Of Foxes and Lavender

July 5, 2020:

Writing about the fox has been on my list since the first weekend of June, and lo and behold here he or she obligingly appears in the humid haze of a 90 degree day. I have Andrew to thank for this picture. As we were just starting Sunday breakfast, he saw the fox. He was moving at a quick clip and this was the only shot I got with the Canon camera. Andrew's summer project is in the foreground.

With the hay cut, we can see the fox easily and from a distance. I think the cut grass also helps him hunt mice but he also hunts mice in the lavender. The fox is more hurt than help in the lavender though as I have plenty of mice tunnels beneath some of my plants (and will have to put poison out soon, loathe as I am to do it.)

His main offense is this:

What you see is a lavender planted 6 days earlier, replanted after the fox dug up this and 8 others!

On the Sunday I planted I idly wondered if the fox would be by to investigate the smell of fresh dug dirt. I checked every morning the entire week and thought I was as they say, out of the woods. Then Saturday afternoon while doing other things, I swung by the lavender and found one, then another, and another and so on, dug up, the good soil scattered among the gravel and the plants exposed to on of the very first hot day of the season.

I did not stop to take pictures for the blog, but replanted them and watered them as quickly as I could. Keep in mind they are supposed to look like this:

I lost 4 of the 8 casualties of a curious fox. That evening I checked on the ground sparrow nest to find the nest empty of shell and fledglings.  Dad says a fox certainly would have picked up the sent of freshly hatched young or at least the mother, and followed his nose to eggs or babies, That really burned me up. Yes a fox has to eat and he has a million mice in the hay field. But eggs in a nest is an easy meal. To add further insult to injury I found a fresh fox scat in the lavender too.

To read about further adventures with the foxes in our neighborhood with even better photography, you can go https://scordatos.blogspot.com/2012/05/and-foxes.html
and  https://scordatos.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-fox-eats-rabbit-and-then-tries-to.html

and https://scordatos.blogspot.com/2012/08/at-home-with-mr-fox-and-other-wildlife.html

In other lavender news, the babies given to me by my green thumb friend moved from here...

...to here. So far I've lost two to probably over watering, but the rest are going on three inches tall.

Weeding is on going.

And the harvest began around Father's Day. Here is a shot of a baby planted last year.

And what it looks like cut and trimmed to encourage new growth.

An older plant ready for harvest

And some of the English lavender cut. Someday I hope to have people over to see it as an open house and cut some of their own, but this year was not the year. I reached 50 bundles, but there are years where I've had 170 bundles so...

In a future blog post, I will share with you my adventures in trying to propagate lavender from cuttings which is a tricky business for a beginner. Below are some pictures of my beloved 9 year old Marge Clarks, who came back after two awful winters, and can come back no longer I think. I actually took cuttings from some younger Marge Clarks, that are not faring so well either.

About a week after the replanting of the fox's damage, I was walking Tutu in the morning to her usual morning business place. It was cool and sunny, and the hay had not yet been cut. The tall grass waved in the wind and you could even hear it. Not like an ocean wave I'm sure, but an Ohio wave if you will. Anyway, the tops of the grass were golden and green, and if you look above the fence post you will see two leafless limbs close together. When I was with Tutu, I saw, in between those two limbs the tawny red head and ears of the fox. I could see the edge of his red fur floating in the breeze,  I assumed he was watching us and I was torn between looking away as to not spook him, but also unable to look away. If I had had my Canon, it would have probably been one of the best pictures of my life. But it's impractical to tote a large Canon camera with a zoom lens out and about with an 18 lb terrier wanted to chase every winged creature in the yard. I was grateful Tutu didn't notice our destructive neighbor and I hustled her back into the house as quickly as I could.

When I came back out with the Canon, he was gone of course.

In the previous post I mentioned pruning lavender. The picture and video below is from a different night. I'm not letting the chickens out because one, the fox, and two the grapes are now starting to develop and the chickens are not above eating unripe grapes. So their bug filled vegetation is imported . I try to tell the girls they are getting room service, but they want OUT.

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I have so much content lined up for you, readers. We have Andrew's day trip to Coshocton, I have an update on the Killdeer family. There is the lavender cutting project and some other houseplant changes. Also another sprawling garden post. New blooms and the start of fruits and veggies seem to be appearing everyday. This week my attention will be focused on picking, washing and freezing black raspberries. I always dream of getting 20 lbs but often have to be content with 11 to 14 pounds. Maybe this will be the year...




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