What's This Hole in the Compost Pile?

    Sorry for the rather confusing photo, but see the large dark area in the lower half of the picture?  I noticed it when I was emptying our vegetable scraps onto the compost pile.  That dark area is a hole about a foot (30cm) deep.  Obviously something had been digging in our compost pile.  I knew immediately who the culprit was:  a bear.

    This time of year the bears are on a feeding frenzy.  They have to really load up on food to get them through their months of hibernation during the winter.  I guess the bear found some appetizing things deep in the compost that helped satisfy its needs.

    Compost piles should be periodically turned over, so that all the bits get composted.  It is something I never do, but should.   Pete, our local gardening guru once told me that he always buries his fresh garbage under the surface of the compost pile.  Then when the bears come around, they do the turning-over of the compost for him.  

    It seems all of the animals like our compost pile.  I had to put a wire fence around it to keep Ginger, our neighbor’s dog, out of the pile.  (Obviously, the fence didn’t slow down the bear at all.)  Every day in the winter when I throw our vegetable scraps on the pile, they are always gone by the following morning; eaten by the deer.  

    The compost pile does build up during the summer, when the deer find better things to eat.  Only the odd raven and a lot of insects visit it, but as you can see, the pile does start to become an attraction, once autumn arrives.  

    I don’t mind the wildlife dining on the compost, even though authorities tell you not to feed them.  I don’t feed them, they feed themselves overnight.   

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Seasonal Changeover

     After a longer, drier, and hotter than usual summer, we suddenly find ourselves in fall.  Things have certainly changed, with the advent of cooler and wetter weather.  This change has me removing all of the summer things in preparation for winter.

    Since forest fires are no longer a threat, the photo shows me unscrewing the hose of one of the outside building sprayers, that gave me a small bit of hope during fire season.  This year I put up five of the sprayers; four on our house and one on my shop.

    Yesterday, I moved all of the lawn furniture off of our “lanai”, which changed it back to a carport, since I don’t think we will be spending much time sitting outside until next spring.

    Today is the day BC drivers have to have changed over from summer tires on their vehicles, to winter tires.  I had mine done two weeks ago.  Winter tires are not just for traveling on ice and snow; they also give better grip on the pavement when temperatures get colder than 7°C   (45°F) because they are made with softer rubber.

    Other things that I need to do before winter hits is dig all of the potatoes, clean out the greenhouse and garden, and plant the garlic.   I can then put the rototiller and all of the garden tools away and get out the snowblower and snow shovels.

    Luckily, last winter was so mild, that I didn’t really have to cut more firewood, because I had so much left over from last winter.  

    At present, the leaves of the deciduous trees are beginning to yellow, and so we can enjoy the color before the grays and whites of winter take over.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca