Port Potager

We have wild turkeys visit the garden from time to time , but this year is much more interesting: That’s a pair of females, but they’re not alone! Between them they have 11 little poults that follow them around, just like ducklings imprint on their mothers and travel in a line: When they saw me, the mothers hopped up on the fence. The poults soon followed: When the little ones jumped up, they had to work a lot harder to get air, and plenty of dust flew out of their wings. It turns out that our garden is their preferred neighborhood spot for dust baths: If you look closely, you can see five or six little hollows where the babies were getting a dust bath. The chickens do this too — they wallow in the dirt and spread it over their feathers, working it in like dry shampoo .  This turkey group has got things pretty well together now, but about a week ago Kirk and I saw one of the mothers and her half dozen poults crossing the street at the hospital. Th...

We must not think that the Turk[ey] is so unskillful To leave that latest which concerns him first... ~Othello, Act 1, scene 3 Yesterday we spent the first day of summer vacation having family fun in Boston. Little did we know that while we were living it up, the same was happening in our garden: This used to be our nicest, biggest head of broccoli. It was about a day or two from picking. Here's another, which has a few nubs of broccoli left ungnawed. How thoughtful. Broccoli eaten whole: 19. Broccoli eaten partially: 4. Broccoli left unscathed: 4.  Also, a whole cabbage here was mowed down. The bright side on this one is that we still have at least a dozen left, unharmed. The leftover leaves on this one went right to the chickens, so I suppose that's another glimmer of a silver lining as well. Carrot tops: chewed. I don't think this will spell the end of the carrots. Lots of leaves are left, so they will likely be slowed down as t...

I was just outside with Tiegan picking salad for supper. She went inside with the bowl of greens, and I looked up from the herb patch where I was picking some springs of mint to garnish the salad — an excellent springtime flavor, by the way. I look up, and through the driveway gate walks a big wild tom turkey. He was absolutely enormous — easily as tall as Jonas, and twice as big around. And heading right towards me. I am not afraid of animals, but this isn't a German shepherd. Wild turkeys are mean. Every fall we are treated to stories about them taking over Cape Cod neighborhoods, attacking postal workers, and generally going berserk in revenge for, you know, Thanksgiving. This (hilarious) video gives you a feel for what it's like when one is coming towards you: Anyway, I backed away from it pretty fast while simultaneously calling Tiegan to come to the kitchen door and see. But just as I was about to scoot around the berry beds to the side, I came face to face wi...