Possum Magic

in our Kitchen/Garden

When things don't go as planned!

It all started the previous day! I had seen the eggs in the nest, and they were to be a part of today's planned Kitchen/Garden ingredients here at Bungwahl Public School. Well, so I thought......

The day.....
"We've used all the eggs", says Jack, "And we don't have enough to make our ice cream".

So off they went to collect THOSE eggs (the one's I knew were there!)

And that's was when the unexpected happened.….

The boys return and exclaimed, "OMG, the possum is back and it scared the begeebers out of me. It's on the eggs again!"

(I have a little chuckle to myself imagining their surprise, until I realise that, I NEEDED THOSE EGGS!)

So off I trot with the boys thinking that this was not part of my plan! I was actually quite nervous as the reality hit me - I was going to have to get those eggs.

I arrived to find our little man snuggled in his favourite nest looking at me sheepishly, with our precious ice cream ingredients snuggled around him. What was I going to do? The boys couldn't stop giggling as I kept saying, "Shhhhh!"

The solution.....

a stick, giving me distance and protection.

Bravely I scraped an egg out from under his bottom,

and what does he do? He scrapes it back with his nose,

just like a chook, being ever so careful not to break it!

"Ok," I think, "I need those eggs, he hasn't eaten any, they were all accounted for. He just wants them ."

So I scraped one out again. He started to reach out so I gave him a scratch on the cheek (with the stick of course) and he closed his eyes and I swear he purred!

I now have one egg and I feel like a legend! I turn to the boys and their eyes are basically popping out in wonder. One by one, as I lovingly scratched him with

the stick, I collected the rest of the eggs so the kids could make their mint ice cream.

Jack now calls me ''The Possum Whisperer".

He is such a cute possum. Now, all I want to do is be brave enough to scratch him with my hand and be his friend.... But a possum as a friend in a vegie patch, how is that going to work?