A Thief in the Night

I went yesterday to pick in our garden. I took a couple of the boys to help me because it was blazing hot outside. My main motto in our home is "many hands make light work". I have been eagerly waiting the arrival of our cantaloupe. W got the cantaloupe and watermelon planted a little late this year because we needed to build the bed to plant them into. I have been watching the cantaloupe knowing that one would be ripe very soon. When I saw the bed, it appeared that something had been in the bed. I thought of our dog or our 3 year old. However, neither of them really bother the garden. Then I saw the remains of my first ripe cantaloupe, and I knew it wasn't any of the children or the dog. More than likely it was a coon enjoying the fruit of our bounty....the labor of our hands. I was not happy, and I am a bit unsure as to how we are going to keep this little thief away from the rest of our cantaloupes and watermelon. We always have trouble with the coons getting into our trash as well as our feed storage. We keep the feed in large trash cans lined up in the barn. As long as we keep the feed storage full, we are in good shape. The coon cannot tip the can over because it is too heavy. We still see his paw prints from trying. However, if the feed cans get too low then the coon can push the can over which allows the top to pop off, and he then has a meal or two. He does the same thing with our trash cans of garbage. It can be quite annoying.

I do not plan to do any canning today. I canned 7 more quarts of tomatoes yesterday. That brings us up to 34 quarts of tomatoes. The two other beds of tomatoes are still not ripe yet. I know they should be in the next week. I would have thought that they would already have turned, but we are still waiting and watching which is fine with me for now.

grace and peace,

julie