Every gardener knows that the hardest part of tending a vegetable patch is keeping the local animals and insects at bay.
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Jeff Permar of Delaware has been an avid green thumb for 20 years. In the spring of 2019, he was upset to see that some of his new crops had been eaten away by wild animals.
“I was really upset because I didn’t know what was eating out of the garden,” he said. “I thought it was a deer, or it could have been a rabbit.”
Everything in his beautiful garden was “being eaten to shreds,” so he set up a motion-detecting camera to catch the culprit. It didn’t take long for the veggie thief to show up. It was a groundhog, which wasn’t too surprising, but what Jeff did not expect was how stinking cute the little guy would be!
The funniest part of the security footage was that whenever the groundhog appeared, he would grab some produce from the garden and insist on eating it right in front of the camera. Every. Single. Time!
“It’s all they do is wake up and eat,” Jeff said. He tried to keep his new friend out with fences and even dangled shiny objects to keep the groundhog from treating his garden like a personal buffet, but nothing worked. Eventually, Jeff decided to stop fighting and just go with it.
That’s when he named the groundhog Chunk and began sharing videos of him chowing down on YouTube and Instagram. His fan base grew almost immediately, and it’s easy to see why. Chunk is one irresistible produce thief!
1. “Found out who has been eating our veggies!” Jeff announced on Instagram.
2. When he realized Chunk was there to stay, Jeff started to accessorize.
3. Chunk’s videos were an instant hit online. People especially love the sound he makes while munching.
4. Jeff started getting creative with his videos as his audience grew larger.
5. Hoping to salvage some vegetables for himself, Jeff decided he would put in a separate garden just for Chunk the following spring.
6. When Chunk emerged again that year, he found a veggie patch just for him, plus a new picnic table, water fountain, and other decor.
7. Soon, Chunk introduced Jeff to his new mate Nibbles.
8. Then Nibbles and Chunk welcomed a new addition.
9. So far, Jeff has watched Chunk and Nibbles raise three babies, Chip, Chibbles, and Nugget.
10. The separate garden trick works for now, but sometimes, Jeff has to supplement their patch because they eat so much.
11. Jeff has decided it’s easier (and more fun!) to live peacefully with nature instead of fighting it.
“I learned that this is his land too. I’m just putting a garden on it,” Jeff wisely stated. What a perfect way for everyone to live peacefully together and have enough to eat. We could watch Chunk’s clan chow down all day long!
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