Not For The Faint Of Heart
This pitchfork has a story to tell.
You see, two weekends ago I was desperately trying to get the corn planted between rain storms. I had one day to prep the beds and then I could plant quickly on Sunday before more rain came (oh by the way…lest you think I complain too much about the weather, I just heard on the radio today that it has been our second wettest spring in 100 years…yes, 100 years).
That was the plan- however, the rain didn’t cooperate and it poured buckets on Sunday, so the corn didn’t get planted until Tuesday.
But I digress…back to the pitchfork. Do you remember the no-till gardening method I love and usually use to keep down weeds and preserve the natural soil layers and microbes (and my back…)? Well, when I pulled back the black plastic (which did a great job killing the weeds), I found lots of surface tunnels from the voles that use our garden as their playground. They obviously thought the plastic was dirt.
If you saw our video about thwarting the voles, you might be wondering what happened. Here’s the deal: we could only line the 4’x12’x10″ high raised beds. We also have four large (9’x20′) beds that are edged with 4″x 4″ wood mainly so we can have permanent paths around them- they aren’t really raised beds. These are the beds I grow the big stuff in: corn, potatoes, pole and dry beans.
The Pitchfork
Anyway, I felt I needed to disrupt their tunnels in an attempt to discourage their use, so I started the back-breaking job of using a garden fork to break up the soil. It really took a long time to get through a bed, so I asked my son to help with one of the other beds. And bless him, he came right out, though I’m sure there were a million other things he’d rather be doing. Love that kid.
Since I was using our garden fork to finish the first bed, I set him to work with the small pitchfork we have. But he was turning over too much soil (big blocks that would be hard to break through…), so I walked over to show him how to just break up the soil.
Me: “You don’t have to work that hard, just put the fork in like this, and gently move it back and forth to move the dirt…”
Him: “What’s that sound?”
Me, as I’m moving the fork back and forth: “What sound?”
Him: “It sounded like a mouse dying!”
Me: “Sheesh- it’s probably just the squeaky handle- listen.” I dutifully move it back and forth and it squeaks a bit.
I pull the fork out of the dirt to move it to a new spot, and we both hear the sound again, look down and find…
You guessed it- a vole (aka, field mouse) speared straight though one of the middle tines!
I threw the handle down and jumped away (isn’t that silly- like it’s gonna come after me?). I might’ve made a sound – though I’m sure it wasn’t a scream – and then I looked again, thinking it had to be dead. I mean, it was pierced straight through. But no, it was squirming there on the tine. Ugh.
So I went to get Brian. Sorry, I just needed reinforcements and my son was completely grossed out. Brian came out and put the little guy out of his misery, but not before he said,
“You sure you don’t wanna take a picture of this for your blog?”
Well, you can breath a sigh of relief that it’s my blog and not his- I’m just showing you a picture of the cleaned off pitchfork.
I know you all have good imaginations.
And when it came time to finish that bed, I may or may not have jumped and yelled when a dirt clod bounded onto the gravel path…or when a little frog found his way to the top of the soil (unhurt and moved to a safer place, thank goodness!).
I’ll leave that up to your imaginations, too.
I’ll bet those voles are still talking about the pitchfork that suddenly appeared while Aunt Squeaky was taking nap! I guess that’s one way to get rid of them š
That is so funny! I’m sure it wasn’t at the time. Soon after we moved into this house, a mouse ran across our office floor. I screamed “like a girl” and even jumped up on the chair. My boys – 17, 15, 13 &9 – laughed so hard they were almost on the floor. My daughter (11) spent the day telling everyone how silly I was. I really didn’t think I would be a screamer like that. But apparently I am.
Oh my.. the worst part would be pulling him off! That is a pretty nice looking pitchfork though… love the color! Thanks for hosting.
Mary
Your garden looks wonderful! Those darn voles! Happy to link up my blueberry post today:) Thank you!
Aak! I’m glad your husband took care of the dispatching. I always say my job is to bring life into the world, it’s the husband’s job to take care of the “death” end (at least as regards pets and “wildlife”).
Ugh! I’ve got rabbits in my garden, so I’m showing off my flowers, until I can figure out what to do with them. Thanks for hosting.
Oh my!! I raised boys and yep, they would have liked that picture too of the vole/mole.
wow what a day!! My cat dog keeps the moles, voles and anything else here under control! To bad dog couldnt keep down the aphids, beatles and such!!
debbie
Eeeeek!
You never know what is going to happen when you garden…..I would have freaked out too. On the plus side you have one less rodent to deal with. š
You found a vole and I found some joy. Thanks for hosting.
I would have thrown the pitchfork and screamed, too. lol I worry more about snakes here. Which is why I can often be heard saying “Go away snakes, go away snakes!” while stomping through the garden. The kids just laugh at me. roflol
LOL – Don’t ya just love husbands! Kudos to your son for helping you turn the beds, too. That’s hard work!
Okay, laughing out loud. The same thing happened to us last year, but WORSE. I asked my hubby to use the pitchfork to turn the compost pile and he speared a rat. ACK!!!! The poor thing screamed and made the worst noise ever in the world. I had to come inside until it was over, aka, dead. I still jump and squeal any time I walk over to that area and something falls, makes a noise or, if I’m being honest, the wind blows. :o)
We have a problem with voles here too. I think the only solution is to put garden cloth or some sort of reinforced chicken wire (but enough to get the roots through) on the bottom of raised beds….unfortunately for me, our raised beds are in for a long time and have no such cloth or wire on the bottom. It would 3man taking them all apart, digging out all the dirt, and redoing them…too much for me…
I have been IN the garden and seen them suck a pepper plant right down under in front of me…
My reaction would probably be the same!!
Critters sure like to share our space in the garden. Bound to be a tragedy here and there even though I take great lengths to avoid any. Thanks for hosting!
Aack! I would have freaked too. Lately a toad has been living in my garden and he makes me jump. (or she, not sure what it is).
Hi, New to your site and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your posts. I also have to contend with voles. They not only love the beets in my garden but the roots of the apple trees in my orchard.
Gross! But I did chuckle when your husband asked if you wanted to take a picture for your blog. My husband says that to me all of the time.
I included a recipe with rhubarb made from my garden. This is the first year we could eat the rhubarb and this crisp is yummy.
Thanks for the linkup.
For me it was a snake, so now I send my snake loving dd into the garden first to check for me. She laughs but I really don’t like snakes.
Here the weeds have won, a new battle plan! Thanks for hosting.