Gotcha!

I know it's not at all befitting for a farmer to be squeamish, but I am. At least when it comes to dead rodents. My dear husband joined me for "rodent patrol" in the hoop house Sunday morning. His job was to empty any full mouse traps we found. We just found one. I'm pretty sure it was the same mouse I saw yesterday -- beady-eyes and all.

I hope that mouse didn't tell his friends and family where he was getting all those delicious seeds. I reset the trap, just in case.

Thief!

A four-legged, beady-eyed, hungry, seed thief greeted me this afternoon as I was checking the newly potted-up tomatoes. It was a field mouse on top of a bench in the hoop house, a bench four foot off the ground! He scampered away when I yelled at him. I swear, he would have kept eating the newly seeded pepper and tomato seeds if I hadn't cursed loudly.

I looked around for more damage. Seems this little guy (or members of his family) like seeds. A quarter of the spinach that was seeded this week had been dug up and eaten.

I've booby-trapped the place. Mouse traps with tiny dabs of peanut butter are everywhere: on the benches and floor of the hoop house and around the outside of the house near little mouse-sized holes.

Last year the early-season rodent battle was with voles. They'd climb up on the benches and tear seedlings off at the soil line. Apparently they use the little green seedlings for nests. Mouse traps worked pretty well on them. I hope they work on field mice.