The ongoing fight against nature

Our house is surrounded by deer trails, and when we first moved here last winter we got excited every time we saw deer. The first time we saw the house after we bought it, a deer was even standing by the front porch, and we thought it was so cool.

But after seeing 40 or 50 of them in the neighborhood, the thrill wore off, and we knew we'd have to fence in our garden eventually or lose everything to hungry deer. We were busy with other things and put off building a fence until June, when we started seeing deer prints in the garden beds and losing young green bean plants. 

On the left: a healthy young bean plant. On the right: one that the deer stripped.

The only surefire way to keep out deer is an 8-foot fence, but that wasn't in the budget this year. The next-best option is electric fence, so after much confusion and research, we bought all the equipment we needed and spent one looong day installing it.

Our garden is pretty far from any power source, so we bought a solar-powered system. We put up about 10 metal poles at outward angles, which supposedly adds more depth and discourages deer from jumping over. We installed one upright wood pole (the only nice-looking pole we had laying around the barn) to mount the solar charger. Then we ran two wires around the perimeter that would carry the charge and two uncharged wires just to provide more of a barrier. We used chicken wire at the bottom of the fence to help keep out small animals, although any really determined critter could squeeze underneath it without too much trouble.

The solar charger and the angled fence. For an extra classy touch, we included strips of plastic bags at the top to make the fence look taller.

It wasn't a difficult project, but it took a lot of time and involved unpleasant tasks like mowing down a huge area of poison ivy and securing the chicken wire with hundreds of metal twist-ties. At the end of the long day, with our extensive cases of poison ivy already showing up, Mike bravely stepped up to test the fence and make sure it actually worked. He'd been shocked many times in the past by a strong charge around a horse pasture, so he was pretty wary.

Using a blade of grass to test the electric fence

I was standing by eagerly for his reaction, but it didn't turn out to be too bad. He says it's not something you'd want to feel but not seriously painful. It's strong enough to be unpleasant to a deer, which is all we need. We've had a little damage in the garden from a small animal or two since the fence was put up, but we haven't seen any evidence of deer breaching the perimeter. 

We were in too much of a hurry to figure out how to include a gate the first time around, so we have to turn off the charger and squeeze between the wires when we want to get in, which is annoying and makes it really hard to get a mower in there. This fall when we're done harvesting everything and can take down the fence for a few days, we're planning to install a gate. While we're at it, we'll also replace the rusty metal poles with nice wood poles so it doesn't look like such a prison yard. 

Summer updates

As August rolls in, it's good to see some of the projects here coming into fruition. The garden needs very little work these days, aside from the occasional hour or two of watering, weeding, and picking Japenese beetles. I was worried that the shade would be too much, but the tomatoes are coming in strong. While most are still small and green, we've harvested a few Brandywine and Black Krim (both of which I would highly recommend). The bell peppers and jalapenos have fruited, the beets are coming along well, and the pole beans (green beans) seem to be spreading nicely, though they haven't flowered yet.

Our heavy thicket of tomatoes

One perfect bell pepper

 We finally called it quits with our cauliflower and broccoli patch, and the Brussels sprouts and cabbage are close behind. A nightly invader destroyed a ten or so leaves at a time from the plants, and during the day, the small green worms from innocent white moths devoured the insides. We were able to shoo away the rabbit or squirrel at night by spreading garlic powder around the beds occasionally, and we hand-picked as many worms as we could daily, but alas the damage had been done, and nothing came of the plants. Nonetheless, our sheepish chickens enjoyed picking over the plants and finding all of the hidden worms.

A torn up and nearly dead broccoli plant

The chicken pen is finished at last! Since our coyote problem from last month, we kept the chickens in the coop during the day while we covered the nearby dog pen with rolls of chicken wire. We had some leftover wire fencing from the garden that I used to thread the chicken wire together, creating a gap-free shelter for the little buggers while still allowing them to spend their days outside. We then dug a foot out from the base of the pen and buried chicken wire along the perimeter, foiling any attempts to dig into the pen. We removed the tiny chicken door from the back of the coop and replaced it with a small (and at first extremely frightening) tunnel that led into the pen. After some successful baiting with some cracked corn tossed into the pen, the little guys finally relented and settled into their new area. Now they can come and go as they please, and we're able to leave for a few days here and there without having to arrange for letting them in and out.

The unsightly but functional chicken pen

We recently found that a) we love chanterelle mushrooms and b) chanterelle mushrooms grow like crazy in the forests around our property. After some initial hesitation and uncertainty that these gobs of mushrooms truly were what I suspected they were (smooth chanterelles, mostly), I threw them in a pan and made one of the best tasting things I've eaten in a long time. Meanwhile our mushroom logs are still sitting quietly behind the barn without any sign of a mushroom. 

Wild chanterelles in our woods

This is the recipe we've liked for the mushrooms:

Dry saute method for chanterelles (roughly 10 ounces after trimming):

Wipe off any dirt from the mushrooms, trim off the base and any dark places, and cut them into manageable bites. (Don't wash them or they'll suck up all the water, steaming as they cook.)

Put them in a frying pan with no butter or oil over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring often. (They'll sweat the little moisture they have, concentrating their flavor and opening them up for some butter. Lightly salting here would help them release the moisture a bit better, though I've heard early salting also leads to less flavor, so pick your poison.)

Add 1 Tbsp butter and saute for 2-3 minutes. A dash of pepper, a dash of salt, and enjoy.