Corn Carnage

Last night, we decided our corn was ready to harvest. It was Sunday, though, and we thought it best to wait until today. A hour or so later, our backyard neighbors called us with news that a giant skunk and an enormous opossum were currently making their way towards our chickens. Skunks and opossums both love to eat live chickens in a bloody, piece-by-piece way. I ran outside to shut my ladies safely in the coop for the night (they had already gone to bed, I just had to shut the door). Mr. Stinky and Mr. Ugly ran off into the bushes.

Disaster averted, right? Not exactly. The chickens were safe all night, yes, but the next morning we discovered our entire corn crop had been decimated, trampled, torn apart, and eaten by one or more large animals. Squirrels did not do this:

 

I suspect Mr. Stinky and/or Mr. Ugly played their part here. I'm mad that they took our corn, but I don't blame them. This first growing season has been a learning experience. I knew about all of these potential dangers to crops and livestock, and I had planned several ways to avert each disaster, but I chose to do nothing about it until the danger became imminent/evident/pressing...disastrous. Pbbbsh. Too late.

(Will I sacrifice my first child to the world in the same naive way? Perish the thought.)

There is hope, though. One of the garden beds did get a mild form of protection early on. There are metal arches over the garden bed and I've draped some heavy-duty bird netting over the top and weighted it down along the sides. Strawberries, tomatoes, and eggplant await their fate inside. Each has begun to bear fruit, just starting to ripen:

Here's the next test. Will the bird netting be enough to keep squirrels at bay? Or will ripe strawberries and tomatoes prove too tempting? The netting doesn't stand a chance against skunks and opossums, should they decide to have a closer look. I don't have the energy to construct the predator-proof garden structures that I had planned for this year :( I've got the new chicken pen to work on, and then I think that's it. Energy gone. The garden will have to fend for itself.