I think often, about how I can live on my property without killing the animals that were already there – even accidentally kill them. That is one of the reasons I spent so much time and effort on my gopher moat. I really enjoy the critter coming and goings. Saw my first fox the other night.
Even the raccoon who has recently decided to bring its significant other to the parties held in my wetland. They turn over every single pot in my plant growing area. I’ll bet they are looking for snails or aquatic worms under them. But they aren’t very careful and they don’t set them back up when they’re done :-) Sigh.
I may end up getting an infrared motion detection sprinkler system. It is fairly effective at keeping them away — they don’t like being sprayed. Just like a cat. Which seems sort of funny because they like wading around in the water so much. So maybe I’ll get one and put it in that one area. My sort of solution … nontoxic non-lethal :-) and they can still visit the other areas of the wetland and pond all they want.
Because I enjoy the critters, I made my pond (pond0) sloped in _and_ out. Inside there is a long sloping section that leads out and it is also quite useful for putting plants at different water levels. All the animals can get in and out. bugs, mice, lizards snakes,… me! The birds love that area as a landing pad. That is why I think I had the toads breeding in there last year. The chorus frogs can climb into practically any bit of water anywhere but the toads don’t jump that well and certainly don’t have sticky pads to climb out once they are in. Boy, I really hope they are back this year.
I wish I could encourage other people who are building a pond to make it so that the native wildlife can use it better. I am so glad that the blog readers here and members of SanDiego Permaculture Meetup care about living with the world instead of against it. And that they feel along with me that permaculture is not about instant gratification.
Permaculture is not about digging a swale on your property just to be able to say “I have a swale”, but instead it’s about using your brain before you do something. Using your brain and asking yourself is this living with the world. And for me, sometimes using my brain means that I have to stop, look, and listen — in order to fully appreciate the roses :-)