Rabbit Attack Part 2

The past couple of weeks have been hard. The vegetable patch has grown and I have enjoyed watching it flourish … however, there have been more rabbits, kangaroos and wombats also enjoy the bounty provided. I see my cantaloupe vines spread out wide, flower and then create small fruit.  My imagination takes over as I wonder how big they will grow and how sweet they will taste and what a wonderful treat they will be in the heat of summer.  Then one morning I walk out to see them ravaged, shaved down to tiny nubs, with nothing but droppings scattered around where there was once an abundance of growing food.

Now this may be something more than enough to deter anyone from natural farming methods.  To pull out the gun, and fences and poisons that industrial agriculture would recommend as a solution.  But let me show you something in the photo below:

As you can see, the raised beds are an island of green in a dry, mid summer landscape.  Now think about what this looks like to a rabbit, or any other animal that has been classed as a pest.  I imagine this would look like an ‘All You Can Eat Buffet’ in the middle of the Sahara desert to a rabbit.  When I look at it this way, it makes a lot of sense that they would gravitate to these beds.

For the moment, I give myself permission to accept these losses.  It is my first year after all and as the greenery grows, there will be more for all of us and so I continue to ‘stay the course’.

It hasn’t been all bad.  I have started to harvest.

Sweet peppers have been very abundant.  They are one of my favourite vegetables.  I use them in stir fry, grill them or chop and freeze them for later use.

This sweet little tomato didn’t even make it to the kitchen.  I can’t help but pop them into my mouth when they are such a bite-size.

The first sunflower has bloomed.  Soon there will be wonderful seeds I can harvest and dry for winter nibbles around the fireplace.

I am inspired with the harvest, given the small place and that I am also sharing the food with the wild.  It gives me strength and courage when I think of the possibilities as what I have so far begins to expand.