Stubby the Squirrel Gets In On the Act

Corn feeding apparatus.

It's that time of year when the first harvest is just starting to come in and planting for a fall crop is in place. In trying to keep some semblance of control with the whole thing, I've found that there's been an interloper getting in on the act.

We've been putting out dried ears of corn on the squirrel bungee cord hanging on the front porch for our resident squirrel, Stubby (click here for the scoop on that story). We were wondering how one squirrel can go through so much corn. She's the only squirrel we've seen on the cob, and it gets replaced every couple of days with a fresh ear. Well, this spring came the answer, when corn plants started growing all over the planting beds, especially in the parking strip.We also have pumpkins growing everywhere and they look like sugar pumpkins which is fine with me. 

The three sisters, courtesy of Stubby.

The fact that the squash and pumpkin were planted among some peas I have growing wasn't lost on me. Stubby inadvertently completed the three sisters, a traditional way of crop planting by Southeast Native-Americans, although the legumes used were beans, not peas. The corn loves the nitrogen fixed by the peas and the squash shade the roots and keep the peas cool and the moisture in. The corn stalks closest to the peas are the tallest. The peas can grow up the corn. This fall it'll be succotash time. And pumpkin pie time too. Hopefully the corn is a kind that is edible by humans and hopefully the coons won't discover it first. Corn is coon candy. Of course Stubby gets a share. After all, it was her handy work.

I have to keep on top of the squirrel planted pumpkins in the blueberry beds. The leaves of the squash are prickly, difficult to work around and shade out the ripening blueberries. They also shade out the cranberry bushes as well, so I've had to make sure that any errant leaves get pruned off.

New corn coming up in the Camelia sink!

I'm surprised the corn even germinated after being dried and bagged for squirrel use. I wonder how many neighbors are growing (or not growing) corn as well.

This morning we just discovered a new batch of corn sprouting in the Camellia sink!