War and Peace

This morning.

I am, at heart, a peaceful person and a nature lover. I’ve always had an interest in understanding the natural world. I love the beauty and diversity of plants and animals. I’ve read about them, watched numerous documentaries, observed them in real life. I love nature. As a gardener, and an organic one at that, you would think I’d be living in harmony with the natural world around me. I use natural methods to grow my flowers, fruits, and vegetables. I feed the wild birds. I try to create habitats on my property that invite the wonders of nature to coexist with me. That’s why it pains me when my attempts go awry and I end up at war with nature instead. I know it’s really my fault. The natural world is just doing what comes naturally. My understanding of it is very limited. My invitations sometimes attract unwanted guests and then I have to try and correct my mistakes.

In planting gardens where desirable plants thrive, I’ve also created a place where undesirable plants flourish. I wrote about my battle with weeds last week. Many of the plants I grow are the delight of insects that devour them. And in feeding the wild birds, I’ve also attracted squirrels, chipmunks, and mice. And my orchard with its tasty fruit and tall, lush grass is a paradise for deer. And my nicely mowed lawn brings the skunks. And everything I do attracts woodchucks. And so the war begins.

The insect pests I have to deal with are the most frustrating battles I wage. There are at least six new anthills in my yard this year. If they were out in the meadow, I wouldn’t mind. But they’ve made mounds in the lawn. When I encounter them while working in the garden, they attack and sting me like on Thursday when I was weeding and didn’t realize I was kneeling on an anthill. Before I knew it, they had swarmed up my legs. You should have seen me dancing around like a crazy man slapping them off. On second thought, I’m glad no one saw me. In the garden and orchard, the ants, who on their own do very little damage, farm aphids that do a lot of damage. Worse than ants are Japanese beetles. They destroy my roses and other plants. No matter what I do in my yard to get rid of them, more just fly in from other places. I’m pleased this year the roses are blooming and there is still no sign of Japanese beetles. They usually show up right about now and nip the roses while still in the bud. I don’t know why they haven’t shown up yet this year. I’d like to think that maybe we’ve escaped the plague this year, but I’m afraid they’re probably just late in arriving. No doubt soon I’ll be patrolling the garden with my bucket of soapy water, picking beetles off of plants and drowning them.

Then there are my rodent enemies. In the past month, I’ve removed over 20 chipmunks and several red squirrels through various means. There are also a few big gray squirrels that hang around, but I don’t mind them. They don’t get into the woodshed and into the cellar and into the walls of the house like the chipmunks and red squirrels. Every year I have to deal with at least one woodchuck that invades my garden. This year’s culprit lives across the road from the Shillig’s house in a field of tall grass and weeds. It would be fine if it would stay on that side of the road, but it doesn’t. It makes little trips across the road to my yard. I haven’t been able to find its den yet. A woodchuck can destroy a garden in an hour. I know that from sad past experience. I’ve resorted to spraying a homemade repellent on the plants the woodchuck likes most – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and beans. I use a mixture of soap and cayenne pepper. It’s worked so far. In the meantime, I’m still hunting for the location of the den. When I find it, I’ll try a live trap first. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to get violent.

Then there are the skunks. Skunks love lawns. Actually they love to eat the beetle grubs that live in the lawn. I wouldn’t mind them eating the grubs if they could figure out a way to do that without destroying the lawn in the process. There isn’t a good way to deal with skunks. They know they have an advantage with their stink and it makes them bold. We’ve  trapped and relocated them before, but it’s very tense and tricky getting them out of the trap without getting sprayed. So I just let them do what they want and complain about it.

On Thursday when I went down to do the chores, I found that some animal had attacked the chicken coop, torn down the feeder, and killed and partly devoured a hen. So now I’m fighting some creature in the barn too. I suspect it’s a raccoon. Now I have to go down every evening to close the coop and every morning to open it. I take the rifle with me in the evenings on the chance the raccoon is there and I can kill it and end the battle. Last year a raccoon killed seven of my hens before we finally killed it.

I’m sad to say that I even have to battle with birds sometimes. Robins love to eat my strawberries and currants. Putting up nets is all I can do there. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers drill thousands of holes in the bark of my apple trees that bring on fungal diseases and sometimes death to the trees. I’ve never found an effective way of scaring them away. And then there are the house sparrows and starlings that get into the barn and eat the chicken food and poop everywhere. I’m still working on ways to keep them out – unsuccessfully so far. I peacefully coexist with the other birds. We have wrens nesting in the little birdhouse on the grape arbor again this year. Some years chickadees nest there, other years it’s wrens. And from all the singing and the frequent visits to the bird feeders, I’m pretty sure there are cardinals and several pairs of rose-breasted grosbeaks nesting somewhere close by. In the evenings, I love to stand in the garden and listen to the thrashers and the catbirds singing from the thorn wood across the road. They are lovely.

The little birdhouse where the wrens are nesting.

I guess the only animals that I’m completely at peace with are reptiles and amphibians. I seldom see any snakes here and the ones I do see are garter snakes and they are helpful, not harmful. There are rattlesnakes and copperheads in some parts of the county to the south of us, but they don’t come as far north as Gold. And all the frogs, toads, and salamanders that want to live in my yard are very welcome.

I try to not let waging war with nature wear me down. Most of my time spent in the garden, orchard, and barn is peaceful. There is so much beauty to balance out the nastier bits. Right now the mock orange bushes are blooming. The fragrance of mock orange flowers is the very essence of June. The peonies are at their peak right now – they too have a wonderful perfume. I love to bring bouquets of them into the house.

Mock oranges.

Peonies.

We had some chilly nights last week, but also some perfect, even hot, days. The garden is prospering. The tomatoes and peppers are starting to flower and that makes me happy. That means there will be ripe vegetables in a few weeks. This is that wonderful time of the year when the lawn is filled with clover in bloom. My lawn is not the picture perfect, lush, and uniform carpet of grass that most people prefer. My lawn is full of other things – and I like it that way. In the first days of spring there are violets in the lawn. Later in the summer there will be purple flowered prunella. Right now there is clover. Clover is an amazing plant. It makes everything better. Its roots fix nitrogen that enriches the soil. Its flowers provide bees with nectar that they make into one of the very best kinds of honey. There is an old expression in English to be “in clover,” which means to be fortunate or rich. I can see how that works. In my family’s history one of my ancestors, Zachariah Rice, who came from Germany in 1751 and settled in Pennsylvania, designed a mill for separating clover seed. Apparently harvesting clover seed on a large scale is tricky. German immigrants brought the practice of sowing clover crops with them from Europe. Zachariah built many mills during his lifetime. I always think of him when the clover blooms.

Lettuce ready to eat at last!

Red clover out in the orchard.

White clover in the lawn.

Wednesday was Miriam’s birthday. We had a nice, quiet celebration. Julie came over for dinner and dessert. Miriam made the dinner and her birthday dessert. The dessert was a vegan (for her), dad friendly (for me), Snickers Pie (pie because Stacey doesn’t like cake). It was quite a concoction made of coconut milk, coconut oil, dates, almond flour, peanut butter, and very dark chocolate. It was delicious. Then she opened some nice gifts. She also got birthday wishes through various means from lots of family and friends.

Miriam's birthday.

Today is Father’s Day and it is a lovely day – sunny and warm. It was especially pretty when I went down to the barn this morning. The world was quiet and still and the air smelled sweetly of mock orange and wild roses. The chickens were so happy to see me when I let them out of the coop. After I let them out and threw them a little scratch, I took a walk around the yard. The early sunlight on the flowers made them glow. The first of the old pink roses is open with its perfect rose perfume. These June mornings are precious.

This morning. One of roosters visits the bird feeders every morning.

The chickens happy to see me.

Wild roses blooming behind the barn.

Walking through the orchard.

Early sunlight on the poppies.

My old rose is blooming.

It’s a beautiful afternoon. The thermometer reads 82° right now – a perfect temperature. We’re home from church. Dinner is almost ready and it smells delicious – pork chops. Stacey made an angel food cake for Father’s Day dessert. And there are some Father’s Day gifts waiting to be opened. I feel very blessed to be the father of some great children and the grandfather of some amazing grandchildren. And I have been very blessed in having the father I do. After dinner, dessert, gifts, and chores, I’m hoping to take a nice Father’s Day nap.

Happy Father’s Day and Good Sabbath!