Last night I let Hondo out for his last runaround while I shut in the chickens for the night. And again, when I called him to come in, here comes the fox, right behind him! I walked out into the driveway to meet them, thinking the fox would run. Nope. It came up to within 20 feet of me, stopped, barked once, then dashed off to the side. I went in and called Will out, figuring it would come again, like it did the last time. Yep. I called Hondo, and here comes the fox again. I told Hondo to “get ‘im” and he ran toward the fox, but not aggressively. They went to the trail that goes down to the barn. The fox hopped up on the big rock at the corner while Hondo went and peed on a tree. There was some more barking and we went in. That’s the strangest thing. We think maybe it’s a female fox who has pups and maybe figures making friends with Hondo would be better than having him go after her pups. Who knows?
It’s warming up so nicely right now. I switched to shorts today, as that really helps my knees as when I wear jeans, they rub on my knees when I bend, sit or crouch down. I’m not a shorts gal, but less pain is sure good. Today, the seed packing crew, Sherri and Dara, are here, packing more seeds. After the PBS video, Making it up North, we’ve been getting a lot of orders. Will’s big Kubota tractor is almost paid off. What a huge blessing and relief that is!
This afternoon, I’m going to take the riding lawn mower over to the Wolf Garden and mow the spent corn stalks, bean plants, and weeds in preparation for tilling. I want to get the tomato cages and stakes pulled from the rows closest to the north fence so I can till there and get the asparagus roots planted that came so early. The frost is going down in the ground now, and the top foot is pretty frost clear. With daytime temps above 50 degrees F, that frost should melt very fast with sunshine too. Hooray!
— Jackie
Foxes. Here at our house in far north California, husband and I were standing a few yards from hen house broad daylight. Fox trots up to hen house six foot tall chain-link fence, scales it, and stands on top. We shoo it away. Couple minutes later here it came again! Brazen!!
Another thought on the fox
Its possible someone reared it as a ‘pet’ and then dumped it.
Fox and Hondo What a cute story. Sure hope you right about the‘getting friendly to keep Hondo from pup’ not so fox can raid poultry and be’ a friend’ had a dead doe in our field this morning. Herds are not the healthiest as were due to newcomer’s‘feeding them rich bags of livestock feed ‘they so cute and hungry’ Hauled her out to feed the wild critters tonight. Everyone stock n poultry safe to night.Ever tried knee guards to protect them from friction and the kneeling garden work requires. Enjoy the short s weather!
I can’t even kneel on the bed for the pain. If I got down, they’d have to get a tractor to get me up! We feed the deer but only feed them small amounts at a time. Just dumping out a sack of corn or “deer feed” is a sure death sentence to them. Just like cows and goats, deer quickly bloat after eating so much rich feed….and die.
I’m sure if the fox got in the chicken yard, Hondo would quickly protect them. He even attacked a hawk that had flown in and grabbed a hen. The hawk flew off and the hen got up, ruffled her feathers and ran off, unharmed.
Jackie, I’m so sorry for the knee pain. Gardeners are a kneeling work. Glad you have the golf cart! Sure helps you!.
I hada red fox when I was growing up. His name was Impy because he was an imp. His favorite pass time was hiding behind the cellar door so he could scare the meter man. Got him on Easter Sunday as a whelp/pup. Broken front leg. Being of native American decent my mother set the leg and he was with us for 5 years when someone stole him from our backyard. He never bothered our chickens or even the wild birds. But I think thats because of how he was raised.
I wish I could grow the 50 x90 foot garden like I used to but I’m walker bound and can only do so much row work and I’ve had enough summer or spring hospital and nursing home trips to leave the weed load so bad it needs a fallow year with several tilling so I’m trying to make the most of my 12 by 24 green house and two 12 by 24 hoop ! All we can do is the best we can. I have never had a problem with foxes but last I had to shoot two black bears that wrecked my chicken house and finally thought to put electric fence around it! Good growing!
You’re so right; you can only do the best you can. No more. Yep, weeds sure can take over. We had a new-to-us weed, Galant Soldier, take over most of the Main Garden last year. We’d never even seen it anywhere before! Weeding didn’t help. The hoop houses even got it. They were hand weeded thoroughly three times, and it was still a problem, come harvest! This year, it’ll remain fallow and I’ll till the ever lovin’ bejesus out of it all summer. Hopefully, it’ll be better next year.
I used to love foxes. They’re so beautiful! But not anymore. At different times they have cleaned out our whole chicken house, eaten our turkeys, eaten many of our guineas, eaten numerous broody birds, always when the eggs are about to hatch. Electric fences mean nothing to them, and they don’t care about time of day or night. One pooped a whole pile of tapeworms in our front yard. Gross! Oh, and don’t bother trying to trap them! They are definitely not on my happy list anymore…
I can sure understand that. I’ve had to trap foxes that got into our chickens and turkeys in the past. Yep, they’re hard to trap but long ago, when I was young, I did some trapping and learned a few tricks. Now our chickens and turkeys are behind a 6′ high 2″x4″ welded wire fence. If something is behaving itself and not bothering our critters, we leave them alone. After all, we moved into their “backyard”.
Our weather’s been crazy too. Two nights ago, it was 15 degrees F and yesterday it was 74. We sure enjoyed being outside yesterday and are doing it again today, cleaning up the fall mess and getting ready to till for the first time.
Cauliflower at the Walmart store is 3.66! Fall planting for sure!
Good grief!
I thought of you having the 2 years supply of food all canned, yep! We are all going to need extra!
I’m glad about Hondo and the fox friend!
I know we’re planting extra this spring. Not only for us but for friends and neighbors, when needed.
That green garden sure does look good! The wind was really chilly yesterday! Only 50° after about a week in the low 80°!
Got 50 tomatoes seeds up and putting on the 2 little permanent leaves!
Have planted Bell peppers today – seeds hopefully all 18 will come up.
Take care.