Rat in my garden!

[livinonfaith]

I went out last night to pick some sugar snaps for dinner, after using great restraint by staying away from them for three whole days.
(Okay, I had nibbled a few while working, but not too many)

But, wait? Where were all of the sugar snaps? There were only about half of what I had expected. Someone had eaten a bunch of my Peas!

I had a rat in my garden! A fourteen year old, garden hating (but pea loving), thieving Rat!

My son had been mowing the lawn and stopped to consume half of the peas, some basil, lettuce, and some mint, even though he swears up and down that my garden is a horrible waste of time and he doesn't know why I grow one.

Part of me was irritated, but part of me was pleased as punch. Part of me thinks that someday this fourteen year old garden hating, pea stealing rat will be out in HIS back yard planting his own garden. (Hopefully for his own pea stealing rats.)

I suspect a lot of gardeners start off as garden thieves.

[Rockporter]

I love it, you gave me a great laugh, and I guess you could say I was a garden theif when I was kid.

[checkerkitty]

I thought you meant a rat, rat. Too funny!

[kurt]

My older brother married a German farmers daughter .He got a dowry of land in Bavaria(they still do it)Went to visit one year and we were laughing about the times when him and I used to raid farms when we were younger.Then the girl my brother married laughed and explained to us the farmers have thier own tricks to fool us garden thieves.Most cornfeilds have livestock corn growing next to roads where people want to jump out and sneak some ears.Most apples on outside are the crabapples not the sweets.We wondered why they always planted rose bushes under the cherry trees and along fence lines.Now we know why we always complained about how lousy the produce was!Go figure.

[livinonfaith]

Originally Posted by checkerkitty

I thought you meant a rat, rat. Too funny!

I do love him dearly. But fourteen year olds are a breed unto themselves.

I can't complain, though. He's really a good kid. He mowed the yard and it looks great! Best it's looked in a long time.

(Course, that could be because when the guy just fixed my mower he found out that my neighbor had put my mower blades on upside down!)

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

I do love him dearly. But fourteen year olds are a breed unto themselves.

I can't complain, though. He's really a good kid. He mowed the yard and it looks great! Best it's looked in a long time.

(Course, that could be because when the guy just fixed my mower he found out that my neighbor had put my mower blades on upside down!)

Teenage boys are a bit like helmet heads. With a little bit of patience you can get them (and yourself) through it. Of course I was never like that

Upside down? That's an interesting approach ...

[aero83]

My little rat is 14, but 14 months instead. She has been picking cherry tomatoes that aren't fully ripe and trying to eat them. She loves the sungold.

[Duets]

Those thieves, lol.............the kids in the neighborhood rogued my strawberries a few weeks ago, I know just how you feel.

[livinonfaith]

Originally Posted by kurt

My older brother married a German farmers daughter .He got a dowry of land in Bavaria(they still do it)Went to visit one year and we were laughing about the times when him and I used to raid farms when we were younger.Then the girl my brother married laughed and explained to us the farmers have thier own tricks to fool us garden thieves.Most cornfeilds have livestock corn growing next to roads where people want to jump out and sneak some ears.Most apples on outside are the crabapples not the sweets.We wondered why they always planted rose bushes under the cherry trees and along fence lines.Now we know why we always complained about how lousy the produce was!Go figure.

Kurt, how funny! Although even livestock corn could be good straight off the cob! (My son would certainly eat it. He likes raw corn.) And I know my maternal Grandmother made a really good jelly and pickles out of crabapples. (They have lots of pectin, so it sets really well. It just needs lots of sugar.)

I guess our family is just too fond of fruits and vegetables for those techniques to work well. (Fortunately, we grow our own, so we don't have to steal it.)