 – Chronicles of a Straw Bale Garden
Day 5 – If You Give a Gardener a Straw Bale
Day 8
I am living in the heyday of strong, energetic, employment seeking young men in my family. They are at an age where they are quite happy to go around moving large rocks just to show that they can. How much the better if I pay them for it. Thus, it was very convenient to arrange for help with the landscaping around my straw bale garden near the driveway entrance. In the amazingly short period of one hour, my son (aka, “the gorilla”) and my nephew relocated multiple boulders and created an aesthetically pleasing, natural looking display.
This son, on the left, is the same one that caught a gopher by hand last month. Everyone should have such efficient, dedicated staff. Of course, he didn’t know what he was trying to catch, just that it was putting one of our fruit trees at risk. He could see its head popping up on either side of the trunk as it began to set up house, so he went and put some gloves on. I was in the house, not feeling well that day and not aware of what he was doing. His 13 year old sister was observing as he studied the varmint’s movements. After a few misses, he grabbed it around the neck and pulled it out while continuing to grip tightly. I am told he raised an eyebrow and commented, “Huh, I didn’t know it had such big teeth.”
When I heard shouts of victory and began to realize what he had done, I still did not go out. I did give directions about finding a container for it so that we could let his father identify it later that evening. I also checked to see if he had been bitten. I may be the family’s head gardener, but gophers are a new pest for me. Fortunately, I still have a son around to help me. We will investigate safer methods for future captures.
