Moolie - Happy Thanksgiving :)

[moolie]

We do sometimes find skunks hit on the nearby highway, but they don't seem to come into our neighborhood. Didn't realize they were vole predators, but I don't want skunks in my yard either!

Haven't seen the little guy today, no more damage as of this morning. Both times I've seen him I've sprayed him hard with the hose, so hopefully he felt unwanted.

Gina, your story reminds me of this: Merrie Melodies: Mac n Tosh in "I Gopher You"

 

[Denim Deb]

I've had problems w/voles in the past too.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thankfully, we don't have those critters around here. We do have the occasional armadillo or possum - they drive the dogs absolutely NUTS.

 

[FarmerJamie]

ugh, voles....I have at least one in the beet/bean patch. It started doing a number on my beets, and has hit a row of kidney beans pretty hard. Our terrier and my oldest four hens flushed out four voles Wednesday - the dog got one, the chickens got two, and one escaped. My hens love rodent hunting with the dog - its hilarious to watch.

 

[moolie]

If there's one thing I wish I could add to my garden, it's chickens and ducks. Darn bylaws.

 

[FarmerJamie]

yep.

Have you tried Juicy Fruit gum? It's worked for me before.

 

[moolie]

Sorry?

 

[FarmerJamie]

Place a few sticks of unwrapped Juicy Fruit gum near the holes. They eat it and it gums up the works (pun intended) and they soon expire. Mouse traps work too.

 

[moolie]

That's brilliant! I will have to get some, totally inexpensive fix

He seems a bit big for a standard mouse trap? We thought we might need the larger rat traps, but Alberta is supposed to be "rat free" and they seem impossible to come by, so we were going to pony up for a live trap and just remove the little dude to far far away.

 

[moolie]

Just cross-posting to keep up with the "what are you canning today?" thread:

Cleaned out my freezer a bit yesterday and turned some frozen turkey stock with meat into 7 pints of Turkey Veg soup and some frozen chicken stock 7 pints of Split Pea with Bacon Soup.

Set some beef bones on to simmer in two large pots with the onion, carrot, and celery bits leftover from the soup-making, and last night I put a gallon of Beef Stock into the fridge to cool, ready to make into soup.

Today is a busy day for other things, so it will have to wait for tomorrow to be made into soup and canned up, still looking for some recipes--want to make two types. I also want to get some more tomatoes from the farmer's market tomorrow for another batch of salsa and a batch of Tomato Basil Soup.

My younger daughter loves home made soup and likes to take it to school for lunch, thus why I'm stocking up on home-canned soups--super easy for her to pop open a jar and heat it on the stove as she's eating her breakfast, then pour it into her thermos for a yummy lunch. She pre-heats her thermos with boiling water and says her soup is always still quite hot at lunch. My older daughter loves all things pasta & rice so prefers leftovers of Tamale Rice and any sort of pasta in her thermos, same thing--she pre-heats it with boiling water from the kettle before putting in warmed up leftovers.