Tuesday 5 February 2019

Compost Visitor


    This morning the temperature was -35C (-31F), way too cold for my liking.
    A couple of afternoons ago I decided I should take the garbage out to the compost pile while it was light and relatively mild.  I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, I had my eyes peeled to my feet as I was navigating my way through the deep snow.  When I did happen to glance up to my surprise I discovered that fifteen feet (4 meters) in front of me stood a mule deer, also heading for the compost pile.  
    As it stood there like a statue, I just slowly continued onward.  I proceeded to dump the scrap veggies onto the snow covered pile and then decided to just walk over to the greenhouse and stand to see if the deer would brave coming over to the compost with me standing just 10 feet (3 meters) away.  The deer was eager for the food so it slowly and warily approached the pile and began to eat.  I slowly raised my camera and took the photo.
    I always wonder about the wildlife when the winter conditions are so harsh.  The snow is 2 feet deep with some hard icy layers, which limits the availability of food, and the weather has been abnormally cold.  It’s amazing how tough animals have to be to get through the winter.


You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant.ca

1 comment:

  1. Looks like the deer is making good use of your cast-offs.

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