Pass the Coyote Urine, Please

The garden situation has gone from bad to really bad pretty quickly. Upon our return from Bulgaria, I discovered that our back vegetable garden was essentially decimated... a little pile of onion tops were the only evidence left of the dozen onions that had been standing proudly just a week earlier, broccoli and cauliflower were pathetic little nubs, and there wasn't one sign of the huge thriving clump that had been parsley. Our raised bed was a muddy, lumpy disaster and it left me wanting revenge. 

A few days ago a friend and I started poking around in the numerous holes trying to figure out exactly what we were dealing with. Within a few minutes we detected movement at the bottom of the raised bed and then a darting furry body part was sighted at other side of the bed. We stepped inside and as I frantically tried to pull up more information on shrews because that was my original thought, my friend stood by the door and excitedly noted that there was now one in plain sight on top of the bed. And then another. And they weren't shrews. They were voles. Fearless, hungry voles and that was not good news.

A quick on-line search and the bad news got worse. Turns out that voles are baby making machines. Reproducing and multiplying at a speed that would make any rabbit envious. Suddenly, it began to dawn on me that we could be dealing with a serious number of voles. In one month they had essentially destroyed our largest vegetable bed and they had dug up an impressive area of our front yard, I hated to think about what the second month of vole invasion would bring. 

Further internet searching led me into a gruesome area of spikey traps, poisons, and repeated warnings that voles are voracious. You wouldn't believe how many desperate and angry posts there are on garden forums about these little critters. And then there was coyote urine. That is one of the most popular recommendations for deterring voles and preventing future colonies. Never thought I would be comparing the costs of coyote urine or spend time pondering how coyote urine is collected. Can you train a coyote to pee into a cup? To save you google searching time click here or here (the names of these sights are at least worth a peek).

The other popular non-toxic suggestion was to get a cat, but with Noah and Adam both being allergic to cats that is not going to happen unless we can temporarily rent a vole hunting cat. Anyone have one of those we can borrow? Or other vole hunting suggestions? Or some extra coyote urine you want to share? This just goes to prove that our life isn't all about magical European travel adventures and sunny Sicilian beach trips. It includes garden-destroying rodents and predator urine.