OK, it’s Florida and we’re so far in “the sticks” you just can’t find our place by accident. You have to be going there on purpose. With “the sticks” comes a wide variety of wildlife. When we first moved in we had a cattle lease on the property but the fence was in such bad repair we spent more time fixing the fence than getting work done on the trees. So, when a dry spell came and the cattle had eaten pretty much everything available, we moved them out. We still have lots of neighbors with cattle, but our little place has turned out to be quite the wildlife sanctuary. We even found “Mr. Squiggles.” Now I need to let you know that nobody associated with Oak Glades Farm came up with nor would come up with the name “Mr. Squiggles.” I’m even guessing at how to spell it. This was the name given by the previous owner to our resident alligator.
When we first saw him/her/it he was about five feet long and not really very big. After just a few months, Mr. Squiggles had grown to roughly seven feet and was a lot thicker. We wondered how many critters that came to the pond he’d taken for dinner. He had the run of the place but we only saw him in or around the pond. Then one day, no more Mr. Squiggles. We know it was not for lack of food or water. The water table is so shallow here the pond stays almost full year-round and as such, draws wildlife from all over to drink. So we don’t really know what happened to him but we’re guessing he got through puberty and decided it was time to go off in search of a mate.
We also started seeing more squirrels, opossum, armadillos, birds of all kinds including cranes and turkeys, two herds or whitetail deer, and, of course, the infamous feral hogs. Oh my goodness, I could go on and on about the problems we have with the hogs. They tear up everything, dig up the grass, break through (barbwire) fences, and are a general nuisance. Even though there’s a continuous open season on feral hogs on private property, I never seem to be at the farm at the same time the hogs come through and tear it up. Our solution? Build a better fence! That’s on our “major” project list. We’ll build just under one mile of hog-wire fencing on the entire perimeter. We even have plans to install auger-style anchors on the bottom wire in-between the fence posts. This will drastically reduce (but hopefully eliminate) hogs from crawling under the fence. There are other sources of food and water in the vicinity so we’re hoping that a good fence will be enough deterrent. This is a huge project so we have no idea when it will start, but keep watching for news!
In the meantime, we’ve stopped “manicuring” our campground area and stopped irrigating the grass as the hogs go to the wet, soft soil first; they just keep tearing up the same areas. No need to put in a lot of labor improving an area just to have the hogs tear it up the next week. We do, however, get to enjoy the deer walking through the orchard, watching the turkeys roost and rouse, and the squirrels chase each other. We also get to see the occasional hawk or other large bird swoop down into the open pasture and snag some rodent. But still no returning alligator. Who knows, maybe he’ll come back and start a family or maybe he just moved into our eight acres of Cyprus dome. After all, we share a swamp-like area with three neighbors that measures close to 100 acres and it flows into the Caloosahatchee River just four miles away. But more on that later! See you soon!
