The monarchs have been the only major migration to move through our yard in these fading days of autumn, one calm day brought over a dozen to feed on the verbenas that dot the vegetable garden, but it passed quickly and we are back to being a butterfly desert just like we were all summer. It’s still too early for the lines of geese to cross the sky as they dodge freezing weather further north and head to the warmer waters of the south….. but I guess it’s the perfect time for young groundhogs (or woodchucks) to scurry on off and find new territories to invade and set up camp in as they hunker down for their winter sleep. Cole crops seem to make a perfect pre-hibernation snack for a traveling brush hog.
However cute this guy might be I do not want him setting up shop in the yard permanently. In the old neighborhood there were enough shotguns around to take care of this, but up here it’s a different story. Fencing him out will likely be an expensive, futile effort so I imagine a trap will be in order for spring. In any case it looks like I can put away that rotkohl recipe, these cabbage and cauliflower leftovers will only end up feeding the compost pile.
sorta like suburbia 
I’m eternally grateful that there are no woodchucks on the Island…your poor cabbages! 😦
I know! I can’t believe how destructive they can be, not just the eating, but their fat little bodies flatten and crush everything in their path. (no pumpkin patch this weekend, they went fishing with their cousin this morning and bowling yesterday… we’ll see what time they get back!)
What a shame you won’t get to try those cabbages. I bet that woodchuck got a tummy ache after eating all that! Glad we don’t get them here…
They are quite the little monsters in the garden. I hope it’s planning to move on once the cabbages are all gone….. a smart person would pull them up and put them on the compost, at least then the picnic table would be empty 🙂
Crikey! How awful, you have all my sympathy. My Rudolf seems harmless compared to this. One electric wire might do the trick and is not that expensive.
That is a really good idea! I might even consider it for next year’s bunny control, rather than the wire fence that always seems to be in my way. I remember looking at them over the summer and realizing they weren’t as complicated or expensive as I thought.
I’m glad that’s one pest I don’t have here, but there is always something! Sorry you’ll miss out on those great looking cabbages.
Easy come easy go 😉
You’re right though, if it’s not one thing it’s another, if it’s not varmints it’s bugs if it’s not bugs it’s weather…..
It looks like he brought the family to dinner. That is quite the damage. Our neighborhood was overrun with rabbits and a neighbor called in trappers. The bunnies have not been seen this year. I hope they were not dinner themselves.
Such is the way for bunnies… dining one day dinner the next. I try to not get too mad at them since they seem to be on everyone’s menu… but deer and groundhogs, those are two I have no tolerance for!
I have a wood chuck problem, but the have=a=heart-trap worked well. I try to keep my compost pile interesting to lure them away from the garden, but not always successful with that!
Sorry to hear…. I think I’ll have to hunt down a trap over the winter. There’s been no more damage but I suspect my little buddy is tucked in nearby dreaming of spring gardens and winter frosted brussel sprouts.