Trigger warning, as this column contains descriptions, sanitized, of life on a small family  farm, and the steps that sometimes need to be taken to preserve the livestock and crops from the native critters.

The old Havahart trap sat in the driveway, covered in cobwebs and sawdust, having been dug out of the lower barn at the request of a neighbor, who was dealing with a skunk on their property.

The lower barn, which one upon a time housed a dairy cow, a more-or-less useless pony, and the occasional meat-critter offspring of said dairy cow, and now holds bikes and all kinds of random items which need to be under cover.

Also a collection of vintage beer cans in the rafters — a historic museum of the cheapest beers of the 1970s and 1980s, the remnants of my Dad’s after work beverage while milking the cow.

For those who do not know, a Havahart trap is a device meant for catching animals humanely and uninjured, and was the preferred method of problematic wildlife extraction for many years here at Sleepy Hollow.

My father had a sensitive soul, a trait that occasionally made the farming aspect of his life difficult. When you get an order of broiler chickens, you need to be ready to transition them to the freezer several months later. Even if you do not plan to raise meat, you need to keep your layer hens and your garden safe from the many local animals that would love their own chicken dinner, often followed by several ears of corn off the stalk.

Every small time farmer and gardener understands this, the struggle to keep your food from becoming the food of the wildlife that surrounds you, from the tomato hornworms, to raccoons, skunks, and foxes.

For the insects, some rely on pesticides, something never used at Sleepy Hollow, instead vigilance has always been the preferred method. And nothing makes a layer hen happier than a fat green hornworm. I learned early how to patrol the potato plants for potato bugs munching on the leaves. The tiger striped adult beetles, the clumps of orange eggs, the plump larvae which could easily strip your plants if you don’t squish them first.

My father often told of his grandfather at the farm in Sidney, coming in from the potato patch for breakfast, fingertips stained orange from potato bugs, carefully handling each biscuit before selecting his favorite.

Bugs can be handled relatively passively, but it is the mammals which present the greater challenge. Raccoons love corn and fruit, but will be happy to munch a chicken, as will a skunk. Both are rather difficult to keep out if they are persistent enough. Foxes may leave the garden alone, but with chickens on offer….

In his early years attempting this part-time farmer thing at Sleepy Hollow, my dad tended to rely on his shotgun for control of the bigger pests.This led to some of the more entertaining family legends: The time he blew the front off the brand new chicken house in the middle of the night in pursuit of some critter or other, the stump in the chicken yard which took a load of birdshot when mistook for a fox in the moonlight.

At some point in my childhood, he got the Havahart, a device which was much more to his personality. Baited with cat food mixed with peanut butter, the trap caught an uncountable number or raccoons and skunks, and- of course- several annoyed barn cats.

He became quite skilled at handling skunks, carefully covering them with a blanket to calm them, and releasing them with the skill of a demolitions expert. Where he released them is a matter of debate> he always claimed to drop them off in the dooryard of a certain gentleman across town with whom he had a long standing grudge.

Regardless, most of the mammalian wildlife which threatened the livestock were relocated unharmed. There was always an exception, the once a year raccoon patriarch, the monster able to flip the Havahart and escape night after night. The old man would listen for the trap to spring, and grab the shotgun.

Thereafter, at the end of a pole in the corn patch, would hang a striped tail, a warning to others that the chickens and corn at Sleepy Hollow were off limits.

My dad relished telling the story of the tourist, walking their bike up the hill from the Hollow, complimenting him on his “wind sock”. I am guessing that upon being happily told what the thing hanging in the corn patch really was, he quickly rode away, with a tale to tell when he returned home.

These days, the four-legged pests have not been much of a problem. There was the owl in the henhouse last winter, and a flock of ravens which enjoy the scraps tossed into the chicken yard, but I have not seen any skunks or raccoons for years. Even the deer and turkeys and coyotes generally keep their distance. Maybe it is the three dogs and four hunting cats who patrol the grounds that make it a less than desirable locale.

The Havahart is here should it be needed again. For that matter, so is the shotgun, but I know which solution I prefer. To the tomato hornworms, know that the chickens need protein to produce eggs, and your fat green bodies are full of it.

Library Happenings

Needleworkers meet at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. From 9 to 12 on Friday is preschool story and play time. 10 a.m. Saturday will be Music Together for the little ones.

Happy Labor Day, Lincolnville. Watch for the school bus, as Tuesday school is back in session. All three of our children will be off to Camden Hills Regional High School, no O’Brien kids at LCS for the first time in many, many years.

Keep harvesting those gardens, start stacking wood for the winter. These crisp mornings foretell the changing of the seasons. Say goodbye to the summer visitors and prepare for the autumn. Be good and do good, and reach out at ceobrien246@gmail.com.

Municipal Calendar

Monday, September 1

Labor Day, Town Office Closed

Tuesday, September 2

Library open 3-6 p.m. 208 Main Street

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Wednesday, September 3

Library Open, 2-5 p.m., 208 Main Street

Historical Society Museum Open, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., 33 Beach Road

Bayshore Baptist Church, Youth Group, 6 p.m

Comprehensive Plan Review Committee, 6 p.m. Town Office

Thursday, September 4

Library open 2-5 p.m., 208 Main Street

Friday, September 5

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Historical Society Museum Open, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., 33 Beach Road

Saturday, September 6

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Sunday, September 7

United Christian Church, 9:30 a.m. Worship and Children’s Church, 18 Searsmont Road

Bayshore Baptist Church, 10 a.m. Sunday School for All Ages, 10:40 a.m. Coffee and Baked Goods, 11:00 a.m. worship, 2648 Atlantic Highway