Morning had arrived at Glen Oaks Farm. The sky was a clear blue and the little sunbeams merrily skipped over the Blue Ridge Mountains and found their way straight to the earthen front door of Gertie the Groundhog.

Slowly she stuck her nose out the door and drank in the fresh air.

She looked over at the big towering Oak Tree just in time to see her neighbor Scarlet the Squirrel doing the same thing.

“Gggggggreetings, Gggggert!” Scarlet chattered “it’s ggggggonna be a ggggggood day!”

And it was. Gertie had just found a recipe for a beet top salad and she happened to know where some were growing.

Her last conversation with her cousin Greg was about these beets. Strange that he’d never returned from there after he told her he was going to check their progress… Gertie paused a minute but then shook her troubled thoughts off- who could worry about the unknowns on such a lovely morning.

And she grabbed her market basket and was off. Humpity Humpity Humpity

Up the hill she went. She stopped for a brief moment surveying the view. Who doesn’t love stopping in front of the well stocked shelves of the grocery store.

Ah yes, there they were. Right where Cousin Greg had said. He’d mentioned that they were getting a little low in supplies, but it looked like it had been restocked completely.

So she went right to work, cleaning the patch 😫

As luck would have it, Mr R happened to be finishing up his morning coffee and looked out the window in time to see Gertie and her market basket rounding the corner.

But as luck would also have it, Cousin Greg had mentioned a hideout right under the AC unit in between the house and the garden.

And as luck would have it, Mr R left for work, leaving protecting the borders to his wife and 10 week old son. Things are definitely in Gert’s favor.

I looked out Jeffrey’s bedroom window in time to see Gert peeling around the corner of the AC unit and disappearing into the garden, and by the time I grabbed the gun and joined her, she had disappeared completely.

But as I frantically searched up and down the rows of vegetables, I remembered the Peter Rabbit story from my childhood: All my life I’ve felt bad for poor, scared Peter who was simply disobeying his Mama and sneaking vegetables. He got chased by Mr Mcgregor (who was out scritch scritching with his hoe) through the entire garden until he lost both of his shoes and his blue coat with the shiny brass buttons. He made an escape by hiding in a water can (filled with water) and ended up sick in bed with his mother serving him chamomile tea.

And it suddenly hit me: I am Mr Mcgreggor and He is not the bad guy.

I called mother to share my discovery and she laughed and said “Perspective is everything”

I’m sad to report that at this point Gertie is safe at her home again, tossing a beet top salad and sipping chamomile tea.

Kendra Mcgregor Rohrer

Bonus Pics:

This is not Gertie’s market basket and she does not get a shot at everything we’re growing around here 💙