Deer Me!

When we first moved here, I was somewhat disappointed that wildlife didn't come leaping through our yard every morning. I liked the idea of sipping coffee on the porch while innocent, wide- eyed deer meandered across the freshly mowed grass, with their wobbly new fawns following closely behind. Yet, I was rarely greeted with any movement whatsoever except for an occasional wren or woodpecker that flitted among the oak trees.

That all changed once we got our garden planted. It was like a giant billboard announcing free vegetables and yummy green things. Soon I started spying a white tail bouncing off into the woods, determined tracks in the garden soil, and bold does skirting the yard waiting for a chance at the smorgasbord.

One evening they wiped out an entire row of okra.
And my husband loves his okra.
If it had been hunting season, his camo would have been on him faster than a cheeta on a baby hippo.
As a result, we would be having venison with our okra.

But, as things are, the only way to really save our garden is to keep the critters OUT. So, we went to the local hardware store and filled our cart with all the accessories for an electric fence. Before going to the checkout, we calculated the expense. There was $150 worth of deer deterrent in our basket. We looked at one another and said "no way!" and put it all back on the shelf.

Now...what was Plan B?

That was when we came home and put our scarecrow Samuel up. Taped colorful pinwheels to his pipe hands and made him rotate in the breeze. We also took advice of some locals who assured us that foil pie tins were the best thing going. We tied some in various spots of the garden and they banged around in the wind, making a noise that could even scare Bigfoot.

Did it work?

For awhile. But soon the okra that had started regrowth began looking like a bad barber had scalped them in the night. My husband fumed.

Plan C happened last night. A motion detector light. Which my husband assured me was only a ten minute job, but which actually stretched out a good 34 minutes and 14 seconds.  (But who's keeping time?)
My part was hunkering down and entering the garden, pretending I was a deer. His part was twisting, moving, setting the buttons a hundred and twelve times until he got it to come on, stay on, be focused correctly. Whew! I was almost ready to run off into the woods like a deer by the time that light was properly installed!

This morning we weighed the results. It was hard to tell if the okra had been sheared any shorter and it was so dusty that we couldn't find any prints. I would like to think that Plan C worked, but I'm doubtful. But I've learned one thing for sure:

Keeping deer out of the garden is about as easy as keeping me out of the Hershey bars.