The Living Landscape: The fox in the garden
LAKEPORT, Calif. – I've been a fan of vegetable gardening since I was a kid when I marveled at the plump, red juiciness of my mom's homegrown tomatoes grown under the kitchen window.
When I was invited into my childhood friend's family garden, it just seemed magical that you could get something for nothing, as it appeared to my young eyes.
There in that little plot of rich soil was something for all of the senses. The scent of mint drifted in the air as I wandered their garden's rows, as did the spicy fragrance of carnation, lavender and penstemon.
When I was asked to help pick their golden lemon cucumbers I was surprised at the prickly skin of that strange vegetable!
Her garden also acquainted me with other novel-to-me veggies such as squash in all of their strange and delightful forms, white radishes and potatoes that were purple!
In my house, we usually ate green beans and spinach from a can, and when artichokes or corn were in season we had farm-fresh versions of those staples.
As any gardener or farmer, for that matter, can tell you, there is always something that needs to be done whether it is hoeing, weeding, thinning, transplanting or watering.
Gardening becomes a fine balancing act where you want to attract the right critters, and discourage the damaging or destructive ones.
I enjoy planting sunflowers, salvia and other pollinator-attractors, and companion plantings using marigolds to discourage bean beetles.
My motto is “something for everyone,” so that if a gopher outmaneuvers me by snaking under my raised beds somehow, or the goldfinches snack on my tender greens, my M.O. is to plant enough for all of us.
A critter-proof fence is always a necessity in order to keep out the deer, raccoons, rabbits and other hungry neighbors. Done and done.
Just when I thought I had covered all bases I began to notice the mulch had been pushed aside in several of the raised beds and holes dug into the damp soil.
Hmmm, I thought. Squirrels? But they never bothered my garden in the past, usually sticking to acorns and other typical squirrel food. Whatever it was that was digging in the garden was not disturbing the plants, but merely the mulch and soil surrounding the plants.
As I patted down the mini-excavations and replaced the mulch I decided to position a critter-cam in the garden to solve the mystery.
Then, mystery solved – it was a fox! A gray fox! Maybe he'd been looking for the little tree frogs I'd seen in the more damp areas of the garden.
I'd seen foxes around the area throughout the years and even witnessed them pouncing on a plethora of frogs one year, but had forgotten they were so adept at climbing as well as squeezing through such small openings.
These beautiful creatures, speckled gray on top with reddish colors underneath, usually dine on small birds, animals and insects along with the occasional nibble of fruit.
Gray foxes are not often seen during the daylight hours, as they are snug in their burrows or hollow trees.
Gray foxes are members of the Canidae family and are one of only two members with the ability to climb trees and, I'm surmising, my garden fence.
The other member with climbing ability is the Asian raccoon dog which, of course, we do not have here in California.
A gray fox has specially adapted claws to help him hook onto a tree's bark in the wild.
Fossil evidence found in Arizona supplies proof that foxes have been around for millions of years.
The male fox is called a tod, or dog and a group of foxes is known as an earth, leash or skulk.
There are native red foxes that populate the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountains and they are a threatened species.
The non-native red fox is an introduced species that poses a threat to certain ecosystems since they are highly adaptable. The red foxes were brought here for fur farming and hunting in the past.
The gray fox gestation phase is close to 53 days, and a litter may range from one to seven kits or pups.
If you happen to hear a “yipping, barking” sound, you just may have heard a fox.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.”