High Elevation Gardening Web Log "Blog"

still had red and green tomatoes, as well as blossoms, on my tomato plants when I decided to pull them out on December 13, two days after the first of several 15-inch snowstorms that came our way, last year. At that time, I also discovered that all but two of my bags of aspen leaves were torn open and many of the leaves were gone. I found large piles of deer droppings on the ground and imagined that a whole herd of deer must have devoured those leaves. Over the course of the next week, more and more leaves disappeared, and I found the opened bags strewn here and there around my hoophouse. By then, there was only one untouched bag left so I drove to the local feed store where I purchased two bales of straw for insulation. My two-year old kale plants were still inside the hoophouse, even though some of them were getting top heavy and falling over and others were becoming infested with aphids.

In the light of the full moon on December 21, I finally saw the hungry foragers, but only two, very large four legged beings, a male and a female. The young male bore a set of antlers about eighteen inches long with only one additional prong located near the tips, but they were straight and not as thick as those of a pronghorn. Their backs stood almost even with the top of my hoophouse, approximately four feet high.

They appeared as large as a small horse or a good-sized pony with little or no tail on their lightly colored rumps. Their heads and necks were darker in color than the rest of their brown bodies. The pictures and definitions that I found in the dictionary indicated that they must have been North American wapiti, similar in appearance to the elk of Eurasia.

After the snow melted, I didn't see any signs of the wapiti, again until January 8, the morning after the next 15-inch snowstorm. This time, their huge brown eyes made contact with mine through the second story window from where I watched them munch mouthfuls of the remaining dried aspen leaves. Four more stood in the distance, digging through the snow to find something to eat. I felt happy, knowing that plenty of native plants lay under the snow in my neighbors' yards and mine to relieve their hunger.

By springtime, I was amazed to discover that one bag of leaves remained untouched. I remembered reading about the raiding economy of Indigenous Peoples in this area and how they never took all of the sheep or cattle, but always left enough so there would be plenty for the following year. The wapiti left enough for my compost, too, but I wonder if I left them enough? Maybe we need to rethink the practice of sending all our leaves to the dump in the fall. We can just as well keep the bags of aspen leaves around until spring. If indeed the height of the native summer grasses indicate the depth of the snow this coming winter, then I suggest we keep the bagged aspen leaves close by, just in case.

Rebecca Snow is a Master Gardener volunteer. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For more information about the Master Gardener Program, call Hattie Braun, Coordinator of the Master Gardener Program, at 774-1868 ext.17 or visit our Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.