One of the harder parts of farming...at least we think so.

We got a lot done today: Dave and Shawn tilled up the lot across the street and I weeded the carrots, thinned and weeded the turnips, and thinned the Romaine lettuce. (Which, by the way, looks great - we are going to eat what I thinned - delicious!!)

The Romaine

Anyway, we have noticed that a rabbit has been hopping in and out of the electric fence. It has to be getting shocked because the holes aren't very big, here is a picture of the fence:
It has been coming in and out of one of these holes on the far side of the garden...right by the turnips:
But the turnips haven't been nibbled and the other veggies look great too. What a mystery! The turnips are thick and green, the leaves are almost untouched with the exception of a few holes from some munching bugs:
The carrots (right next to the turnips) also look good! Their tender little leaves are all perfect:
So WHAT could this rabbit be doing in here? I had forgotten about the rabbit and was enjoying the sunshine as I sat between the turnips and carrots weeding and thinning. I got about a quarter of the way down the rows and sat down at a particularly thick turnip patch to start pulling the smallest in the crowd when I heard a weird clicking noise. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, it sounded like it was under my legs - but this was all I saw under my legs:
Just the hay we used to mulch between the rows. But I distinctly heard the sound from right there...so I did a little digging. Hmmm:
Underneath the silky-soft ball of fur there were five warm furry creatures tucked away in a small hole. I wasn't sure what I was looking at - rats? moles? mice? had I squished them when I sat down? I was nervous about the last question, so I poked at them with one of the turnips i had just pulled. Sure enough they were perfect little baby rabbits:
When I realized this, of course i had to pick them up! They are SO cute! They haven't opened their eyes yet, but I am guessing they will soon since they are actually pretty big.




Here is the hard part: what do we do with them? We can't leave them because as they get bigger they, and their mom, will eat all our crops! Plus we really can't encourage them to keep getting past the fence. But if we move them, their mom may not find them or may decide to abandon them. For now they will stay nestled beside the turnips, but we will have to do something with them soon....