Four Acres and a Dream Part 5

 

Four Acres and a Dream

Our Homestead Journey

The Midnight Buffet

I meant it when I said I wanted us to take this homesteading journey together. This blog installment is a perfect example of going into the unknown. We we first decided to become homesteaders we identified what I will call the deal breaker list. We must have indoor plumbing and things like cell service or internet in the event of an emergency. The biggest deal breaker for us all was that we did not want to be neighbors with things that want to eat us like bears and wolves. Having accomplished that goal there is still the problem of things that want to eat practically everything I grow. Think of it as the herbivore buffet.

I do have some experience of dealing with animals who want to eat our food but that was on a much smaller scale which made it easier to manage. The birds want to eat my grapes, the squirrels are determine to eat my strawberries and the rabbits can't seem to resist eating the lettuce and carrots. The biggest garden predator by far are the dear.

Here is a list of what dear like to eat

Fruits and Vegetables Deer Love

If you grow beets, cabbage, apples, berries, beans or broccoli in your garden, deer will want to stay and feast. Deer also love lettuce, leafy greens, pears, spinach, turnip, cauliflower, carrot tops, kohlrabi, peas, strawberries, plums, sweet potatoes and sweetcorn.

So I need to be preemptive. In a previous blog I noted that in order to keep the neighbor's dog out or our garden I planted garlic. In anticipation of my war with the midnight four legged food bandits I have just planted two grow bags with sage, ghost peppers and habaneros. These are one gallon grow bags designed for portability. The plan is to watch my trail cam footage and try to see it there is a path that the dear and other night creatures are using to access my gardens. I have already planted in ground deterrents like bell peppers.

This is the fifty foot fence we put around the snack garden. Once the berries and cherry tomatoes start to ripen I will put a net over the top to keep the birds out. The six T post are sturdy and should keep out any other would be diners.

Great idea right? Yes, but this is a small 15 X 10 feet garden. My families primary garden is approx. 100 X 40 feet. This small fence cost $100.00. It is not cost effective to fence off the entire garden so I am looking into other protective measures.

I ordered this green bird netting. This is the second time around for this product. I wasn't happy with it the first go round because the birds managed to get underneath the tree branches. They got trapped inside the next which turned out to be a real pain in the butt because I had to keep getting them out. This time I will use it on plants which are closer to the ground and I will keep it tighter.

I

I have used the netting on the left in the past. It works well against birds but larger animals can just rip it off.

The photo of this deer was from the cam. It was taken before I started putting in the garden. 

This was taken a few days ago.

This soap, yes soap is a very good deterrent however it's effectiveness is short lived. As you have probably already figured out it dissolves in the rain. I use it as a quick short-term remedy but since I don't want chemicals in my food I only use it around the outside of my garden.  

There is still so much to do and learn. 

Four Acres and a Dream Part One