Despite the ravaging neighborhood creatures, we managing to grow things. Our plot behind the house is struggling a bit,

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but our squash, zucchini, melons, and onions in front of the house are doing very well.

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Some are even flowering.

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In fact, we’ve kept one thing in the ground long enough to have a harvest: radishes. A few are almost as big as a ping pong ball, and K explains that we have to pick those now, else they’ll be no good. “They don’t taste as good when they’re bigger.” Not knowing the first thing about growing radishes, I nod my head in approval.

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Radishes are a like dill for me: they make me think of summer in Poland.

We use the radishes to make a creamy cheese spread: diced radish mixed in with farmer’s cheese. A simple thing, but then, many of the tastiest foods are “simple things.”

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The cheese is a highligh of our Sunday-morning breakfast. The Girl as her usual: French toast and Maple syrup.

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Then we notice our back bed has been visited again.

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Enormous holes, spread through the bed. “It’s the worst it’s ever been,” K sighs.

Our raccoon neighbor? Dogs?

It’s hard not to take it personally. “What did we ever do to you?” A useless thought — best to start planning how to keep out of our garden dogs, chickens, raccoons, squirrels, bears, elephants, and whatever else might be lurking in the neighborhood.