Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Deer Fencing

Before Christmas, I had deer come in and eat pretty much ALL my beautiful kale plants. They ate them to the quick. Up until that point, I had been harvesting and selling them, and they were gorgeous. Damn deer! I have several hundred plants, and they all got cleaned out in one fell swoop.

So, deer fencing has become a top priority. I can't count the amount of times last year that I had a beautiful crop of something, and they would eat it just before I was about to harvest... they seem to have uncanny timing!
Before I put up fence extenders, however, I had to clear a bunch of brambles and brush from along the fenceline. So, I ended up doing something I've never done before... I hired someone to come in and do it for me. Honestly, it would have taken me weeks on my own to get everything cleared. The two guys I hired had everything cleared and the extenders up in two days. It was worth every single penny. I wasn't able to get the whole property done (about 1/3 is now finished), but I got done the most common places for the deer to come in. Not sure if it is helping, as I have nothing left for the damn deer to eat, but it's a start! Between the extenders, I had fishing line put up, with some flagging tape on the top level (about 8' tall now) so the deer can see there is a barrier there. From the research I've done, they shouldn't be bothering to come in now.
I am working slowly putting up extenders around the rest of the property. I hope to have it all done by March, when I start planting crops outside again.
Let's hope that I actually get to harvest some of my own crops this year, and the deer don't take it all!

Flooded Driveway

Flooded Driveway
Too much RAIN!