So I'm up at the garden and a mink runs past me. I shit you not. A mink. Runs past me.
That's a reasonable facsimile drawing of the mink as done by a courthouse sketch artist on account of the fact that minks are fast and I couldn't get a photo of it. Besides, the picture wouldn't have turned out anyway; its coat was so shiny it would have been like photographing the sun covered in sequins.
This garden of mine is a place of insanity. You just don't know what's going to appear out of the forest or sky on any given day. We have an extremely high fence around the garden with locked gates, but animals still manage to get in. Raccoons can climb, bunnies can shrink themselves and voles? Well voles fit through just about anything except apparenty the door of a vole trap..
The community garden I'm a part of has been in existence, on the same plot of land for over 30 years. It's right smack dab in the middle of conservation land and more specifically turtle pods. I don't know what the areas that turtles mate in are called, but I'm going with pods because I think it sounds cool.
In the olden days there was no fence around the garden. At that time, a day up at the garden could involve having a straight up fistfight with a pack of deer in the middle of your corn or discovering a snapping turtle had burrowed into your swiss chard patch and laid a whack of eggs. Generally, one doesn't engage in physical battles with a snapping turtle. You ask them if they're having a nice day, promise never to paint their shell and then you bow a few times and back away respectfully.
So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when a mink frolicked past me as I was taking a photo of my updated hinged hoop house. (Yup, with my phone in my hand and the camera app opened up, I still did not get a photo of the flying mink.) It occurred to me at that moment that I should probably start making notes of everything I see at the garden because I'm bound to forget. Most of it is stuff you couldn't even see just half a kilometre away from the garden. Not even 50 feet away in some cases.
I did the same thing when I went to Los Angeles for a while with a celebrity friend after I graduated from University. I made a list of every famous or interesting person I encountered or saw because I knew in years to come it would make interesting reading. And that in just months to come I'd probably already start forgetting who I saw. It's the sort of list I *should* have made while working in television because I spent several of my television years interviewing celebrities, most of which I've forgotten all about. Except Harrison Ford. 'Cause you don't forget Harrison Ford. He's like a communicable disease that way. Except way better.
I've never seen Harrison Ford at my garden, but here are some of the things that I have run into up there.
As Seen in the Garden.
Not to mention the assorted toads, turtles, frogs, more birds, rabbits, mice, voles and assorted other rodents.
The rodents eat the garden plants, the toads eat the insect pests, the snakes eat the rodents, but they also eat the toads. It's a vicious cycle that I assume is in some sort of natural balance, but no matter what, it ends with me constantly trying to protect my vegetables and crowds of gardeners chasing rabbits out of our land with brooms held over our heads and curse words flying out of our mouths. Daily.
Last year while working on protecting my corn from raccoons at the garden, I looked up when I heard a gardener across the way shout-barking some unintelligible words. More guttural monster sounds than words actually. He was hidden behind rows of beans and tomatoes so all I could make out was the top of a broom zipping around the maze of tomatoes. That's all I needed to see to know he was welcoming a rabbit to his plot.
I grabbed the nearest snake, hurled it into his garden and stood horrified as it barfed up 14 voles when it slammed to the ground. The voles immediately ate his entire strawberry patch.
That last part might not be true but it's pretty much how things go up at that garden so it definitely could be true, if it had actually happened. I'm saying it's a possibility, that's all.
All this to say I saw a mink. It was very pretty, very shiny and welcome in my garden anytime.
You never know what's going to come through the holes in our garden fence. I plan to spend this long weekend, sitting by it, waiting patiently for the most elusive of all forest creatures; the black forest cake.
Have a good weekend and a great Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!
→Follow me on Instagram where I often show other garden creatures←
You are so lucky to have all those snakes in your garden!
Minks look cute, but they are pretty vicious, so I’d give it a wide berth if I were you...
Snakes yuck, remember minks kill chickens for sport
You are so funny to read.
I am a vfx artist (read: roots in traditional animation) and I just laughed so hard at the flying snake/ vole dispersion / strawberry massacre. I just wish I had the time to animate your story, it is so great. You are really a special kind of writer to inspire other artists.
LOL, it would make a great animation! As you can see from my mink picture, you're probably better suited to that part of the project. ;) ~ karen!
Hi Karen … I note that your goldfinch was attached to a very efficient-looking feeder of some kind that looks homemade … was that your design, and if it was have you ever told how you made it? I'd like to try making it myself!
I'm afraid not Lorrie! That is a "free use" photo from the Internet. The snake pictures are all mine, but the birds are not. Birds are really difficult to photograph, lol. ~ karen!
Happy Canada day (almost). I have to tell you, right now I’m so glad I don’t live in Ontario. The three snakes kind of freaked me out a bit. I’m in southern New Brunswick (have to spell it out or people think Nebraska). Yes we have gartersnakes, but never seen one (yet)
I have chickens, too and so far haven’t lost any to predators. I give the credit to a well built chicken coop and a very large Great Pyrenees chicken guardian, Heidi. She is on the job right now, snoozing why my flock walks around her stealing her food. We have lots of wildlife around here as well. Mostly nice, garden friendly ones. Funny, when we lived in the city, we had the worst time with deer eating everything. We had them even walk up on our deck so they could eat the ornamental corn off my front door. Let’s say not my favourite creature dispite Bambi’s reputation as a cutie. Now in the country, I never see one. Guess these ones know enough to stay away from humans. Lots of people hunt, so they learned. We do have black bears, coyotes, red fox, and moose. I have seen all but the bears in our field by the house. So I can see why you might be glad your in Ontario, even with the snakes.:) love your blog.
Thanks Sherrill. I remember seeing a moose in Quebec several years ago drinking from the Ottawa River. It was so amazing to see! ~ karen
Small or not, they are snakes. I don't do snakes.
I live in s-w Ontario like Karen and I have never seen a snake in my garden. I would have probably put the house up for sale the next day.
I grew up in a house that backed onto Mimico Creek in Etobicoke and there were minks in the creek most winters. They're super interesting to watch, because, like otters, they'd go in and out of the water through the ice! Brr. I have no idea how they survived given the amount of pollution in that creek (higher, at that time, than the Don!).
When I visit my mom we play "spot the wildlife". But it's a bit different to the way you play. Mostly because my mom lives on the coast next to a private game reserve. So last week I saw an enormous pod of dolphins, some zebras, and a kaleidoscope of giraffes (that's the actual collective noun!). #notsmug #hahayesiam
I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you. Your mother lives on the edge of a private game reserve??! WHY did you ever move out from your mother's house, lol?? In fact, why am I not living with your mother. ~ karen!
Muhahahaha! I laugh evilly in your general direction! But you make an excellent point. Why did I move out... You should definitely just arrive at the gate with your suitcase and say "hi your daughter sent me" 😂 just bring your own gardening stuff.
You have the same wildlife as we do here in SE Virginia, except we have water moccasins, copperheads and rattlesnakes. Our three venomous snakes in this area. Oh, and the rattlesnakes are protected. Seriously.
"Oh, and the rattlesnakes are protected. Seriously."
Why? Here in California, we are not strangers to rattlers, and I can't imagine why they would be protected.
Canebrake rattlers are protected in Virginia because their population is diminishing. I’m serious. We’re supposed to call the Dept of Game & Inland Fisheries if we spot one.
Loved this post! Thank you for making me smile! No chipmunks?
Our neighbors Labrador retriever used to really enjoy killing raccoons and then burying them in MY garden. She was always very proud of the burial mounds she made not so carefully in between my tomato plants. She would eventually dig them up and eat them. Totally gross but she was a sweet dog!
I have a horrible mouse problem in my greenhouse and I was genuinely looking for non-venomous snakes I could let loose in there. I snagged one from my terrified mother's camper last year and it really seemed to do the trick for a while. Traps and poison are an issue because I have a very curious, idiotic golden lab. She gave up braincells for friendliness, for sure.
Hahahahaaaaa!!!! Here’s my list so far: possum, grey squirrels, black squirrels, all kinds of birds I can’t identify except for the bald eagle, a really cute tuxedo kitty that just chased a squirrel up a tree for my entertainment pleasure and whom the BF says I cannot claim as “ours”, slugs (I will be making your slug bait today) mosquitoes, probably some ticks I haven’t come across yet thankfully, and deer. But the deer stay outside the fenced yard, they’re polite like that. Here is a picture I took this morning of my vicious deer-hunter, Petey. Happy Canada Day my friend to the west of me (cuz here in Western NY Canada is to our west...and north...but where I go it’s west)
Oh my, a sequin covered mink... now we're talking my language. Hope you had a Happy Canada Day, from your temporarily deranged and dysfunctional neighbors to the south. Stay sane and pray for us...
ADORE Harrison Ford! I finally saw this post today and remember that it wouldn't open for me when you posted it. I tried several days then gave up. So this was a little double bonus today as I found it under your regular post. So glad I did. I really like snakes and Ford - Did you see the movie Nell? It is one of my favorites and his wife was the co-star. We have a pet chinchilla that lives in a giant cage and is the softest thing I've ever felt. I much prefer him soft and alive than wrapped around my neck plus I live in Florida so there is that.
Chincilla's are SO cute! ~ karen
..."& promise never to paint their shells..."
Lol!
My sister bedazzles her turtles shells, so she can find them when she lets them frolick in her neighbors yard (with permission). Lol!
Those minks are gorgeous!
They remind me of ferrets, I want some! Lol ;)
I bet they eat those mice & voles too. No idea how much / what type of produce they take in payment for that though. Maybe strawberries?