The Culprit
No, not Aunty Del she is still a good wee heifer. Still not sure if she is pregnant though.
No, yesterday morning I had a full tray of broccoli seedlings. Megan noted that they were all coming up when she watered them in the glass house in the morning. By yesterday afternoon there were only a couple left. And here is the culprit.
Sorry his face was out of focus but he was shaking his head as he chewed on the last broccoli saying “Not me I did not eat it, I don’t even like vegetables.” Lying Insect.
We worked hard yesterday too. Hugo mowed acres of grass here and across the way. I trimmed under all the electric fences and Megan gardened and cooked and managed her chores with ease.
Then we rested – we are very good at resting. And eating. These two teenagers are very good at eating.
Poppy got into the weeds and her tail is now a mess of burrs. Hateful things. I am going to have to get someone to help me by rubbing her belly to get her to lie down so that I can cut them out. Her horses tail was so long and pretty too, but I will have to cut them out – tail and all.
Poor Poppy but as you know there are no fences as far as Hop and Pop goes. She gets into everything.
We had finished the milking yesterday evening and I was just about to pour the milk into the house jugs and I was saying to John “…Oh no, we had a good day – no-0ne escaped.” when into the milking shed walked Poppy. I had let her out just before the milking for a graze – sigh. “Spoke too soon.” I said, as I quickly lifted the buckets out of her reach. When she is in heat she will not be allowed out of her backyard though. She just goes under the fences from any the field. This is just her way, I don’t mind really. The cows don’t care.
She always comes when I call – galloping, her ears flying out behind her.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love,
celi
37 Comments on “The Culprit”
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Greedy insect, How dare he eat all the seedlings. Missus Poppy is a real adventurer. I am glad I am not the one detailed to brush and clean her tail.
Poor Poppy. Must be the season of the burr. In Michigan this time of year, if you take your dog for an hour-long walk on the beach you’ll spend another 30 minutes, at least, getting the burrs of its legs and underbelly. You’ve really had some awful luck with the veg garden this year. Are you going to attempt another planting of broccoli?
veggivore insects
houdini-esque pigs
hungry teenagers
What a team!
inspired by that picture of poor Poppy’s tail!
love,
ViV xox
Don’t tell the others, but I think Hop and Pop is my favourite! Such a sassy lass 🙂
Maybe you won’t have to cut her horse tail. When burrs get stuck in wool, they slide out easily when you wash the wool. Maybe some warm water and a little soap would work for pig tails too :-).
Or maybe massage a little baby oil through? Then you could wash the baby oil out after you get all the burrs out.
Wish that would work with clothing – I am doomed if they get into my clothes.. it itches forever! c
The oil or petroleum jelly will work wonders on the burrs, I just had to dunk Otis goat’s beard in oil, it was a solid mass. This time of year I make sure to keep all manes and tails coated in hair polish (LaserSheen or EquiShine or something similar). Chicago John this works on dogs too, the burdocks slide right out. I agree, it seems once they’re in your clothes you can feel them ever after.
thank you I will try that!
Miss Poppy’s rear end took be aback for a moment there, until I really figured out that those were burrs on her BACK as well. I was going to question your choice of photo topics Miss C…rather indelicate I thought, at first glance…That is what I get for skimming pictures to get to words, although I always go back to each picture and take in every detail 🙂
Me, too. Second glance produced clarity. Love, Gayle
Yes, that hateful insect looks very familiar. He has eaten all the flowers on my baby avocado tree, he has eaten my zucchini, my sage, my bok choi, my silverbeet, my English spinach, my capsicum plants and had a go at the basil before he decided the flavour was too strong… They are the length of my palm, some of them, too much for the frogs, geckos and praying mantises. So we must suffer them too. Poor Poppy, her tail looks like a rather sinister spiked club, all the better to give you a good rap on the shins, Miss C.
The chooks love them!
Unfortunately, the chooks will not be allowed in my vegetable garden…. But they’ll certainly keep the overall population down!
Oh, no – a plague of grasshoppers.
Did you know that there is a high school for agricultural sciences in Chicago? Our garden club visited it yesterday and I was blown away by this urban high school and what they are learning. I wrote a bit about it on my blog, but, you might want to see their website at http://www.chicagoagr.org .
Thank you! Always wanted to visit!
On Poppy’s tail you could try using oil (whatever type you feel is appropriate). Sometimes you can slide them right out although you do have an oily animal. Hair shampoo or conditioner might work too. Hate grasshoppers with a passion, creepy little destruction machines that they are. This morning I had a praying mantis ride to school with us in the vehicle, he stayed at school to become educated. This morning at sunrise the light here was almost a lavender color and I wondered if you had the same unusual sunrise and if you got a photo of it. Then later a flock of Canadian geese flew over. They were flying very low and of course I didn’t have my camera. I swear all wild geese know exactly when I don’t have my camera handy and like to taunt me by presenting great photo ops. I’ve been trying for years to get a good picture of geese in flight. You know one where you can see the details on the goose and not just specks in the sky. I figured they were local geese but I realized they were in a V formation and very vocal. The locals just kind of fly in a scraggly bunch with minimal honking so I am wondering if this is another early winter sign,
AWWWW poor Poppy…..
Oh my goodness! To be able to still grow veggies from seed to harvest at this late date? Heaven!
Poor Poppy! That tail looks to be a mess. 🙂
Like Deb, when I first saw the shot of poor Poppy’s back end, I wondered about the delicacy, or lack thereof, of the photo… but then reading the text filled me in… lol When we lived in a rural setting we had a Rough Collie (Lassie type), those really elegant, proud, long-haired beauties. Of course, I spent hours and hours combing the burrs out of his beautiful attire. And you’re right, the itch from one tiny little left-over bit is enough to drive one to distraction. Wouldn’t using oils attract any number of vermin?
Speaking of vermin, those grasshoppers are voracious little devils, aren’t they… so sorry about your broccoli.
The vision of that porcine mass galloping toward me with ears flying out behind is amusing… till she gets too close then I think I’d likely run for cover. heh heh
Hungry teenagers, hungry grasshoppers and always hungry piggies… ah, the life of the farmer… Hope you have a lovely day too ~ Mame 🙂
If the hair is left too oily you can hit it with shampoo, work it in and then get it wet with water and rinse everything out. (Can you tell we have a lot of burrs around here?)
Barrett’s, my kids (when little) used to call the cockleburs barrett’s. Tee Hee
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
My money was on Geraldine. Sorry, Geraldine, for falsely accusing you!
Poor plants and Oh Poppy – Ouchie – burrs are nasty buggers! My cat growing up was a long-haired tabby and once we moved out the farm she was shaved multiple times over the years due to burrs. We got to the point where we would shave her mid to late June into mid September. Otherwise she would lick her tongue raw trying to remove the burrs.
Happy Day – Enjoy 🙂
You should have grabbed that overgrown grasshopper and all his brethren and served them up for supper. That way the broccoli wouldn’t have gone to waste.
A bit of wild honey to go with it would have made a biblical feast.
Did you manage to stomp on that bug? Oh dear Celi .. They didn’t even make the garden. Shame
I know – nothing for it really – and I am out of seeds – they are nowhere to be found once mid-summer hits here – you have to get them on the internet
Wish I could send you a bundle! NZ seeds of course 😄
You caught him read-handed with your camara, that culprit! Isn’t that impertinent what he was doing to you? – Did you murder the murderer of your brocoli?
Funny Poppy-tail! Poor her. But makes you a lot of additional work. Oh, and flying ears! – What a girl…
My MIL ruthlessly dispatches grasshoppers with the secateurs… before I can grab them for relocation. I guess I’m not a gardener yet.
That’ll come at TA, once you discover the little buggers munching their way through your tender greens and eating the new leaf tips out of your plants and trees. I trust you’re going to keep chooks? Grab, and deliver them up to the Girls, who will greet you with cries of joy and fight for the delicacy. We have just too many. I tried, but in this hot dry weather, it has reached biblical proportions and I can no longer waste my energy picking them out of the vegie garden and plants every day…
Eventually we’ll do a risk benefit analysis and consider chooks 🙂
During my five-odd years visiting blogs I have had a WordPress problem only once and that with my rather large blogroll. Now for the third day the ‘farmy’ post is not in my box mornings . . . yes, have resubscribed twice with no results: I may be on a ‘blog holiday’ but would still love to have a quick read when possible 🙂 ! Has anyone else suffered from the same fate? All my others seem to be arriving . . . . . With my seedlings it is usually a matter of snails and slugs: slimy things . . .
What will Boo do when “his” young man goes home? Those two appear to be inseparable. Poppy is such a free spirit! Ornery grasshopper!
Poor little Poppy.
In Mexico they eat crickets with garlic, chilli and lime – they are delicious 😉