November 1st

Thursday, November 1st, 2018

As the rising sun broke through the clouds this morning, I was walking into my kitchen.

By the end of October, it’s habit for me to look out into the pumpkin patch, looking for parents and kids on the hunt for the perfect one. Many times, especially early in the morning, nothing is out there. Most times, my brain plays tricks on me, and I think I see something, but nothing’s there.

Today was different.

I walked by the window, and almost fell over because I double-taked (is that a word?) so hard. There was either a large dog or huge coyote walking through the pumpkins.

Spoiler alert: it was a massive coyote.

We’ve had huge population issues around our house – my parents have woken up multiple times over the past couple weeks to Henna facing down packs of over 3 coyotes in their front yard. One morning, they were between the house and the barn; for those of you who know their farm layout, that’s basically as in the middle of the farm yard as you could get. They aren’t shy. The opposite is true, actually – they’ve become extremely bold.

I took this image at 8:30 this morning – that’s on the later side for a coyote to be out. He also stood out in the middle of tarnation, right on our driveway, for over a minute. They aren’t afraid. And this one was by itself, so that raises the “bold bar.” He even noticed I was watching him at one point, and didn’t budge.

And, for those of you wondering, no he wasn’t interested in my chickens. Maybe he was interested in the neighbor’s chickens (he was heading that way before he saw me),  but I watched him come across the field, and he didn’t even glance in the direction of our coop. That doesn’t mean that in the future he wouldn’t notice it, but at least for this morning, the girls were fine.

Also – don’t take this as fear mongering. The moment I walked outside, he split. A healthy coyote is not a danger to you or your kids. However, I’m not a fan of having so many around. They rotate territories, so soon they’ll move out, but they’ll be back after a few weeks again. Hopefully by then, they’ll have feasted on gut piles left behind by deer hunters, and be satisfied staying out of the farm yard.

July 23rd

Sunday, July 23rd, 2017

When walking through our pumpkin patch, there are always tracks.

Most of the time it’s deer, sometimes it’s turkey, last year there was human tracks (see below), but today it was coyote.

Do you live in the Twin Cities metro area, specifically in the northwest suburbs? Make sure to come out to our pick-your-own pumpkin patch this fall! We’ll be open October 1st-31st during daylight hours, everything is self-serve. $5 any size – pumpkins available pre-picked or there will be hundreds in the field for you to pick your own!

We just ask that you please keep your shoes on.

June 10th

Saturday, June 10th, 2017

To see a coyote in the daylight is unusual.

When you do it’s usually sick, mangey, or is a female with pups. This lady falls into the last category.

We had our suspicions a couple of weeks ago when we were seeing her multiple times a day (including during the day), multiple days in a row on our trail camera. It was easy to see from the pictures on our trail cam that she was healthy – she had all of her hair and was in excellent condition, but we never saw any pups.

Well, about a week ago while cutting hay Paul and dad saw her running from our pasture with a gosling in her mouth and when she stopped she had a couple of pups at her feet.

Our farm isn’t fond of coyotes because they’ll hunt our cats, come into our pasture and bother the horses, and usually when they come close to the house that means they’re sick. Say no to rabies kids.

But that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate pretty evening light and a healthy critter. 😉