Just Another Snake Story

Last Thursday I encountered 3 black rat snakes.  The first was a jet black animal I spotted crawling along the roots of a wind-felled tree.  He was safe but I stopped to take a closer look and say hello.

The second was a newly hatched baby crossing the road.  Baby black rat snakes are patterned in varying shades for grey.  At this age they are somewhat delicate creatures and I gently lifted it off the road and placed it safely off to the side.  It seemed to view my assistance as a non event and took its time disappearing into the cover where I'd placed it.  

The third snake was an attractively patterned 5 footer.  It was also crossing the road, but was less interested in my help.  The car in front of me had just passed over him and I thought he’d been hit as he was all coiled up and thrashing but he was fine; fine being a relative term.  Frankly, he was in mortal terror.  Out in the open with huge noisy metal objects hurtling over them is not a place such secretive animals enjoy.  I thought of the many snakes I’ve seen hacked to pieces and how the people who do the hacking usually described the snakes as vicious.  Such lack of empathy irritates me and I’ve often wondered what behavior they would manifest if I snatched the shovel from their hands and commenced chopping their body parts off.  But I digress.  

Being in a somewhat disturbed state of mind the snake didn't recognize that I was there to help and had several coils in the air and was  lunging at me whenever I got too close.  I noticed that when he struck he moved just a bit in my direction so I put myself between him and the side of the road.  I thought that by repeatedly moving close enough to elicit strikes I would be able to lead him closer to safety.  Ordinary I would have just grabbed him anyway but, I was going out in public and didn't want to do so having been bit, musked and crapped on, which scared snakes are want to do.  Besides this was a safe, open stretch of road so I opted for a method that would be gentler for both parties.  

I was making good progress when the first car stopped.  I didn’t know the guy but he was the characteristic idiot who looked at me with the disdain we herpers (people who like reptiles) get right before we’re “informed” we’d be better off just killing the damn thing.  Ignoring Cro-Magnon man, I kept on the process of leading the snake off the road when a second car stopped.  “What ya doing” the passenger asked?  When I told him I was helping the snake off the road he said, “That’s pretty cool.  Most people just kill them” and drove off leaving me to think that perhaps there’s hope for mankind after all.

The last car to stop was driven by a very old lady who watched intently as I led the snake to the side of the road were it finally bolted for cover and was gone.  When I turned around she had a light in her eye and said in a quivering old lady voice, “You remind me of my husband.  He “was” always helping snakes off the road so they wouldn’t get hurt.”  She then thanked me and with a huge smile drove off down the road.

Small acts of kindness give reward enough in just the doing.  This time however knowing that helping a terrified snake off the road also gave an this lady a warm memory of her late husband made for a special moment.  I found myself wishing I’d known the guy but content myself with knowing that many of my friends are probably a lot like him.

Long Time Coming

Citizen Gardener came into existence on a lark.   Its main purpose was to share the experience of moving towards a more sustainable and localized food system but it also served as an outlet for my writing which, despite the efforts of primary education English teachers, remains enjoyable.  Still, as important as the need for a new food paradigm is to me, I found that writing about it exclusively was too limiting, hence the lack of updates.  Moving forward Citizen Gardener will be open to address and discuss a broader range of topics though most will still be related to sustainability.  In the interim, I’d like to do a little bit of quick catching up on the gardening activities.

2010 was a banner year.  A Face Book photo album of the year’s events can be viewed here.  The garden was amazingly productive and provided the lion share of our seasonal vegetables.  I even like to boast that it provided all (or nearly so) of what my second granddaughter ate in her first year of life.  It was immensely satisfying to know that she was given such a good dietary start. 

A FB album of 2011 garden events can be viewed here.  In February of 2011 we lost my father-in-law Jimmy after a long struggle with heart disease.  He remains sorely missed.  Though the gardening season got off to a good start, settling Jimmy’s affairs and moving my mother-in-law in with us consumed so much time that gardening was necessarily put on the back burner.  Few things are ever a complete loss and the garden was no exception.  We still learned a lot and had a very successful winter season. 

2012 was perhaps the best year to date.  The highlights, so far, can be viewed here.  We started the year eating fresh greens almost daily.  If I learned one thing last winter and spring it would be that kale is the new broccoli.  Fresh and tender, it is an exceedingly versatile vegetable and I had no problem getting the kids to eat lots of it.  There were also new successes with early season crops.  This was the first year we grew onions, not just spring onions but actual bulbs you put in your pantry.  They went in a little late and therefore were a bit on the small side but we grew enough to meet our needs through the summer and we use a lot of onions!  2012 also turned out to be the year of the tomato as we finally saw a good crop.  I think the biggest element of that success was the use of disease resistant hybrid varieties.  I can hear the boos and hisses on that but I’m not committed to using hybrids.  I’d expand on this later; the hybrids v heirloom debate is enough for its own post.  As yet 2012 is not over and I’m just beginning to get the fall and winter crops put in.  Topical updates will be posted here at Citizen Gardener but specific events and pictures will continue to be uploaded to the FB albums so check back later.