Over the Hedge, the DreamWorks movie about a raccoon and a ragtag group of wild animals invading the suburbs in search of food, is a common story around many U.S. neighborhoods. We have foxes, raccoons, opossums, deer, skunks, squirrels, birds…and mice. It’s the mice who may have stirred up a bit of trouble for us this winter. We weren’t sure, at first, but we suspected they had made their way inside, rather than just them scratching on the rooftop, when the bird seed bag had been ripped open. The maddening sounds of something scurrying in the walls was no less concerning than the tap, tap, tapping on a floor as the days went by.

All the while we thought, the one who believes herself a true and noble huntress might eventually bring forth the creature from within (a creature who, by this point has amassed in size, strength, and skill and possibly has learned how to wield a sword), serving it a hefty portion of justice. Justice for the birds!

This did not happen.

As it turns out, our cat lied on her resume. Don’t get me wrong. She has carved out her niche in this pyramid scheme (read: family). Our cat is a very loving and affectionate diva. She has about 5 beds, but a human lap is undoubtedly her favourite. She also seems to have an uncanny ability to tell time, when everyday she perches up onto the counter to sweetly scream in my face that she wishes for me to unleash the gravy fish into her chalice such that she can give it a hearty sniff and saunter off to consume her delectables at a later time. This may very well be her version of hunting because, we still have mice….

So, we set out to trap our holiday subletting tenants on our own (which, we would soon learn where there is one mouse, there are many), but not before the critter had the chance to do a little…gardening. Just below the bag of birdseed sat a bag of potting mix.

Fast forward to early spring, I’m grabbing scoops full of my potting mix to plant some black-eyed susan seeds for the garden. At first, I hadn’t noticed a thing, and as time went on sprouts came up and that was that. Until I noticed the cuckoo sprouts growing ever taller than their housemates.

I decided to let them remain in the mix, but have since moved them to their own space. I’ve also identified the species. I am fairly certain we now have black oil sunflowers to add to our garden.

Were it not for the fastidious farmer friends, so skilled at carefully tossing these seeds from above down into the [open] bag of potting mix, we would not have sunflowers for our garden this year. I should also give credit to the steadfast laziness of our panther. Without her ability to give zero f*cks to rogue rodents in our home, this endeavor might not have come to fruition. See, you never know what might happen!