Sometimes You Just Gotta Buy An Eight Foot Game Fence

 

We’re changing the fencing on our property. We cut down some trees that I planted the day my mother died. Lombardy poplars evidently have a lifespan. They were mostly dead and it was time to cut them down. It didn’t help that we didn’t burn our field for three years and torched them off when we finally did so a couple of years ago. Well, torched is a little extreme. Singed is more like it. My neighbor claimed that he could see the smoke from town. Even though he’s pretty good at fish stories, this wasn’t one of them. Now that the trees are gone, it will make burning the field so much easier. We moved the fence to the other side of the driveway at the property line. We also fenced off the lower area to keep out the deer. Some of that was already done by the neighbors. We replaced the cross fence with an eight foot woven wire game fence. Our thinking was that this way, we wouldn’t have to add strands of barbed wire up on the top. Big R was having a sale and we just couldn’t help ourselves. It’s awesome. I still have bruises. I don’t know how much that 330 foot roll weighed, but it hurts when it falls on you. And I really don’t know how I got wrapped up inside it, sort of. It happened when I was pulling the fence along while my husband was unrolling it…all uphill. Pro-tip: you need more than two old people.

We added a gate to the cross fence at the driveway. Theoretically, that should have kept the deer out. We learned the hard way that young deer can squeeze through small spaces. They’re like mice that way. Now the gate has some bungee cords on it until we buy the automatic gate opener. They keep it stable enough that the kiddos can’t squeeze through until we don’t bungee it correctly. Mama and the twins were quite hilarious during this process. We’d think they were out, and then the next morning, they’d be in the backyard. Or, they’d be eating apples. But as of yesterday, they might actually be gone. A herd of a dozen or so deer were standing outside the game fence in the pasture yesterday morning. They wanted in. The downside of not letting deer in anymore is that I’ll have to clean up the apples on the ground myself. They’re like little vacuums. And that’s what they all want. Apples. And any flowers I might foolishly think I can plant.

The doe even appeared to be a little drunk from eating apples off the ground. It’s not so bad when she stands up on her hind legs and picks them herself. It’s been hot, so it stands to reason that some fermentation might be happening. It was almost as if she was daring us to make her leave. She stood not five feet away from me, crunching apples, foaming at the mouth, eyes all crazy. And then she and her twins were gone. We have some more reinforcing to do on the back fence, so I’m hoping they’ll stay out now.

I just want to plant flowers. I don’t want to have to hang them high up in the trees. I get soaking wet when I water them. I want to enjoy them on the ground. Anywhere and everywhere. I also want to plant lavender everywhere. And willow trees. I’ve grown beans, and lettuce up in trees. Seriously. I currently have two hydroponic lettuce rafts up on a platform in a willow tree. After living here for thirty-three years, I’m asserting my property ownership rights. I know the deer disagree. I don’t care.

Enjoying deer from inside the game fence is so much more satisfying.