Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

> I sometimes think that one should just bite the bullet and built a  
> fortress wall around the garden, like the Nearings, with a concrete  
> foundation below where any mole, vole, gopher, rabbit or groundhog  
> would dig
i've wondered about that. how deep was it?

explosions underground are pretty effective. there's even a system they 
sell for doing it, with the igniter and all. we watched the demo video. 
but still... the guy's pants caught fire in one of the demos

gassing with flares and such i'm not confident of, because hot gas won't 
reach any portion of the tunnel system that's lower than the point of 
injection. my hamster was very skilled at avoiding the smoke from the 
power hitter (the things teenagers do) just by seeking the lowest point 
in the cage. even if they could be trapped that way, why couldn't they 
quickly block up the tunnel?

at the Cob Village back in Coos County, where they're serious about 
sustainable agriculture, i asked Ianto how they had solved the vole 
problem. he said they had acquired two male kittens and actually trained 
them with some live mice to live on small animals.

Bill
S. Oregon coast