Gently, gently... (part 1)

Firstly, please join me in welcoming Wriggly Tin to our circle of friends.

I don't see a blog on wriggly Tin's profile, and I don't know where in the world you are, but "Welcome" :)  WT - I always acknowledge comments.  Maybe not on the same day, as I am dependent on our solar panels generating enough power for me to do so, but I will do so as soon as I'm able.

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When I started I pledged to myself that on this blog I would be completely and utterly honest.  Even if it cast me in a bad light.  It is only through being honest that lessons can be learnt - and not necessarily by all of you out there, wherever you are, but also lessons that I need to learn, heed and rectify.

With that said, I'm probably going to offend some people today.  To make it even worse, this posting is in the form of a part 1 and a part 2...

So, let me start by apologizing to those of you I do offend.  Please - this is my honesty and these are my thoughts, and my thought patterns only.  I do not mean to sound high and mighty - as though I'm talking down from a lofty position - I have made mistakes in my life - and a big one recently - which went against my ethics, and caused me sleepless nights.

Why?

Because I panicked and put down a small dose of mouse poison.  Just one.  And when I went out the next morning to move it, it was all gone.  But the guilt that that action caused I cannot begin to describe.  And the burden lingers.  Because it seriously went against our eco-friendly ethos.

Tanya from Lovely Greens left this comment on my "Antsy" posting:

"It's true that ants are part of the eco-system but do you think that their numbers are out of balance and need to be checked?" 

Tanya, you unknowingly hit a nerve.  Initially, I agreed with you.  But then I paused for thought, and realized that I - little me - I have absolutely no right on earth to have that opinion.

A couple of weeks ago I was working in the garden, seeing the results of the different plagues (flies, mice and ants - as well as the odd locust here and there) which have invaded our land, crops, and in some cases, our home.  Since my guilt inducing action I have given much thought to how I can gently "move them off" and away from "my" space.

But - there again - is it "my space"?

Our smallholding - as we first viewed it in
March 2008

Are we, in fact, not the interlopers?  Just because we used money to "buy" the land, and we proceeded to build a structure on it, does it give us more rights than the zillions of creatures and animals who called it home before we did?

We have, thanks to the scientists, some idea of how every living creature interacts to make this "Earth".  But we don't know everything.  And, an imbalance, in our terms, may be for a specific beneficial reason in "their" terms.  Such as a shortage of some insect food for a predator in the coming months - that this current over abundance could be a signal for them to stock up / lay down the fat layer whilst the going is good in order to see them through a forthcoming possible dry period or harsh winter? Why should we view the imbalance as just a sign that "our place" is overrun with something or other?  Why do we end up with the feeling of how inconvenient it is - for us.

Inconvenient?!!?  Us?

How selfish we humans - the supposed superior, educated, tool-using race - have become.

We have become a race of whimps.  Whenever we come across something that offends / displeases or annoys us, we immediately think of eradicating the source.  Who gave us the right to mess around with Earth, Mother Nature and the bio-diversity of creatures which inhabit it?

Why, and when, did we stop paying attention to Earth?  To all the lessons that she has historically, does currently and is still willing to teach us - if we are prepared to listen?  When did we become the all-knowing, superior beings?

I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason.  Especially negative things.  Like, in this instance, a plague of creatures / insects.

And if I take the time to figure it out, then I will understand and accept what I am finding offensive.  And how to gently find the balance.  With no, or, at worst, the least amount of harm.

For instance - the blame for the field mice can be laid fairly and squarely at my door.  I encouraged their closeness by providing them with far too many places for them to set up home and build the four enormous nests we found - one was even inside a 3/4 full bag of cement.

The arrow points to the bottom shadecloth corner
of my veggie patch - still lush with broad beans
which I had planted along the side. That pile
of wood became 5 - 6 times the size - perfect
as a mousy hiding spot. And the pile of cement,
once covered in plastic to protect it from
the rain, became an even nicer housing
estate

All the wood offcuts and scaffolding planks, which, for their convenience, the builders had left next to my shadecloth veggie house.  That was also where they stored the cement on pallets - all nicely wrapped in "gunplas" (builders plastic).  And the leftover pile of bricks which I got our casual labourer to stack on pallets again - right next to our garage?!

They were all perfect spots for a cold, wet and hungry field mouse to look on favourably.  Especially as they were all situated right next to my shadecloth veggie patch - I had even stocked the larder for them LOL  And encouraged snakes to venture close to the house as there were so very many mice for it to eat.

The ants - when we dug the holes and planted the fruit trees, and turned the earth to add compost to create a vegetable patch, we disturbed the soil in which they had their homes.  And we also provided them with their own larder - I mean, as an ant, wouldn't you prefer to chew on baby corn, or tender young lemon and fruit tree shoots, instead of the renosterbos and grass diet they had had for who knows how many years?

Through gently steering them (whatever or whoever they are) back to their natural habitat and source of nutrition - by discouraging them with sticky paper, or through removing the comfortable housing estate, which I provided, whilst regretfully allowing for a minimum sacrifice in their numbers - surely that is a better option than trying to drastically eradicate them in entirety????

Our precious, irreplaceable Home

Is our over reaction and need of instant eradication / gratification of what is actually an easily, in the grand scheme of things, controllable number of pests, not a strong indication and wake-up call that we are not heeding the fact that we are also causing this gentle slumbering giant we call Earth, ill health through our actions and thoughtlessness?  That Mother Earth is adequately showing us that we, through being greedy, careless, self-absorbed, completely selfish and gloatingly "superior", have caused her a possibly fatal ailment?  When are we going to wake-up and realize that our rushed, impulsive, irresponsible actions are having far reaching consequences for our planet...?  Consequences which we are leaving how ever many future generations there are still be be living on this planet, to sort out.

All because we feel we have a right - for an instant solution to our crop problems or lack of crops.  Are we any better than those to powerful corporations who seek to encourage us to plant and grow their genetically modified seeds?  Those seeds which have been developed to deter this pest, or that disease?

I'm feeling humbled, ashamed and embarrassed.  And thankful for the lesson.

And, since moving the wood piles, the gunplas covered cement and generally tidying up all the clutter, the mouse problem is down to one solitary mouse - as far as I can see.  Plus, in the last couple of weeks, every evening I am rewarded with the sight of not one, but two, small owls who swoop round our house and delight on perching on our roof apex - obviously spying out their next meal.  I am incredibly thankful that I did them no harm.