I Hate Moose.

They're big.  They run in the road.  They're clumsy.  They probably smell.  And they eat my precious, tender and vulnerable garden.  Vulnerable because, like an Alaskan idiot, I didn't build a fence around my garden.  There's a project for next spring, I guess.  Ugh.

So, I lost all but 6 beets, most of my carrots, ALL of the peas (ALL OF THE PEAS) and because moose are inconsiderate jerks, they also stomped on my pumpkin and squash plants with their big, stupid feet, effectively killing several large limbs.  I hope those moose pooped purple for days. 

I woke up one morning and went out to the garden to pick veggies for my co-workers and found this destruction.  The day before, you could barely see the trellis under the weight of the Wando peas that climbed high above the tallest rung.  But I guess moose don't like kale?  I couldn't kill that kale if I wanted to.  You're looking at the 4th crop of kale.

The moose (Momma and baby, judging by the hoof prints in my garden... ) pulled the beets out and ate them, top to bottom.  They also ate most of the tops of the carrots, leading me to have to pick most of them.  I tried Googling it but didn't find much but, can carrots live without their green tops? 

At the time that the moose ate my garden, I had given away more than I had consumed.  Many Alaskan Native cultures teach hunters to prepare and feed their first kill to their family and community.  So, with that giving spirit, I tried to give away the first of everything that I grew.  That meant that I hadn't had any of my beets yet, so I had 6 to eat after this mess was all cleaned up.  It was a good lesson on respecting the plants that I was growing, giving back to my community and being humble about how nature works with and against you.

Between the rain and the moose, I felt a little discouraged with my pilot garden.  But hey, there's still potatoes to dig, tomatoes to eat, squash to pluck, pumpkins to watch and herbs to dry.  It's high time to whip out that silver lining.