DIY-Pandemic Papers | Pets | Animals
Howard the Tortoise
And how he taught me to love gardening
This article is number two in my Pandemic Papers for The DIY Diaries. If you read my last article here, “An Old Dog and a New Trick,” you already know that NOTHING in this world is as precious to me as my family. That family consists of one wife and a whole bunch of animals.
During lockdown, I was heavily concerned about not being able to meet the needs of the dogs, parrot, and tortoise, so naturally, I panicked. Food was a priority, and I was fortunate enough to secure a local retailer to provide me with both the regular and prescription dog food I needed — she even delivered it to my front door. What a Godsend!
My parrot would be reasonably straightforward. Even though I usually feed her pellet food, she can eat a variety of human foods; seeds, nuts, apples, grapes, oatmeal, corn, and peppers. But, the hardest customer was going to be my tortoise. While Howard will eat the grass in his pen for daytime snacking, a well-rounded, complete diet is paramount to their good health.
Howard is a sixty-two-year-old — give or take a year — desert tortoise. My wife’s friend had given him to her thirty-five years ago. Her friend had another tortoise previously, and when she got Howard, they started to fight. The two opponents constantly tried flipping each other over on the back of their shells. This is quite dangerous and potentially fatal, as a tortoise’s shell can crack when landing upside down, causing pain, bleeding, and infection. Also, if the tort cannot right itself using its long neck and legs, it will not survive long due to the arrangement of its organs, which only function properly right side up. So my animal-loving wife happily took him in, and he has been my faithful companion for the last twenty-five years.
Now, I by no means have a green thumb; you might even say “I’m all thumbs” when it comes to plants. Good with animals, absolute disaster to the plant world. So it was a bit of a surprise around here when I started ordering seeds, sprouters, peat pots, plant stakes, clay pots, and a variety of gardening paraphernalia from Amazon. Every day was a new delivery; every afternoon, I was out in the garden planting enough fruits and vegetables to feed Howard while the world was as upside down as he used to be!
I sprouted purple kohlrabi, collard, radish, turnip, and broccoli sprouts, and planted buttercrunch and oakleaf lettuce, orange chard, kale, strawberries, and lemon balm. Those, along with our roses, which tortoises LOVE, and mom used to give him for “dessert,” would be enough to keep our boy in food throughout the season.
I found that I loved growing things. It relaxed me and helped with the anxiety and claustrophobia I felt in those early, uncertain days of the pandemic. I also planted pots all around Howard’s pen, so when he came out of his house — yes, he has a doghouse he sleeps in at night — I could pick fresh food and toss it to him. Howard is very social, and when he sees me picking his food, he runs, surprisingly swiftly, right up to greet me.
Howard would only be outside in his backyard pen for six months of the year. He spends the other six months inside our house in a box, in our guest bathroom. There he brumates, which is winter dormancy, as in hibernates. So I only have to worry about his food for half the year.
By the time Howard woke up in 2021, things were better. You could buy fruits and vegetables more readily at the supermarket, and farmer’s markets were back in full swing. But you know, I still grow his food. I enjoy it very much and spend hours in my garden. I even expanded to producing things we like to eat and developing my own tea blend: chamomile, pineapple sage, and peppermint. I don’t think I will ever stop. My thumb has gotten greener, and I love that my wife refers to it as “Mona’s farm.”
See how much our animals teach us.