It’s another cold, rainy, depressing day here at the vineyard but I was happy to see the hoop house temp climb up to 70º, even though the outside temps didn’t leave the 50s and there was no sun whatsoever. I entered the hoop house this morning to uncover all the plants from their evening fabric layers and was shocked… Something ate my cucurbits! It was most likely a mouse, maybe several mice; I’m not sure… but well over half of the 375 potted cucurbits were dug into and the beautiful, plump, just-sprouting seeds were methodically pulled from their casings. I brought a few of the less damaged trays inside tonight just to be safe and I left a nice, big, electronic mouse zapper, loaded with dog food and peanut butter, right in the middle of the rest of the trays. Maybe I can rent a barn cat for a few weeks while the seeds all germinate.