This past weekend I harvested an entire mixing bowl of banana peppers and cucumbers. And promptly canned all of it, with the help of Old McDonald. We have three jars of sweet banana peppers and three jars of bread & butter pickles. There will be plenty more coming, as we are about to be buried in tomatoes. Our Roma plants are producing like nothing I’ve ever seen. I see a lot of sauce in our future. And everyone else’s.
Let’s review the definitions of cute vs. varmint, shall we?
Cute – adj. – 1. Delightfully pretty or dainty. 2.Obviously contrived to charm; precious.
Aww, look, a bunny!
Var mint – n. – 1. an undesirable, usually predatory or verminous animal. 2.an obnoxious or annoying person.
That’s right, that’s a photo of a rabbit inside the garden, suddenly turning both of us into Mr. McGregor – right after we got over our astonishment that the cute little bunny rabbit can fit through the fence. This was a scenario we had not planned for. The photo was the second time Peter had deigned to enter the garden; late last week when he did it J went in after him, startling him badly as he ran toward the end of the garden, looking for a way out. J was able to shoo him out the gate, and then thought he fixed the problem by tightening the gate closure at the bottom to keep him from squeezing under it – which was how we thought he was getting in.
Sunday morning I was drinking coffee on the porch, and the rabbit was nonchalantly nibbling clover on the lawn. “How cute,” I thought. The rabbit hopped closer to the fence. “Hey J, come watch how sad this rabbit is going to be when it discovers it can’t get under the gate anymo……….” Bam! One minute we’re looking at the bunny on the stepping stone, acting all casual, and the next, Houdini is in the garden. We did not realize the rabbit could get through the fence until I watched him shove his furry brown hindquarters through an opening 2″ x 3″ in an attempt to evade my amature paparazzi efforts. For a few moments, we thought he was still going under the gate. Apparently not. Also, we might have a boneless rabbit living in our yard. Go measure that 2″ x 3″ out. I’ll wait. Right? It is most definitely a rabbit, not a chipmunk or something that would logically fit through the fence.
We’re at a bit of a loss about what to do about this, and also what, exactly, Peter is eating in the main garden. We think the raised bed with the good stuff – carrots and parsnips – is secure enough, but who can be sure anymore? It’s possible the rabbit is after the straw that we put around the tomatoes, but I would think the fresh clover outside the fence would be more appealing. Eventually the rabbit will get too big to get through the fence. Hopefully before it eats anything in the garden.
There was a definition of cute I didn’t include up above:
