Strawberry season

There's plenty of strawberries to go around, even with some being stolen by the chipmunks and birds. (I took one of the older rabbit pens and used that to cover the strawberry patch along with deer netting and chicken wire.)

This is the third bowlful of strawberries that came inside in the last week. We made a big batch of strawberry cake with the first bowlful (along with some left over for strawberry topping for ice cream!).

But I did lose another (more mature) broccoli plant today to what I believe is the groundhog (or woodchuck, or thief, by any other name). I'm a little scared to plant my cucumbers and butternut squash plants (purchased) and plant my watermelon seeds (is it too late?) in case those look tasty to him, too. Sometimes I get so discouraged I don't even know why I plant vegetables. Why can't I just be content with growing flowers? I had this idea that this growing season was going to be perfect, and I should know better. If anything, it's replicating the rainy season we had three years ago when we moved into this house. Ah- must stay positive!