Tomatoes, Chipmunks and Grass Stains

I am a pretty simple guy who grew up on Long Island and, when you couple that with moving around constantly during a military career, gardening was never a thing for me. 

Fast forward into a pandemic . . . who would have thought I would have a vegetable garden in New Hampshire . . . not me. 

However, I had a friend lay down a challenge about this pandemic period . . . I think the words were . . . If you don’t come out of this pandemic with a new hobby, a new side hustle, a new friendship or a new skill, you have wasted time. So, I figured I’d try my hand at gardening. 

I really like homemade caprese salad so plum tomatoes and cucumbers were a must for me and my wife really likes BLT sandwiches so beefsteak tomatoes were a must do for her. I did some research and New Hampshire is also good for yellow squash, zucchini squash and all kinds of peppers so before you knew it we had a pretty well functioning vegetable garden. 

I did not do enough research on how many tomato plants to actually plant and, like a good military officer, I went by the concept of “one is none and two is one.” The result was a mighty forest of tomatoes that was not getting enough water or air flow for the tomatoes to ripen. I ripped out half of the tomato plants in order to freshen things up and enable them to ripen a bit more quickly. After I replanted the remaining tomato plants, I watched over the coming days as both kinds of tomatoes were almost ripe enough to pick.   

Everything was now going according to plan and I was able to harvest handfuls of cucumber, zucchini, yellow squash and peppers on a daily basis and tomatoes would be next. Much to my chagrin, every time a tomato was ready for harvesting to be sliced up for a caprese salad or a BLT sandwich, my nemesis, we’ll call them either Alvin, Simon or Theodore, got to it first (picture above). 

 It is safe to say, I lost the Chipmunk Campaign this year because over the past several months I have only been able to have three tomatoes, 2 plum and one Beefsteak, and I lost count of how many my chipmunk friends have feasted on.  Nimitz, my trusted Lab, could sense my frustration every time he heard the chirp of the chipmunks during our neighborhood walks. 

Now that the leaves are changing up here in the Northeast, we had to stock up on heating pellets for the winter and I wanted to take care of getting 2 pallets worth before it really started getting cold. Last weekend was perfect and it was a beautiful day outside and it made sense to let Nimitz spend some time in the backyard while I unloaded the pellets into the garage. 

As I was letting my trusty companion into the yard, we heard the familiar chirp of not one but two chipmunks. I watched as one scurried under the fence out of reach and the other one ran to the shelter of the garden area where he was able to start hiding between the raised tomato bed and the rock wall – just out of reach of my trusty companion.     

As I continued to unload the pellets into the garage, I could see Nimitz’s tail wagging back and forth with increased frequency so I knew he was committed to something. I did not fully realize his level of commitment to turn the tide of the Chipmunk Campaign. He was so committed to mission success that he spent so much time and energy maneuvering in and around the tomato plants that he came out with grass stains all over his paws, face and snout.  Unfortunately, he was unable to turn the tide of this year’s Chipmunk Campaign but the effort was real and the acknowledgement for his efforts was a grilled hamburger for Friday night dinner.     

 As we launch into Q4, it is important to take notice of the performance of our team members and their commitment to mission success. 

•  Who on your team is willing to get grass stains on their face to get the job done? 
• How are you acknowledging their commitment to mission success? 

Dennis Volpe is a Principal Leadership Consultant and Executive Performance Coach with the Leadership Research Institute.  He specializes in Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Team Effectiveness, and Decision-Making.  He focuses his efforts on Performance and Transition Coaching for Emerging Leaders, proven mid-level Executives, and Military Veterans.