Like the fox last week, this raccoon came up the road from Oak Island, saw the houses up ahead and decided the woods behind our house were a better bet. In six years of living here, it’s the first raccoon I’ve seen. A neighbour told me he saw a black bear just down the road [...]
These intrepid ducks were not at all shy as my husband herded them out of the garden and back down the road. I bet they’re happy now: it’s pouring rain. Danny was briefly a hurricane but is down to a post-tropical storm that will pass south of Nova Scotia on a similar path to Hurricane [...]
My deer fence looks like a carnival, the thin mesh festooned with orange and yellow flagging tape. What’s inside is not terribly tempting to deer, not yet anyway. It may not be big news for hungry humans either. The potatoes should do OK, and I hope to get some beans – especially if we get [...]
I’m determined to develop a garden on this corner of our property. Grass won’t even grow there, just weeds and wild strawberries. Over the 5 years that we’ve lived here, I’ve cleared a 15′x15′ patch and tried growing things like beans, potatoes and broccoli. But deer, and maybe rabbits, have munched whatever managed to grow [...]
I consider myself a novice gardener with a strong inclination – even compulsion – to dig and plant. It’s got to be genetic. Both my grandfathers grew things for a living. They were European immigrants to Canada in the 1920s, and, well, that’s what you did in those days. One died too soon from the [...]
