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September 22, 2007 Newsletter
Loving Nature Means Not Having To Say You're Sorry...
I have warned the reader of this site about what wildlife can do to their garden. Build your fence too low and deer will jump over it and devour your garden in an hour or less. Build your fence too high off the ground and wake up one morning to find rabbits eating whatever the javelinas didn't root up two hours ago! Okay, you don't have "javelinas"...you have "peccaries" instead! You know, wild pigs. Some of you might even have "pigzilla" types of wild hogs. Or maybe you thought the chickens you put into your garden to eat the grasshoppers could distinguish between a grasshopper and your greens! Now don't tell me you put goats in your garden! And then again, some of you might have thought that oahdad (an import from Africa that has become a major nuisance to ranchers out here in Big Bend country) was really a harmless sheep-herding dog. Think of an antelope with ram horns. (Sorry...just trying to be clever. If you are considering moving to the remote you obviously aren't that stupid!)
Which is why when you have to shoot at them to drive them off your property or at least away from the garden, you are not sorry. Now, you don't actually have to shoot them! Just aim your gun into the air safely (making sure you can see the sky, not the eaves of your house!). However, that won't stop them from coming back.
Fall is upon us. This is the time of year (in most areas) that wildlife start migrating. I can't say where to, because I don't study migration patterns for the various species you might find where you are living or moving to. I wouldn't rely on "Extension Services" too much because the only real way you can determine migration patterns across your land is to observe them yourself. And what my husband observed was this: "The javelinas are back. I just chased a bunch of 'em away from the front of the house."
Actually, javelinas can show up at almost any time, but they ALWAYS show up for a meal or two in late summer. I don't know where they came from or where they go, but they come in late August and September like clockwork. And when they do, expect trouble. Javelinas and any wild pig, being "rooters," can shove their snouts into any kind of ground with enough determination to get under any fencing structure, lift up the fence wire, just enough, to get under the fence, and feast. One has to create a foot-deep trough or so, place the fence into the trough, and keep it covered over with rocks or cement to assure keeping these critters out! But unfortunately, you can't create such structures where it matters most--your garden gate! And it is THERE that javelinas are most likely to find their entrance into your garden. Even if your gate is thick aluminum or steel at the bottom, unbendable, wild pigs WILL find a way to root and dig under it! And, sure enough last weekend, Saturday morning around 7 am, at least one javelina (it is rare for javelinas to travel alone; more likely it was a family) got into the garden and ate a few yellow squash plants, stomped in the dirt where we'd just planted radishes, knocked over some seedlings, and stomped into the ground some greens on the way to the squash. In other words, they only messed up a small section of garden (they could have wiped it out...and I still don't know why they didn't). So, I put some flat, heavy rocks at the fence where it was clear they probably got out and could have gotten in, but of course, they most likely got in under the gate. So for this week we did "javelina watch," getting up around 7 am to check the garden. So far, so good.
However, this past Thursday (Sept. 19), I got up to use the bathroom at 5:30 am, went out to check the garden and all was as it had been since the last invasion. Went back to bed, and got up again at 7:30 am. When I went out to check, more squash had been eaten! Plus, I noticed that the gate had been pushed up some more! Well, that's enough of that! We are down to our last couple of squash plants, and WILL NOT LOSE ANY MORE!
So this is what we've done: fill up water buckets with water (that can also be used to water the garden); put the buckets right in front of the gate so that javelinas CANNOT get under the gate without toppling over four water buckets onto themselves (javelinas do not like water on them! When it comes to water they are as skittish as cats...I cannot vouch for other kinds of wild pigs, however). Further, to make things more interesting, my husband put long, metal fence posts into the buckets standing upward, leaning against the bar that keeps deer from jumping over the gate...that way, if the critters do topple the buckets they will not only get wet. They will also get some heavy metal posts crashing down on them! The noise enough should scare them away! Plus, the racket will send either me or my husband out to make sure the pests exit pronto!
That is, if you really want to mess with javelinas! Now, javelinas aren't mountain lions or bears, but they could, if there were enough of 'em, potentially rip you to shreds anyway. They have somewhat short, but potentially harmful, tusks that act as teeth (sort of like a wild boar or warthog). Make 'em mad enough and they will attack. In fact, if you have a dog that likes to go after skunks, raccoons and the like, you might want to keep it at bay. We had friends once who owned a Rhodesian Ridgeback. These powerful mastiff dogs were bred to hunt African lions. Well, their dog once got into it with some javelinas and would up going to the vet with a six-inch deep gash in its side! Took at least a month to start looking like it was going to heal. Lesser dogs such as Rottweilers (!), Fila Brasilieros (which hunt jaguars and, formerly, runaway slaves), and German Shepherds are also no match for these porcine pugilists. In fact, if you want a dog that'll take on javelinas successfully, get yourself a chihuahua! These little guys can nip the heels off a bear (provided they don't get stomped on!)
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Click here to read the first newsletter about how we fix out dirt driveway after rains washed them out, dealing with mice, and more. Click here to find out how to I used herbs and natural products to help with allergies, cold, and other respiratory ailments. Click here to read Part 1 of the "Gloom and Doom" scenario and here to read Part 2. Click here to learn the ten essential items you must have to begin your new life on your rural homestead. Click here to stop worrying about what we cannot change and change only what we can. Click here to find out how I dealt with culture shock after I moved from the big city. Click here for some different angles on the Ron Paul phenomenon. Click here to read about how to liberate yourself from "the matrix". Click here to test yourself to see if you are ready to move into the country. Click here to find out how the people will defeat the oligarchs. And click here for some tips on preparing for winter in the country.
