Oh, Deer!

I have written about the fun of gardening with children, about how our garden was planted this spring, and about how I was looking forward to all of the fresh produce.  While I was picking the asparagus, I noticed that the tops of some of the stalks were missing.  The mystery was solved when I found a deer hoof print in the asparagus bed.  When the asparagus season was over I eagerly awaited the next harvest.  I had the first cutting of Swiss chard (beans and greens for lunch!), and went to find more.  What I found was that the local deer must have mistaken the garden for the local 7/11. 

The Swiss chard consists of bare stems.






The peppers have no blossoms or top leaves.




The green beans are bare between the top and the bottom of the plants.


At least the deer do not like the hot peppers and the onions.  I have found a few that have been spit out onto the ground.  One high point, though - they do not seem to like the tomatoes!  But,to add insult to injury, I have to pooper scoop the deer do if we want to walk through the garden.

There are apparently several things that can be done to scare away the deer.  I do not plan to sit in the garden all night so that I can jump up and yell when they tiptoe in.  I can order cougar urine on the internet and sprinkle it around.  (I can picture myself running into the post office asking, "Bonita, is my cougar urine here yet?").  Human urine is supposed to work.  (Why didn't we need it when my grandson was here?  Every ten year old boy worth his salt would jump at the chance to pee in the yard without being scolded.)  Hanging pieces of soap around the garden to shoo the deer sounds like the best bet.  Hopefully it will work and we will have vegetables after all.

This week I read Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden.  The story is about two young ladies from Auburn, NY who, in 1917 travel to Colorado to teach for a year.  The story is taken from the girls' letters home, interviews, and diaries.  It is fascinating.