Agriculture
One summer day when I was home from college, and when my parents still lived on the farm where we live now, I peered out the kitchen window and made an announcement. “Beavers are coming up to the farm from the creek,” I said. It was quite a revelation. We live at least a half mile from West Bow Creek, and there was no reason for any well-minded beaver to search that far away from home for wood. The “beaver” I had seen for the first time on our farmstead, was actually a beaver without the flat tale. It was a woodchuck, i.e. groundhog. I have to say that for many months I was astounded to come face to face with those groundhogs, as they cleaned up stray walnuts in our orchard and burrowed beneath the chicken coop.
Over the years, entire colonies have inhabited our farm, then moved on. With a three-acre grove of trees immediately west of our farmstead, they have plenty of shelter. They can do their fair share of damage to buildings, but I have to say that they have a kind, gentle look.
So Groundhog Day has a little more significance these days, when woodchucks are relatively common in our region...... Continue reading.
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