The greenhouse seems to have reached equilibrium. I’m up to six dead mice and two dead chipmunks but the traps have been empty for the last couple of days and the tomatoes have been left alone; after success with the 5-gallon pail traps the first couple of days they’ve been empty. I’m going to add a couple of regular mouse traps out there but we need to stock up on peanut butter and I need to rig the big black traps with something harder to get out (one trap is sensitive and the other isn’t). Meanwhile the cherry tomatoes are doing excellent; the red plant is producing multiples, the yellow plant has a handful that are turning color, and the black plant has a few that are beginning to turn as well. Meanwhile the heirlooms are all still growing steadily, but everything is still green. Most of the fruit is at the top of the plants, so hopefully the little fuckers won’t get to it when it starts turning color.

I’m finally able to view my class roster for the fall semester, and I’ve got 16 students with two on the waitlist (sorry, kids, but I won’t be taking you on). 16 is at the outside limit of manageable for a class–the last one I taught was 16, and that was after I took two hard-luck stories off the waitlist–and it’s a handful for the time allotted. Again, I’m not reinventing the syllabus, so it should be an easier lift than my last couple of semesters.