up against it

Now that the growing season is in full-swing, and all good things ascend, trouble descends upon the farm! Our difficulties this year come in the form of woodchucks, earwigs, potato beetles, a fox, and weeds.

The woodchucks have been into the lettuce, carrots and beets. We've begun the slow process, along with one of our neighbors, of capturing and relocating them. So far we've gotten three, and a skunk.

The earwigs were a surprise. Last year, the slugs and snails had giant populations and chewed many holes in our greens. This year they are not so bad, but the earwigs are. They've been making some of our bok choi so unsightly, that we're unable to sell it. Fortunately, one variety seems less attractive to them and has seen little damage in comparison.

We've had one small outbreak, and now one large outbreak of potato beetles. We've been bagging them and securing them in the dumpster. This is a labor that we'd rather not be bothered with right now, but the natural world has it's own agenda. Other things like to eat what we do, and they must be contended with promptly.

I haven't seen the fox in several days. We suspect he's enjoyed at least two chickens, but since I spoke with him, there've been no sightings. Perhaps he is busy eating woodchucks.

The weeds have really been a force this year. We've barely kept up, as our attentions have gone to planting over the last several weeks. We've reclaimed several beds that were badly overgrown, and have decided to start over on a few beds that were too far gone. We won some; we lost some.

That being said, our crops are looking really beautiful this year! I continue to be impressed with the vitality of the plants, and the harvests thus far.