We had a minor deer incursion Thursday night, the second one this year.  Once again, the problem was a sagging fence --- in this case, honeysuckle had bowed the fence down to the point where a deer could probably step right over it.  I'd known about the danger spot, but figured it was unlikely a deer would walk up the steep hillside below and enter our farm right outside our back door.  I was wrong.

Luckily, Mark's hard-core deer-deterring actions meant the deer didn't come back the next day, and has hopefully moved on to easier pickings.  In addition to tearing the vines off the problem fence, Mark added two cedar posts to the problem area so he could extend the fence up another four feet.  Next, Mark plugged back in the deer deterrents (silent for the last couple of months) and moved one right in front of the incursion spot.

Meanwhile, I covered up all the strawberries with plastic trellis material.  This stuff really comes in handy for everything from deer fencing to cucumber and pea trellises, and it also makes it tougher for a deer to really munch on their favorite plants.  Granted, the deer already ate half the leaves on four strawberry beds, but shutting the barn door after the horse is gone works with plants since they regrow (as long as they don't get nibbled again).

Our last step was to hook up the game camera to make 100% sure the deer doesn't come back (or, if it does, to find out where its new entrance is).  The only thing we caught on camera, though, was me --- taking Lucy for a walk, bringing in the laundry, and just peering into the lens.  I think the words going through my head were "Does this thing still work?"

Want more in-depth information? Browse through our books.

Or explore more posts by date or by subject.

About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.

Powered by Branchable Wiki Hosting.