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.
View my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
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