I had the same thing happen about 3 years ago. There were 2 babies, the mower missed one and it ran away but I don't know if its mother found it. It was so small it could hardly get through the tall grass. It just breaks your heart, but like you said, you just cant see them.

Dorothy, It sure is a tragic tale, but like you said, sometimes these things are unavoidable. I love fawns and would have been near tears like you were, but (as grandma used to say) there's no use crying over spilled milk.

Dawn

It makes me sick thinking about that stuff. I guess we humans are replacing some predators that they used to have here after being born. In places where bears live they take a lot of fawns in the first couple of weeks of the fawns' lives.

I have killed a couple of fawns in the last few years with the brushhog. I have started waiting until about June 15th to mow tall grass/brush, or at least mow before May 10 if I need to early. I know it is dangerous, but any time between May 10 and June 20 or so I stand up on the tractor while mowing so I can spot them. After June 20 I usually can see the small areas where the tall grass is pushed aside and slow down. They will almost always run when I get really close after they are a few weeks old.

Up until late April it is the turkey nests that I worry about mowing over. The hens will flush when I get close, but it leaves the nest vulnerable if I mow all the areas around except right by the nest. If there is no pecan harvest I will leave some areas for turkey nests and then mow them in early May.

If I was a serious farmer I would just do what I needed to do, but the wildlife is part of what makes it all fun.

That's really tough. And I have to say, I totally agree with Scott.

I have a personal aversion to rototillers, for a several reasons. Yet, I do understand that there are times that they must be used. Nevertheless, I believe that even my own family sometimes sees me as a bit eccentric on this issue. I cultivate with a mattock, and Japanese draw hoe. Our gardens are small compared to what some of you have. Yet they are IMMENSE for being worked only with hand tools. I deal chronically with aches and pains associated with all this work.

Yet, this year, particularly, I have felt vindicated for using only hand tools. Starting in December, I began finding baby box turtles, skinks (lizards) and several kinds of beneficial snakes, all in the ground. Over the last month and a half, I bet I've averaged "digging up" a baby box turtle almost on a daily basis (quarter to half dollar size). Over all these months I believe I've only killed one or two skinks. Amazingly, not a single box turtle has even been wounded. Yet, I know, if I went in there with the rototiller, I'd have made pieces of them.

But on a larger scale, this would be impossible. I guess my wish would be that most everyone in our society would do a little bit of hand work, growing their own food, in the way which is most beneficial/least harmful to our environment.

George
Tahlequah, OK

That happened to my first (and only) puppy. My dad was mowing with his tractor at dusk and didn't see him. My parents waited until the next day to tell me. We had dogs after that, but I never attached myself again to one. Animals around our house tended to have short(er) life spans. We only had one dog that made it to old age.

Lisa

Oh, Lisa, that is really sad. We ran over one of our own dogs once, so I know how that feels.

And yes, George, your garden is very very LARGE to work only with a mattock. Glenn is also concerned though and he will only rototill very early, in late winter for the spring crop. After that we also use hand tools, hoing just once to chop weeds and then spreading the leaves for mulch.

Dorothy is one of the few, here, who has seen my garden. Every time she and Glenn drop by, they ask to see the garden, occasioning in me the same kind of feelings (I suspect) that would go through the heart of a busy housewife who has unexpected company who say, "Oh what a beautiful home! Would you give us a tour?" LOL

Lisa, my heart goes out to you. That would be quite the traumatic experience.

George

Oh, George, now I feel guilty for asking to see your garden. You do grow the most intriguing stuff, though, that it just fascinates us. And knowing just HOW busy you are, we take no notice of the few weeds that escape your mattock. (We don't consider lambsquarter weeds and know that you don't either.) As for the Johnson and Bermuda grass we used to have tons, but used Roundup on it before we knew the stuff wasn't as benign as the manufacturer would like for us to believe.) The bottom line is do the vegetables grow? And yours grow.

That's fine Dorothy ;)
I'm used to having you guys over now, and you have never been anything but gracious. Anyone who ever drops in, and would like to see the garden, will be welcome. I just have to get over my pride and let things be what they are!

George

George, I am sure you like to show your garden. I think we all like to display the things we take pride in, regardless of what it is. I like for people to brag on my garden, my wife likes for people to brag on her cooking.
Some people have beautiful lawns and homes. A lot of people want to show off their beautiful cars. Most of all, I expect we all want to display a beautiful Character, and I also expect everyone on this forum does have a beautiful character.

Larry

George, my feeling is that anyone who looks at a few weeds instead of the plants you are growing, just doesn't understand a garden. Mine has good days and bad days, and today is a bad day when it really looks like it needs some attention. The first thing I see are the half dead pea vines. I will probably take them out in a couple of days, but I find it hard to do when they still provide a snack as I walk by. No one but me would notice that there are three climbing squash vines, about four inches tall, just ready to take over their space when they come out, planted at the base of the same trellis.

Also, I recognize that some people's weeds are other people's food. I don't have much lambsquarter, but I have a constant problem with poke in my garden. To me it is a weed and I would love not to have it, but that is never going to happen. My neighbor likes it and it grows to be six feet tall and covered with berries and the birds plant it everywhere. I grow dandelions too, but I don't want to. LOL

I once had a sign in my house that said, "If you have come to see me, come anytime. If you have come to see my house, make an appointment."

I think most people who want to see your garden, just look and what you are growing, and pay little attention to the tasks that haven't been completed. That is especially true of other gardeners, and should we really care what the non-gardeners think?

I had a friend in Alaska that had a large family and a busy life. She said her secret to housekeeping was to get up every morning, make sure everyone made their bed, wash the dishes, empty the trash cans, then move the vacuum cleaner to the middle of the living room, and go on with life. If company came, they would just think they caught you in the middle of house cleaning. At the time, I was young and energetic and laughed at her ideas and never once thought of adopting it. As I am typing this, I am resting after completing several difficult chores outside. The kitchen is clean, I'm getting ready to take out the trash, and the vacuum has been setting in the middle of the room for an hour or so.

Although I have only met Dorothy and Glenn one time, I feel sure that they will not make any non-favorable decisions about you or your family, based on a few weeds. LOL

I have a neighbor with a manicured lawn. At one time, he was going to move and sold his riding lawn mower. They changed their minds about leaving. His next door neighbor bought a new lawn mower and told him to use it anytime. I never see the neighbor who owns the lawn mower using his mower, but his lawn is always mowed. The neighbor who sold his mower mows his lawn, his own lawn, and the neighbor on the other side of him. Then he is also part of the 'rotation' that mows the lawn of the lady that has cancer.

This man does not plant vegetables, but decided he would like to do so this year. His plot was tiny, so not room for much of anything, but I offered him plants and seed. His wife kept telling him that she was afraid he wouldn't take care of it and it would look ugly. Everything he owns is in good repair. Several times in the Spring, he would be looking for Al, or his wife wanted to tell me something, and they couldn't reach us by phone. He would walk over and find me in the garden. One day he said, "Gardening is hard work, isn't it?" I said, "Yes, especially in the Spring, but I love it."

He didn't plant the garden. He is in his 70's, and has never planted a vegetable garden and had the experience of watching it grow. His plot was tiny and he could easily taken care of it. Maybe if I hadn't made it look hard, he would have.

You're absolutely right, Carol. Anyone who reads George's posts knows how incredibly knowledgeable he is about heirlooms and seedsaving which we are just now learning about after all these years of gardening. THAT'S what we look at in his garden.

Before Glenn retired, I did the lion's share of the hoeing and mulching and I took a much more relaxed attitude towards weeds than Glenn does, especially lambsquarter, amaranth, and the selfseeded annual flowers that brighten the plots and attract butterflies. Glenn had no choice but to allow it; he had no time to do anything about it. But George and Jerreth saw the garden last fall after Glenn had spent many retirement hours on it and it alone, since unlike them, we don't raise animals. Truthfully, they both amaze us with their energy. We couldn't do what they do and we know it.

So, George, I'm glad you don't mind increasing our knowledge. Besides, we once knew a gardener in California who swore that many vegetables grew better with a "weed mulch" at their base. He said the weeds actually brought water and minerals from deep in the soil up to the veggies and kept the soil cooler--I remember he had tomatoes growing out of a grassy, weedy patch. He said that periodically he just cut them off and laid them on the soil and when they regrew did it again. I remember the tomatoe plants were very healthy looking and full of fruit. By contrast, knew another man who didn't allow a single weed to grow under his tomatoes and didn't mulch either, just bare dirt. His plants were sickly looking and covered in aphids, which he sprayed of course. Nature truly does know best.