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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2012 16:34:23 GMT -5
I know what you mean, Joseph. I've had at least one coon at each of my 4 patches, and the little boogers really chewed up some of my corn.  Everytime I catch one, I make sure to kill it so that it isn't a pest for some other poor soul. |
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Post by Drahkk on Aug 18, 2012 18:42:50 GMT -5
I was hoping someone else would say it. Those live traps work exceptionally well for raccoons, but the end result is better if you drop the full trap in a rain barrel for a few minutes...
MB
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Post by MikeH on Aug 18, 2012 19:41:05 GMT -5
I wondered who keeps driving out to my farm and releasing animals. Tsk. Tsk. Have pity on me and my farm. Just drown them or shoot them and save me the trouble. If it was me, I'd drop in to say hello. Just hello, no weeding. Given the generally good pickings and the resulting reproduction rate, I figure that killing them is a losing battle and that I might as well catch and release. The other side of a major highway sounds good. |
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Post by 12540dumont on Aug 19, 2012 1:27:24 GMT -5
Please, please, please, if you have the pest in hand, do us all a favor and kill the bastards. You trapped 'em now please put them out of their misery.
Otherwise it ends up ugly like me telling the city woman that transporting animals without out license is a felony and I'll have to call the game warden and she will have to pay the fine.
Don't bring your gophers, racoons, squirrels, feral children here. I have enough of my own problems, because I'm raising your cats/dogs....
If I catch you, I might shoot you.
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Post by khoomeizhi on Aug 19, 2012 8:08:35 GMT -5
they may be pests...but free meat is free meat.
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Post by littleminnie on Aug 19, 2012 10:31:09 GMT -5
I was reading an old thread somewhere about successful summer greens mix of beet, baby kale and and baby chard. This thread was 12 years old but it got my wheels turning. They said the mix was very popular in summer and some ate it straight and some mixed with purchased lettuce. I am thinking about this for next year and wondering how many times it would have to be successively sown in new places to keep it baby sized.
I am also increasing my area for garlic and shallots with the hope of selling at the Garlic Festival in 2014 or possibly 2013.
Kale grows so crazy good my CSAs and customers get sick of it. I had a spring bed of middle row of kale, outside row of broccoli raab and outside row of baby bok choy. I replaced the bok with leeks and the raab with bush beans but the kale is still wonderful. Now I wonder if I should seed more kale as usual for fall or not. Maybe I will try that mix above for this fall!
Also planning on the same amount of sweet peppers next year not more. I have too many this year!
More corn, potatoes, broccoli and melons for sure!
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Post by steev on Aug 19, 2012 22:33:14 GMT -5
The trouble with relocating critters like raccoons is you're essentially sentencing them to death by combat, since you're dropping them into an area of established hierarchy where other raccoons have long since pissed in all the corners. Even if physically evenly matched, they will generally lose, lacking any confidence of home-turf. So they're driven from place to place until they're killed or die from wounds and infection.
The only good thing about such live-trapping is that it holds the critter until you can kill it, if that's your desire, in which case I would hope it would be eaten, if only to prompt re-appraisal of the activity of killing.
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Post by littleminnie on Aug 23, 2012 22:25:43 GMT -5
I got the ok for next year from my landlords today which is awesome.
Now I am NOT planning more melons next year unless I can extend their season a lot. Something strange about this season that is making everything ripen at once. Corn was 15 days ahead and Blacktail Mt and Crimson Sweet ripened at the same time. Butternuts and buttercups and other squash are way early too.
Low of 40 on Monday AM and near 90 today and tomorrow. That is MN!
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Post by mnjrutherford on Aug 26, 2012 5:33:55 GMT -5
need more mulch. Lots lots LOTS more mulch!
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Aug 26, 2012 10:07:59 GMT -5
Please, please, please, if you have the pest in hand, do us all a favor and kill the bastards. You trapped 'em now please put them out of their misery. Otherwise it ends up ugly like me telling the city woman that transporting animals without out license is a felony and I'll have to call the game warden and she will have to pay the fine. Don't bring your gophers, racoons, squirrels, feral children here. I have enough of my own problems, because I'm raising your cats/dogs.... If I catch you, I might shoot you. Oh how I agree with you Holly! We had our fill of people who put up No Trespassing signs to keep ducks off their yard, yet emptied their cat litter boxes in our horse pasture and threw broken beer glass in our hay fields!! And then there was the woman who pulled into my driveway wanting to protect a snapping turtle (yes they are endangered up here) and almost got eaten by my dog because she never thought that racing up to a house where she was an unknown and jumping out of her vehicle yelling was unusual?? I didn't have the heart to tell her that I usually relocated the baby turtles to the swamp on the other side of the highway instead of to my horse pasture. Lastly, there was the "re-located" cat that I caught trying to kill turkey poults. When I screamed, my dogs each grabbed an end of the cat and played tug of war until the cat was no more. They were within their right, they knew Mom's beloved little birds were in danger and from the shriek I made, Mom too! Okay, so on the subject of gardening planning for 2013, I have to agree with Jo. The especially dry conditions and close to record temps this year reminded me that I should have mulched a lot more than I did. I also have to cut back on the number of vining crops. I pushed it to the limit this year, and while they all grew, they were crowded and produced not as much as they could have. Next year, one melon, one viny squash and one bush. Made an error putting a large tomato in a tree container and putting a small type in the garden itself. Neither produced as well as they do when the planting is reversed, but hey, I had fun figuring it out. |
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Post by 12540dumont on Aug 26, 2012 21:55:32 GMT -5
I'm thinking of quitting farming next year.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 26, 2012 22:47:12 GMT -5
I'm thinking of quitting farming next year. Me too. Seems like too much work for too little pay. I might feel different if my farm wasn't such a long commute. |
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Post by steev on Aug 27, 2012 1:42:18 GMT -5
Holly, you might consider quitting farming for other people; but you are so not considering quitting for yourself, nor you either, Joseph. Both of you enjoy the activity too much to quit; it's just having it as a job that is onerous. It may be time to cut back to taking care of yourselves, rather than being driven to take care of others, as a way of indirectly taking care of yourselves. It may be that the time you spend to earn money could be spent to greater value than what you can buy with that money.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 27, 2012 7:43:25 GMT -5
Steev: Yup. About the only thing I acquire with my farming money is gasoline that I then use to commute to the farm. I'll always grow for myself and my family. All the time, I'm becoming be less like the cobbler who's children have no shoes: I actually preserved oregano, mint, beets, and crookneck so far this summer.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Aug 27, 2012 8:21:20 GMT -5
I'm thinking of quitting farming next year. Been there.... I miss my horse and my poultry every day. It's been 5 years but I still cry when I see a pic of a mare that looks like her. Our house lot isn't even as large as my garden was on the farm, but I still garden with as much conviction and love as ever! Whether it's for other people or just for yourselves, you don't lose "that" if you truly love working with the earth and her bounty. Joseph, I can't imagine having to commute to farm. That would add another dimension of difficulty for sure. All I had to do was walk outside my door and there was our 50 acres of lush, rolling fields. Much Luck to all who struggle with the financial hardships and physical labours that come with the territory. May you find what you are looking for. |
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Everytime I catch one, I make sure to kill it so that it isn't a pest for some other poor soul.
