We are well, even if the spouse is a tad weary of meals that include our garden’s spring bounty of asparagus, arugula, kale, and peas.
Our resident family of skunks is also well. They made a home for themselves under our side door steps, the steps that were being repaired until these new tenants arrived.
We’ve had skunks under the barn and under a back porch but never skunks a few feet away from one of our main vegetable gardens. It’s a brilliant spot from a skunk perspective. Mama skunk can take her babies for a stroll around two sides of the house, entirely under cover of plants and trellises and a stone watering trough that’s currently full of potato plants.
I didn’t realize she was taking them for such strolls until I was out with the dogs in the front yard, safely away from the skunk den. That’s when Festus sniffed with intense interest at a spot near the trough. I heard a faint hissing. Weird, I thought, and pulled the dog away. Just then a very tiny, very angry baby skunk rushed out from under the contorted filbert. I dragged both dogs in while laughing about how frantic I felt.
Then I looked up how old a skunk has to be to spray. Only a month old! I was right to be frantic. In our old house, we had skunk families year after year under our back porch. The kids played in the yard for hours every day, but we got them in as dusk approached because that was skunk time. Sometimes we’d stand on the back porch and watch the Mephitidae gambol about.
Skunks are an integral part of our ecosystem. They thrive on all sorts of foods including insects, mice, rats, larvae, snakes, and plants. A study found that 70 percent of the insects skunks regularly consume are considered nuisance species by humans including cockroaches, grasshoppers, crickets, and spiders. We’re about three weeks into having this family in residence. Everything I read says the mother will likely move them to a new den. As soon as she does, we’re filling in that broken step!
Meanwhile, some of my offspring are betting the stench of reality will intrude on my insistence that all beings can live in peace.
Bit of Earth Farm 
So incredibly cute… but also so very stinky. I hope noone gets sprayed!
I wonder, are skunks repelled by the strong smell of peppermint oil like other undesirable critters? Might be worth a try when you’re ready to encourage them to move on!
Essential oils, I hadn’t thought of that. It would take a lot of peppermint oil but it sounds like a friendly form of encouragement. I’ll keep that in mind in case we need it. Thank you Lindsay!