I feel a bit like Charlie Brown. Every year I lose a fight with a ruthless local predator. And every summer, I vow that this year will be different, I’m going to find a way to win. Maybe this will be the year.

We’ve lived at Rohan Farm for eighteen years now. Predators are a part of the environment, and we deal with them on a regular basis. Bear, coyotes, snakes, a bobcat, skunks, foxes, deer….we have them all, and have had incidents with all of them. We have: trash-proofed our garage against the bear; put the cats in at night so the coyotes can’t get them; filled in holes under the barn to prevent skunk from returning; shot and killed a rabid fox; and “deer proofed” the gardens as much as is possible. Also, as most of you know, I was bitten by a copperhead, although we believe we killed it a couple of months later.  

There’s one predator that continues to thwart us, despite our best efforts – The viscous and wily Eastern Gray Squirrel.

We, and apparently the squirrels, own a plum tree. It’s not very big and to be honest, it doesn’t look particularly happy where it is. It’s in semi-shade, and would probably prefer full sun. Some years there’s little or no fruit. Other years there’s a bit more. The tree is trying to do it’s best, but nature seems to conspire against it.

Well actually, nature, and the local squirrels. In eighteen years, I think I have eaten one actual ripe plum from the tree. When we first moved here, I noticed fruit on the tree, but would wake up one day in late summer and the fruit had vanished. It took me a couple of years to notice the squirrels scampering around with plums in their mouths.

So, I tried to get smarter. As the fruit was getting bigger, I’d pluck a plum and try it, so I would know how long to wait to pick the rest for optimal ripeness. But it turned out the squirrels were doing the same thing. I’d see wasted plums under the tree on the ground with little squirrel bites. They were plum connoisseurs and the plums weren’t ripe enough for them either…. until they were ripe enough, and whoosh – all of the fruit would vanish, typically about a day or two before I was going to pick it.  

This has been going on for years. When I was working full time, it was almost impossible to get my timing ahead of theirs. I mean, this had to be a multigenerational thing – most squirrels only live two to three years, which means there have been 6 or 8 generations of squirrels outwitting me.

This year is going to be different though. The tree seems to be doing better, and I don’t know if it’s the weather, the tree getting older, or global warming, but there’s actually quite a bit of fruit on the branches. Carmen seems to be doing a good job of chasing off errant squirrels in the yard. And, I’m investigating netting. Anti-squirrel netting to be exact. It turns out I’m not alone with this problem and there is a lot of info on the web. Also, a lot of strange people seem fixated on squirrels, including one website that says squirrels are planning to take over the world… 

I’m not that strange.    Really.    My goal by the end of the summer, is to enjoy the best tasting plums around…no matter the cost.

Wait a minute, here’s another website that says squirrels eat netting…..hmmmm……