July 7, 2008

Invader!
by Cori Stanek

Everything in the Northwest Connections garden was plugging along well, growing happily in the increasing sun and heat of summer.

Then, one day while watering we noticed that our chard was gone… gone gone. Nipped right down to the dirt.

Initially, we thought it was a ground squirrel and Adam began recruiting for a nighttime patrol and population control.

A few days later we noticed our peas had taken a hit as well… but this time the culprit left a tell-tale footprint in the dirt… a raccoon!

Catastrophe had struck and a sense of emergency quickly settled in. Amidst talk of vegetable loss, 55 gallon oil barrels, and coon-skin caps Adam and Tom constructed a homegrown raccoon trap—inventively built from a bear-proof garbage bin, a plank of scrap wood, a few stabilizing cinderblocks, and Western Family semi-smoked sardines.

The theory? The raccoon would smell the sardines in the bottom of the canister, walk up the plank, fall in to the bin, and by struggling to get out, would nock the precariously propped lid shut, trapping the little pea-thief inside.

Three days have gone by, and still no raccoon in the trap.

However, there aren’t anymore veggies missing either.

A truce perhaps?

Time will only tell.