Oh Deer, What Can The Matter Be?

Seen through the dirty window

   Tuesday morning, we had these visitors in the yard. They were so good, the didn't jump the fence into the garden. They probably would have, if they could have figured out how, so they ate from the compost pile and our small berry plants instead.
   Usually when deer see movement, they take off running, but these 3 didn't. They were very skinny and really need to fatten up to survive the winter.
   After grazing for awhile, they noticed something and went into alert mode. We didn't see anything from the window.
   All of a sudden, the deer took off. We knew it wasn't a run for your life run, since it wasn't fast enough.
   You'll never guess what scared them away? Have you given up yet? Well, hot on the heals of the deer, came 19 turkeys chasing them away.
   The turkeys were all fluffed up with their necks stretched out, running as fast as their turkey legs could go.
   It was really funny watching the turkeys. Turkeys chasing deer isn't something you see every day. As a matter of fact, I've never seen it before.
   The deer ate most of the good stuff from the compost pile, so the turkeys didn't hang around long. We have a first come, first serve compost pile.

But It Was A 6 Foot Fence

   Well, the deer have been in the garden, even with the 6 foot fence. I guess there is really no stopping them. They had a good old time eating whatever took their fancy. Who needs lettuce, broccoli and watermelon? Who needs peas and beans? We do have a freezer full of peas and beans. They haven't helped us harvest onions yet. I'm sure with time, they will.
   There is a pumpkin with some teeth marks in it, but it's still ok. Chard is also good deer food. I went grocery shopping yesterday. It was a really long day. I noticed people weren't buying the non-necessities.
   Tomorrow there is a farmer's market in Clayton, WA, which isn't that far from here and I am trying to convince Tim we need to go. There are going to be spinners there, with fiber to buy. Who cares that I have a bath tub full of still untouched fiber to do something with. There will be Alpaca fiber to buy and I've always wanted to try some of that. $10.00 for 4 ounces. 4 ounces of Alpaca fiber will go a long way.
   There will be other crafters there, as well. Also fresh cheese, homemade goat milk soap, small farm animals to buy, and free lemonade and cookies. Who knows, maybe we can get more peas, green beans, onions, carrots and potatoes.
   One of our tomatoes that had a big boy label in the pot turned out to be a cherry tomato. Big difference in tomato size. I bet someone had fun playing with the variety sticks stuck in the pot.
   The birds have discovered Tim's black berries and raspberries. He's not happy about that. He put bird netting over them and the birds were trying their darnedest to get in under the netting.
   The wild turkeys are still roosting at the end of the driveway high up in the trees. Tim is getting a good collection of turkey feathers for his fly tying.
   Amy caught Michaela walking yesterday. She just turned 8 months old. Michaela really has that throwing things down pat. She still spits up a storm, too.
   Well, my break is over. It's time to get back to playing in the green beans. Amy and Daniel are shelling the peas for me, but for some reason, they don't like doing the green beans.

We Planted More Deer Food Today

   Tim and I, (mostly Tim) planted more deer food today. We planted 2 more blueberry plants, 2 blackberry plants, 1 raspberry plant and 3 rhubarb plants. When I was planting the rhubarb, the pot that held what looked like a double sprout was really 2 plants, so we got 3 for the price of 2.
   Tim and I have never had rhubarb, but hey, why not? If we don't like it, we'll harvest and give it to someone who does.
   We've decided we need 2 more blueberry plants, so we can feed the deer and birds really well when the berries are ripe and ready to pick.
   I have more beans and peas to plant. Chip and Jake, really like green beans. I'll share, they can have mine. I was staggering them so hopefully they wouldn't all be ready at the same time. If all we've planted does well, I am going to be so busy. Tim says our garden is 60'x50' and it will be bigger next year.
   I read in a pest control book that deer don't like rosemary. Maybe we should plant a hedge of rosemary all around the garden. Deer also don't like anything smelly. Well, neither do I. I've heard bars of soap work to repel deer, but only if you've used it and then it's mostly the human scent that repels them. If we dig a moat and fill it with water, it too, is suppose to keep the deer out.  That one sounds like a wee bit much work.
   I took Chip out and tied his leash to a tree branch, since he tends to not come back. That was a mistake. I foolishly thought since the weeds had been mowed down, they wouldn't get in his curls so much. Nope. Just smaller pieces to pick out. You'd think I would have learned by now that poodles and the great outdoors don't mix. He's also not a hot weather dog, even though his coat is about an inch long now, and it was only in the upper to lower 80's today, and he was in the shade. A very nice breeze went with the temperature today.
   I get out of some garden work tomorrow because I have to make cookies and bread. I have clothes to sew and crocheting to do also, even though I hear my spinning wheels calling me.  We're getting very pioneerish here.
   A big part of me thinks we should have started this before we were in our 50's. Maybe it's our midlife crisis? Sky rocketing food prices? All the junk that is in food from the grocery store? Stupidity? Who knows? I'm still sure this getting healthy bit is going to kills us.

Finally, it was time to plant our garden

   At long last, the weather cooperated, and we were able to plant most of the garden. We still need to plant the tomatoes, but it's been in the mid to upper 20's at night, so they are still in the house. We are going to try walls of water this year for them. We hear they are the way to go. I hope so, since the tomatoes really need to go outside. They aren't looking to perky right now. We are also planting more potatoes. I think we need to try sweet potatoes this year, too.
   I know it will eventually happen, but so far, no deer. Could be, because it's just a patch of tilled dirt right now until thing start to grow. We are planting a lot of onions and potatoes since we go through them. You'd think, that being a hop, skip and a jump from Idaho, the potato state, we'd be able to get good potatoes here, but we don't.
   We are also planting garlic, red and green bell peppers(yuck), spinach, lettuce, tons of corn, radishes, carrots, turnips, green beans and peas and assorted squash. Oh, and of course zucchini, so we can give it to everyone we know. Kind of a we'll take yours, if you take ours thing. We figure if we over plant, we should have some after the deer eat their share. We will also give to friends and neighbors if we have more than we need.
   I plan to dehydrate most of it. It reconstitutes in boiling water, lasts a long time, keeps more nutrients than canning or freezing, and the biggest reason is, it won't be taking up room in our tiny freezer. It gets to take up room in the pantry. For some reason, I keep thinking my dehydrator won't live through this year, even though I have never had any problems with it.  Could be because I've had it since 1993.
   The sheep that live behind us seem to be happy, and well fenced, in their many acres this year. Good thing, since there are a lot more of them. Time will tell, though.

Gee thanks, deer

The deer have decided it's time for me to harvest our onions. Up to this point, the deer haven't bothered the onions. Now, they are eating the tops and pulling the onions out of the ground. It does make it easier to harvest if they are already laying on the ground. Unfortunately, it's all the onions at one time and not staggered like I had planned on harvesting them.
The deer haven't tried carrots, yet. Most of them are ready to harvest. Tim dug up more potatoes this evening while I was picking up onions. More to be harvested later. I guess tomorrow, besides baking, I am doing things with fresh produce. I'm going to try dehydrating garlic and potatoes for the first time. The garlic and onions will be dehydrated outside, using my dehydrator. No rain in the forecast, so it's a good time.

*^%$#! Sheep!!

This morning at 5:00AM, we heard a thunk on the side of the house and several loud Baaaaa's. The sheep were back. Not 8 this time , but 17, thanks to the populations explosion behind us. They found the garden. We don't need to worry about too many radishes anymore. Apparently, sheep like radishes. They sampled everything else but they should survive. The sheep were careful and walked between the rows of potatoes, though. Tim went out and told them to go home, and they took off. I see they are in the pasture furthest away from us now.
Tim saw a buck, down and speckled fawn in the yard on his trip to get the newspaper out of the box at the street. He said the doe and fawn were playing, chasing each other around. The buck stood up really tall and snorted and stamped his feet when he finally noticed Tim. Then they took off to go wherever deer go during the day. Life is interesting up here.

Things you can see in one day up here

We like to go for drives on weekends. We see so much that we never expected to see and are amazed by. So many people up here seem to take it all for granted since they see it all the time. I hope we never do. A tank of gas is well worth it.

Spring in my snow globe world

Spring is so pretty up here. The colors of the wildflowers and the 300 lakes around us plus all the rivers. Wildlife everywhere, except when your family visits and you've bragged about seeing them everywhere. It's a photographers paradise.