Thursday July 3rd 2014
“Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.”
Dalia Lama
Skunked by a skunk
I have had this ongoing pursuit, for months really, of this darn skunk up by our hen house. I mean, I think it is a skunk. There are 3 possibilities that I am losing this battle thus far: the skunk has access to an invisibility cloak, its super powers allow it to look exactly like a Rhode Island Red chicken, or I am an idiot. It often eats eggs and sometimes eats the eggs right out of a chicken, which leaves the chicken eggless … and lifeless. I have fortified the perimeter of the coop, been vigilant about closing the doors right after the chickens enter at dusk, and have even sat up there with a gun that I borrowed from the neighbor. On one occasion, an intern was on nightly duty and he actually saw it and got off a shot and missed. By the time he was able to reload the single shot 22 rifle it had disappeared. Last evening I put a live trap with an egg in it. As I eagerly approached it this morning, I could see that the cage was overturned and the egg had been eaten, but no Pepe Le Pew. Tonight I have solidified a larger, much larger, the biggest live trap that Fleet Farm would sell me. Tomorrow morning I will again walk up there with my hopes flying high.
This is not the only pest I have vying for my tasty hens. I killed one coon already and I know that there are more coons, skunks and opossum casing the barn and coop furtively each and every night. I am presently getting 100-110 eggs daily when I was collecting on average 130 two months ago. Anyway, I plan to get my $69 worth out of that very large live trap from Fleet Farm thank you very much!
Farmer notes:
- Please return all boxes, ice packs and egg cartons to E.D.F. for reuse
- Wash all of your produce before you eat it
- We hope to enter the fields to cultivate and plant by this Sunday (fingers crossed). We had SUN this afternoon … finally
- Many of our earliest tomatoes are rife with blight
- Look for garlic scapes, basil, raspberries and shelling peas in box #4
- Loads of greens and herbs for salads, stir fries and sautéing this week
- Radishes are for full shares only – do not take much stock in these as they come from a thinning of the bed and we didn’t want to waste them
- Napa cabbage and Pac Choy are veggies of the week with recipes
- Last of the cilantro until fall
- Leaf lettuce mix consists of: green leaf, red romaine, green romaine, red lolla, and green oakleaf
- Have a safe and fun 4th of July weekend everyone!
Produce List-Recipes-Veggie of the Week
