In the Garden

[temporal1]

i’m sure you know, Illinois weather can vary drastically. to be unprepared is not a good idea, at any time of the year, for plants and all else.

That's for sure!
But I'm amazed at how good the forecasts have become, although we always notice the erroneous ones more.

Great things are done, especially monitoring big weather patterns.
Local forecasts can be hit+miss, sometimes with big misses.

Just in my average-size county, weather can vary drastically from the north to south. Weather cares not for county, state or international borders.

i suspect the technology is there to be more accurate, but, “good enough” is what we get. weather has become a media-entertainment business, so much so, i do not view weatherpersons anymore at all. viewing females dressed like hookers sashay around in front of weather maps isn’t my thing.

recently, they’ve been trying to stun us with dramatized weather language.
circus acts. most seem to respond with, “ok. it’s winter.”

annually, no fail, fall brings warnings about “the worst winter ever coming!”
i tell my family, i think they do this, first, for drama, but, also, like flipping coins, if you keep the same bet going, odds are you’ll win 25-50% of the time.

i check NOAA about everyday.

[Wayne in Maine]

So yesterday we put up our 200'th pint of beans. It's purely coincidental that we planned to stock up this year (we had no garden last year) when it seems everyone is canning. The green beans are on top of a lot of jams and relishes and other staples. Being that there are only two of us at home we have a lot of surplus quart jars, but we have run out of regular pints and are moving into wide mouths. I'm waiting to hear from someone who want to trade wide mouth lids for quart jars.

Tomato sauce will be next, we have 100 lbs so far in the freezer waiting to be thawed and strained (to reduce the liquid). And the beans are still coming in. This is the first year I planted Kentucky Wonders and I have had to put a ladder in the hoop-house frame to pick them!

The Woodchuck that got my only ripening mini-neck pumpkin is no longer among the living having died of sudden lead poisoning, a skunk has taken up his former lodging under the barn, I'm hoping our local fisher cat eats skunk - he seems to be eating every other small mammal in the vicinity.

[MaxPC]

Wayne, if I remember correctly red tailed hawks and large owls will snack on skunk. So will coyotes: but only if they are desperate . Personally I would probably make sure the skunk had a severe case of lead poisoning as well.

[Josh]

Wayne, if I remember correctly red tailed hawks and large owls will snack on skunk. So will coyotes: but only if they are desperate . Personally I would probably make sure the skunk had a severe case of lead poisoning as well.

Or just a “minor” surgery.

[QuietlyListening]

Wayne- if you don't mind the smell under your barn, a large amount of moth balls may help with the skunk. We had one under our one structure and it helped get rid of it.

[ken_sylvania]

Wayne- if you don't mind the smell under your barn, a large amount of moth balls may help with the skunk. We had one under our one structure and it helped get rid of it.

Then again, if one doesn't mind the smell, why bother to get rid of the skunk?

[QuietlyListening]

Actually I meant smell of moth balls - while not pleasant I'll take that any day over smell of skunk.

[Wayne in Maine]

Wayne- if you don't mind the smell under your barn, a large amount of moth balls may help with the skunk. We had one under our one structure and it helped get rid of it.

Then again, if one doesn't mind the smell, why bother to get rid of the skunk?

I’m thinking of a snare or other trap device at the entrances to it’s den. I recall some very effective ones from a couple survival trainings at the Navy SERE school.

[QuietlyListening]

Once you catch it in the trap how do you get rid of it?

We tried to trap a ground hog but unfortunately got a skunk instead- twice. You'd think we'd learn. SIGH. But as we had no way to get rid of it, my husband was able to release it without being sprayed. So we did the moth ball route.

So I am interested in how you will get rid of it once caught. We have no gun and no easy access to one so that isn't an option.

[Wayne in Maine]

Once you catch it in the trap how do you get rid of it?

We tried to trap a ground hog but unfortunately got a skunk instead- twice. You'd think we'd learn. SIGH. But as we had no way to get rid of it, my husband was able to release it without being sprayed. So we did the moth ball route.

So I am interested in how you will get rid of it once caught. We have no gun and no easy access to one so that isn't an option.

I would use a lethal snare. My only concern is the possible lingering stench at the barn. I might use a baited snare at a little distance from the barn, the type that would suspend the critter, maybe using a sapling.