Since moving to the farm, we have hoped to catch a glimpse of a black bear. Neighbors had told us that they are occasionally around and it seemed only right that they visit their namesake farm. There are often reports on the neighborhood sites of bears on front porch cams and broken bird feeders from snacking bears. However, there have been no signs of bears here.

No signs until a few months ago when: 1. we found a rather large pile of bear scat (it’s amazing the things I have googled since moving here 🤣) in the driveway. 2. a few weeks ago, there was a veritable crime scene with pools of blood and drag marks where the bear had dragged it’s prey away (it was as yucky as it s0unds). 3.

One morning the bird feeder had been bent to the ground during the night. 4. The next day we found 2 growing trees stripped (a common practice of bears according to my friends at google). Our black bear may not have been seen, but he is definitely around!

It seemed a shame to waste all the boughs stripped from the tree that the bear left behind, so with a little help from our magnolia tree, those stripped boughs became our holiday wreath this year.