The Resident Toad

While picking okra something caught my eye.  It was moving and startled me at first, but then I looked closer.  It was perhaps the biggest toad I had ever seen.  It was so fat and plump it reminded me of myself after a big Thanksgiving meal.

Toads are a gardener's friend.  They devour insects, slugs and snails.  I read that they can eat up to 10,000 garden pests in a single summer.  By examining this guy's girth, I would say he is well on his way to eating that many or more!  I hope he keeps at it.  There's lots of stuff for him to eat in our garden.

They like moist environments and plenty of cover and the garden certainly has exactly that habitat right now.  I am very thankful for Mr. Toad taking up residence in our garden.  I thought that I would pick him up, thank him, and ask him to invite some more of his toad family to reside in our garden.

He thanked me right back and promptly pee'd all over my hand.  I guess I had that coming!  I immediately thought of the old tale that toads will give you warts.  I set Mr. Toad back down in the garden, watched him clumsily hop away and then I went inside and washed by hands real good.  Actually, toads cannot give you warts.  Warts are caused by a human virus and cannot be transmitted by toads.  Old fellow got a bad reputation.  I did learn that the bumps behind a toad's ears are glands that emit a poison that repel its predators and can irritate human skin.

There's good and bad with everything, I guess.  I think in Mr. Toad's case, the good outweighs the bad.  Long live Mr. Toad (and his friends) that have made Our Maker's Acres Family Farm garden their home.  Bon Appetit, fat toad!