I did the unthinkable last winter --- I ripped out all of my strawberries. The issue was chipmunks. Our berry enclosure is bird proof, but no matter how hard we worked we couldn't plug every little hole that chipmunks burrowed through. As soon as berries showed the first sign of white, the chipmunks snuck in and tore off every single fruit, strewing them across the garden path and taunting me. With no harvest on the horizon after four growing seasons, I gave up.

Then Mark shook his head and refused to throw in the towel. "I can make a chipmunk-proof raised bed," he told me. "Some hardware cloth on the bottom and a hinged, screened lid should do the trick."

You can see the result at the top of this post. I hope it works as well as his caterpillar tunnels have!

In other news, sad then glad:

Both Strider and Huckleberry left us over the last year. They were both old, beloved cats and their memories are unlikely to fade soon. We deeply miss them.

On a more pleasant note, a new book-recommendation website asked me to write up a post about the best books for beyond organic gardeners. If you've been following our blog since the beginning, there's nothing new here. But those of you who haven't read every single book I ever recommended might enjoy skimming off this recommended cream.

I hope your gardens are growing and your homesteads are happy. Enjoy the spring!