I was doing a bit of reading about the moles.....they are actually ok little critters. They don't eat the roots or any plants like the gophers do. Their burrougs are just under the ground & the dirt can mess up pastures because it makes the grass dirty for the horses to eat, but they don't do any bad damage. They eat the worms & the larva & the bad insects that hurt the garden. It sounds like they get the bad wrap for things that gophers & mice & other rodents do, but they are actually like the bats.....eat the bad insects for the garden. Sometimes their burroughs will disturb the root systems or plants, but they don't actually eat the roots like the gophers do.

I remember my encounter with the ground squirells in Canyon Country (my first house). We had huge weeds with roots the size of giant carrots. I was in the backyard weeding & pulled on the top of one of those huge weeds. It came flying out of the ground & I went flying across the yard with in in my hands. The root was eaten off to just about one inch below the ground. That was also the house where I tried my hand at a garden & the first nice zuchinni I was watching disappeared in the blink of an eye one day when I wasn't watching.

Here I guess we have raccoon problems. My friend is trying to grow corn & is battling the raccoons....who are definitely smarter than the traps he has set out for them. The deer are also a problem around here with gardens. My deer are happy down in my woods.....but it is also the best land for growing my garden in next year......will probably grow most of my food for the critters......but they need to eat too.

Just went through some of my pics, so will try to post some tonight.
Debbie