I love animals.

All kinds (except snakes). I wish I liked good snakes, but I just can’t, I’ve tried.

Normally I just don’t fool with corn. It ain’t worth it.

I have grown it, but we have lots of birds and squirrels.

This year, I said what the heck, let’s do it again.

I hesitate every year cause it takes up a lot of garden space.

And you cannot plant ONE ROW of corn. One long row of corn is not how corn is planted.

You fare much better with four rows side by side in order to ensure good kernel pollination.

Oh, and don’t MIX corn types. You don’t want some funky cross pollination. Stick to ONE corn type.

I planted the corn.

Along with all of my other successful crops.

Now here is where I THINK the problem lies.

The seed that I used. It is a sweet brand of corn, and after planting, everything else came up.

Just not the corn.

I let it go. Tended the other crops. It was still early in the season, I decided I’d replant later.

Had some time one Sunday afternoon, so I used MULE and retilled that area.

More on MULE later. She is my plow. My garden tiller. I love her!

I planted. Again.

Nothing.

Nada.

Something is GOING ON HERE.

Some time shortly after all of that, I was cooking dinner, looking out of my window.

Squirrels.

In my corn rows.

Digging, laughing, eating, having what the Flintstones call a Gay Old Time.

I was kind of steamed.

I went outside.

I tried reasoning with them in a nice way.

They left.

I went back inside.

Then they came back.

They don’t fear me. They are taking advantage of me. They are LAUGHING at me.

I decided to experiment now by placing a very small bowl of that corn seed outside.

And waiting. And watching.

Meantime, that garden area will be converted to watermelons, more potatoes, a later planting of zipper peas. Maybe some limas.

I guess you realized now that we eat a lot of potatoes.

Probably some exotic experimental type of crop could go there. I am known to do that. Experiment.

But it won’t be corn, at least not THAT corn, until I can figure out WHAT is going on.

We have planted and grown corn before without the squirrel issue.

Here is the seed I used. I think squirrels love it. More than acorns. More than anything.

Sweet Corn: Honey and Cream from Burpee Seeds, you know W. Atlee Burpee & Company. A bicolor sugary hybrid. Sweet and tender. Not that WE’LL ever know!

If those squirrels would back off, I could grow a bunch of that corn which must REALLY be good since the seeds are so desireable and I would have given them a whole WINTER of that corn.

I need to renegotiate with the Squirrel King!

Hey, I think I’ll ask them what THEY think.

It’s not a war. Squirrels entertain me. They do cause me grief. They eat my corn.

They knock my peaches off the tree and don’t even eat them.

I was GOING to say they don’t mess with my APPLES, but then maybe they blog and read my innermost thoughts?

Sometimes they party late and do all kinds of stuff, I don’t actually see it.

But those guys are Mischievous.

But I love them. We have chipmunks too. We love chipmunks, so we don’t have a cat.

More on that later.

But I won’t blame anybody.

But I will be watching.

No corn this year.

Not from MY farm.

Lynn will bring me corn. Her folks have a really BIG farm. And grow the best corn ever.

She brings me corn every year, and I give her tomatoes.

Ummmm.. I just got to thinking about how good that corn tasted.

I told Magpie Leotie to text Lynn and ask her when that corn comes in.

And I will just let that corn thing go with the squirrels.

For now. No squirrel was harmed in the writing of this article.