Squirrels & the Oil Leak
"We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to."
- Terri Swearingen
Namasté!
I hope this finds everyone well & happy. Summer is coming on fast around here. But what a strange winter we had.
I know you guys are tired of hearing about the Urban Chicken-Keeping article that I haven't written. Naturally, since I have the time & energy to blog today I couldn't find the notes. This will sound awful to some, but I've been 'spring cleaning' for months now. I still haven't come to a stopping place & stuff is shuffled around everywhere. I am making progress, though. I just had a lot to do.
This will be the last time I mention Urban Chicken-Keeping until I actually write the piece. When I find the notes I'll blog on it then. I think I may have gotten slightly depressed because of the fact that it wasn't as easy as I thought & it's something I won't be doing anytime soon! I'm so inspired to be as sustainable as possible that I was quite disappointed to find out there was so much to UC-K.
BUT! On the upside, I'm really grateful for the knowledge I gained through Elizabeth's class. I encourage anyone who's thinking of doing it to find out when she's having another &/or do your homework & research before embarking on such a project. Decide & plan carefully.
I regret that my work schedule precludes me from participating in many of the 2 Hands events. Naturally, they're nearly all exclusively on Saturdays & those are the days I work a double shift. I will try to blog more & will have to get up to the Garden on Mondays to pull weeds, if nothing else.
For an update on my composting, it's coming along nicely. When I was watering awhile ago I saw a lizard run out of the food bed, which was incredibly exciting to me. She was running too fast to see what kind she was, but she was fairly large. The bed is home to all sorts of creatures, as I said before. And there are so many earthworms it's unreal. I still keep the plastic on it to keep the moisture in.
The leaf pile I started also is breaking down quite well & is full of earthworms & other critters. Decaying leaf matter piled like that & kept moist will naturally draw earthworms, just like the sheet/lasagna composting, but I also populated the bed & the leaf pile with the Eisenia fetida from my indoor vermicompost bin. I have so many healthy worms these days that they really break down the stuff I give them pretty quickly. And my pecan tree is a constant source of organic material with which to mulch & compost. Right now it's blooming & dropping it's catkins.
This is great because we had a fire on the property back in March & as a result the yard has suffered. However, it looks like it's coming back well, including my friend's (& landlady's) beloved Saint Augustine grass. She mourned it's perceived destruction when the gas company had to dig up the remaining part of the yard that hadn't been dug up previously, in order to move the gas meters. Not to mention the part that seemed dead after the firefighters dumped smouldering material all over it & that the insurance company failed to clean up.
Anyway, I just keep putting worms & compost on the yard & watering it everyday & I don't rake anything up. This yard will be like a mini urban rainforest in a couple of months.
For those of you who would like the benefits that earthworms can bring to your yard but don't feel like actually handling the worms, etc., this is a good time to mention vermipods. Here's a link telling what they are:
http://www.vermipod.com/Home.php
And you can order them from there or from my favourite worm farm:
http://www.unclejimswormfarm.com/order-stuff?page=shop.browse&category_id=2
Now, I titled this post 'What Can We Do?', so let me address that question. The Terri Swearingen quote hints at what's been eating me lately: the oil leak in the Gulf. Does anyone out there have any ideas about what we can do to be useful in solving the issue? Any charities you'd suggest? Any volunteer opportunities you're aware of? Besides going down there & doing hands-on stuff (I don't have a vacation coming anytime soon), I mean.
"We share the earth not only with our fellow human beings, but with all the other creatures."
- The Dalai Lama
Otherwise, of course we should all be praying or meditating on the situation & sending/generating as much Love & Light as possible. We should feel gratitude to those who're working hard to heal the damage. It's simultaneously amazing & sickening to hear people talk about it. The level to which most people DO NOT get that everything is connected just blows me away. When are we going to wake up & realize that WeR1?
I have a more practical dilemma to which to apply the question: What can we do about squirrels who want to dig in places we don't want them digging? I have had issues with this for the last 4 years, since moving to this apartment. I have a huge old pecan tree, in a neighborhood full of them, so consequently, I also have lots of squirrels. They become 'problematic' when they dig up my plants & flowers. Matter of fact, the violas from Elizabeth Anna's that I planted this fall were casualties of squirrel foul play (darnit! I loved those flowers!). I also wasn't too crazy about the fact that any birdfeeder hung with a cable was chewed down in short order to provide easy access to the goodies inside.
I couldn't figure out what was wrong with these arrogant little rodents. They didn't seem to care that I was a Shaman & refused to respond to my earnest caring & sincere communications. They continued to laugh & high-five each other as they consumed my plant's roots.
I found cayenne pepper to be quite effective, as well as relatively inexpensive. Just don't run out because you must keep applying it every other day or so, as well as after rain or watering. And you must apply liberally. Pour it on. The minute you get chintzy with it the squirrels will party & you'll be PO'd. I let my guard down at one point & lost several plants.
So then I decided to try fox urine. It worked for a week & then it was back to business as usual. When I called the manufacturer I was told that it's often not as effective on urban squirrels because they really don't encounter foxes much in the city. They also told me that it would probably be more effective if I put it out more often than recommended.
I've now come to a compromise with my furry foes, along with a 3-point plan & it seems to be working.
First, I keep lots of cayenne pepper available & put it out liberally & often. I also put out the fox urine I have left (it's a bit expensive) every week. I read that you can put cayenne in with your birdseed because it doesn't affect the birds. I don't know if that's true because my compromise is in the 3rd point: I put out squirrel food with the birdseed (in containers they can't chew down). I hope they're getting trained to know that food is away from the porch, away from where the cayenne stings & the fox urine smell frightens. I really don't want to go on a violent rodenticidal rampage. That seems so imbalanced, especially for a Shaman...
Okay, I think that's it for now. Oh! Found this little gem of a website:
Lots of good stuff & great photos.
And let me know what sort of birds you're seeing this time of year. I've seen a Carolina Wren twice recently, some Cardinals, Blue Jays & Mockingbirds, lots of Robins. I haven't heard my Woodpeckers the last few weeks.
Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed. Remember Who We Really Are & that
WeR1!
Ashé!
kel
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