When I arrived in Vermont this June, my brother John had started two beautiful tomato plants for me.  The plants already had small green tomatoes with the potential to become delicious red fruits to delight us in August.  I love to garden at this level-small and easy to reach!

In July, I noticed that some of the branches had been stripped bare.  Have you ever seen a tomato horned worm?  These caterpillars eat voraciously and grow almost before your eyes!  They were on my beautiful tomato plants.  I had to pick them off by hand (well, I used a stick) and put them into a bottle of soapy water.  I know that this sound unkind, but I really wanted those tomatoes to grow to maturity. 

For two weeks, I peered into the leafy stems of my plants and spotted the camouflaged worms chewing on the bright green leaves.  I took the action necessary to save the plants from a natural adversary.  It made me uncomfortable to take that action, but it had to be done and I had to do it.

Now comes August and the tomatoes are turning a soft orange and moving to deep red.  Now comes the raccoons…  I was devastated to look out on the deck and see tomatoes in all states of ripeness scattered and destroyed and chewed to bits.  Those little critters climbed up on the plants and picked the biggest fruits.  Some were left down by the lake shore, where the raccoons took them to wash.

What to do with the remaining fruits?  One huge broken branch still had ripening fruit.  Could I keep it alive in a big pail of water?  No, I tried.  How about if I took what remained of the plants into the house at night?  They are big and heavy plants.  Not practical.

So, I get to practice the Serenity Prayer, once again. I pray for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change (the raccoons live here in numbers too great for me to change).  I pray for the courage to change the things I can (I did get the worms before they did too much damage).  I pray for the wisdom to know the difference.  I will be satisfied with the few tomatoes that I picked before the raid and the ones that I put in a brown paper bag to ripen.

Now, I am reminding myself that God loves you unconditionally.  He also loves the rascally racoons and the green horned caterpillars…

Terri