OK. I’m a softy. I feed birds and early this spring I thought it would be nice to throw some peanuts to the baby squirrels that were in the rose garden in front of my porch.
On my porch were two planters with palm seedlings I was trying to root in some sandy loam. The squirrels have matured into rascals who have associated my tie-dyed self with peanuts.
Three months ago, I noticed the palms were being choked out by plants I had never seen before.
Truth be told, I thought the emerging plants were “interesting “so I began nurturing them in their two planters. Being a curious gardener, I took a long look at the emerging leaves and mused “hmm, maybe some sort of wild pea.”
In the fullness of time the plants bushed out, producing flowers that bore an even stronger resemblance to those of pea plants. After four months I had become intellectually attached to the plants but still had not figured out what kind of weed I was growing on my porch.
I finally figured out what the plants were when I noticed it was sending root like spikes into the ground.
So, early this week I pulled the dying bushes from their container and began drying about three pounds of home grown peanuts in my garage. My local squirrels give my efforts two tails up.
It just goes to show: sometimes Mother Nature uses burrowing rodents to make you humble, and sometimes she uses them to teach you something useful that also makes you smile.
Another lesson learned just to the right of the intersection of urban and wild California.—Jim “the Accidental Farmer” Forbes on 08/05/2012/
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