Deer

We've started to put a deer fence up around the other half of our property, but hot weather and travel have taken priority over finishing that project.

So we get this.

A White-tailed Deer fawn checking out the trail cam.

It has been stopping by for several days now.

Good news is that the weather is starting to cool. So the rest of the fence will be going up.

And the understory in our woods can return.

If You Leave It ...

... They will grow.

I blogged last year about a no mow zone where Great Blue Lobelia sprung up. This year they've really taken over the area.

Last year I had to weed out Japanese Stiltgrass, a nasty invasive (we still have it about the yard) but in this section the Lobelia are so thick I don't see any Stiltgrass. Yay!

Two Dogwoods, a Tulip Poplar (to replace the fallen Willow), and a few other natives along the woods edge comprise the the list of what we've planted in this area. Everything else came on it's own.

A testament to the resilience of the natural world, the deer fence, and laziness (although I did place the Willow limbs along the edge, and resurrect the Willow stump).

This Is Why. ...

... we need that deer fence.

Looking over the Mini-Meadow like it is some kind of smorgasbord.

I do have the wireless deer fence posts around the Mini-Meadow, it may help, but there are just too many deer.

Deer Fence, the Sequel

We are so happy with how the deer fence worked out we've decided to do the rest of the yard. We started out by the quonset hut, and went across the back of the property, our border with the state forest.

Hard to see, but that is kinda the point, as we don't want a fence to be the focal point when out in the yard.

It was while clearing a path for this section when I found the roofing shingles.

This was a long stretch, so I added a gate to allow access to and from the back woods. It was very helpful when working on the fence itself. And it is near here, a few feet to the left, where I found the worm snake.

This is Max reading the instructions for assembling and installing the gate. How they got here, two days after the gate was installed well away from the path around the fish pond, is a mystery we may never solve. As to why Max is looking at them upside down, that's easy. Cats can't read.

This part is along the road, east of the septic mound, and connects to a section I added back in March, where I used the remaining fence from the initial installation. Now the entire east side of the property, to the 'front yard', is fenced. 

Well almost. I was one foot short. The orange cord securing the end of the fence to the last post tree.

Not to worry, that's another roll of fence, wrapped in blue. Under a gate to install where our driveway connects to our neighbor to the west's property, the horse farm. Once upon a time our two properties were part of a larger blueberry farm.

There are still two long sections of fence to install. And then we need to figure out what to put across the front yard, likely a split rail type fence. And then what to do with the driveway.

I better get to work ...

More Falling, More Booming

Yesterday evening some heavy duty thunderstorms came through. They didn't last long, but they hit hard.

And when they hit I heard what sounded like a very loud door slamming. I looked around and didn't see anything that would have caused this banging. Once the storm passed through I grabbed a flashlight and went outside to see what I could find. The only thing I found was this:

A dead tree had snapped and and the trunk split when it hit the ground. Fortunately it fell away from the house. It was a relatively thin tree, and I wondered how it could have been so loud.

This morning while I was getting my morning coffee I noticed a the larger fallen tree shown above, resting on the new section of deer fence I recently installed.

This, also dead, tree snapped at the ground, and toppled over the fence. That could have been loud.

I'm very pleased that the deer fence held up. And that the trees continue to fall away from the house.

Deer Pressure

I mentioned the deer pressure in yesterday's Contrast post.

And right on cue, the view out our bedroom window this morning.

The heat wave had broken overnight, and Patty was opening the windows when she spotted the deer. "Damn deer in the yard," she exclaimed, sending them running. By the time I got up and to the window only these two were still in the yard. The others off into the woods across the road.

Contrast

What must the neighbors think?

Here is a current look at the Mini-Meadow.

Despite the heavy deer pressure in these parts it is doing well.

And a shot with the Mini-Meadow and The Meadow Project.

Hopefully, come this time next year, they'll be twins.

So, what do the neighbors think? That's a trick question, as we don't really have neighbors. And from the house across the street, (no not this place (which is for sale)), you can't see The Meadow Project. It's hidden behind trees.

If Not for the Deer Fence ...

... Our flowers would be under siege.

The barbarians are at the gates!

Or is it the vegetarians?

Fence 1 Trees 0

Earlier this year we installed a deer fence. And since completion the fenced off portion of the yard has been deer free. But as much as I'd like it to be a 'set and forget' project there is ongoing maintenance. Which included watching for and removing tree falls.

And after a recent rather windy storm we had a number of branches fall about the place. Including the one shown here on the fence.

As you can see, the fence held. Using the monofilament line to hold up the fence really paid off.

Some quick work with a hand saw ...

... and everything was back to normal.

Deer Fence ✔️

Our long Piney Place nightmare is now over.

At least we hope it is. For part of the yard anyways.

The deer fence is done.

The last "open access" to the yard has been permanently "closed off". An eight foot stretch of deer fence, a ten foot gate, Gate 3, (now with bling!), twelve feet of metal fence, and two bits of vinyl fencing.

A two foot section of deer fencing joins the right gate post to the black metal fence. Not optimal but I needed to offset the metal fence to account for the pine tree at the corner of the garage.

Another two foot section of green vinyl fencing at the left end of the metal fence to the garage. A consequence of using standard size fence panels.

Here's hoping the deer respect all my hard work and stay out of the yard!

Gate #3

In our continuing war on deer we had a temporary fence up between the end of the deer fence where the back driveway enters the parking area, and the garage. Now we have a ten foot swinging gate there.

Before

It was surprisingly easy to install. I had expected to have problems with tree roots when digging the hole for the eight foot 6" x 6" main post. But except for a few small roots in the first few inches it was smooth sailing. The only other issue was that the battery for the drill was dead and I had to wait for it to charge up. Overall it took about two and a half hours, including battery recharge, water breaks, and clean up time, to put it in.

After

This was probably the easiest of the three gates to install. Gate 2 being the most difficult and Gate 1 somewhere in-between.

There is still a bit more work to do, both with the gate, some painting of rust spots, and with the fence, until I'm completely done. But with this gate the deer fence is essentially complete.

Gravity Included!

The gate I installed this week included a pre-welded gate, two butterfly hinges, and one gravity.

Just one.

Along with installation instructions.

I didn't need the gravity nor the instructions as it had previously been installed at my yard. Some time ago. Before my yard was even a yard in fact.

That's Two

Gates. One more to go.

This one, as predicted, was a bit more involved. I had to remove the slate edging on the left for the gate post. And unlike the first gate this was not a kit, so I had to drill holes based on how deep the poles sat, the local terrain, and which side the gate would swing.

It took four days, although one was rain day. Install the first post (remove slate, dig hole, use rocks to set post at correct height, more rocks and cement, wait for it to set). Then once the fist post had set, hang the gate (drill holes for hinges and latch bar). Then install the second post (dig hole, set with rocks, attach latch (more drilling), more rocks and cement, more waiting). Once the second post had set, line up the fence panel (more drilling and screwing) and install the third post ( dig, set, rocks and cement, wait).

Two of the holes were dug without any trouble. But for the third post I had roots. Lots of roots. I dug three holes, only the last deep enough and able to line up with the second post (the first hit a four inch diameter root; the second two inches too far apart).

And that's it. The fence isn't tall enough to prevent a deer from jumping over, but we hope they won't want to. If it turns out they do, we'll build an arbor to make it look taller and less inviting to jumpers.

But for now my work here is done.

One Down, Two To Go

In my last post about our 'War on Deer' I noted that while the fence was up there was still work to do. Including installing three gates.

Make that two gates, as one has been installed. It took two days, mainly because it was too hot to do it in one.

This is the temporary fence across the 'Wildlife Walk' path. This was coming down.

Shown here is the frame for the gate. I needed to dig a pair of two foot holes which, once the poles were in, I filled with rocks and cement. I got lucky with the left side hole, the first attempt hit a three or four inch diameter root (I didn't bother to dig completely around it). My second attempt went between that root and another large root. The right side hole hit no roots issues.

After letting the concrete set for six plus hours it was hard enough to hang the gate.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

Let me in!

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

Oh wait, it opens. (Or I could have squeezed between the gate and the trees.)

Finished, the gaps between the gate and trees has been fenced off. No more squeezing.

The deer's view. The fencing is a bit more obvious here.

The gate, a kit ordered from the McGregor Fence Company, is five feet wide and seven feet tall. Curiously, the gate pipes come predrilled while those of the frame are not. Necessitating a trip to Lowes for a 5/16" metal drill bit. Otherwise it was very straightforward to install. I expect the next two to be a bit more involved.

In Which I Get A Helper

I continued to work on the fence. My modus operandi was to start sometime between nine and ten and work until sometime between noon and one. It was slow going doing it by myself but as noted in the in this post I was getting it done.

In just two days of fencing I had made it to the Penguin Tree.* It was 80° F plus out that morning. And while I could have gone on with he fencing I choose not to. There is always tomorrow. So I went  and had a beer (maybe two).

And it turned out that for this particular tomorrow Patty had off from school. Woo hoo I had a helper!

This made things go much faster. In fact, the two of use finished getting the fence around the perimeter. Essentially we were done.

But not quite. We had run out of gripples. So it wasn't until the next day what the fence was completely up.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

And we are still waiting for the stakes to secure the bottom of the fence as otherwise deer will crawl under it. And we need to install three gates. But those are just details.

🚧  🦌  🚧  🦌  🚧

* Where by "two days" I mean approximately six hours. And all told it took about 32 hours to get the path cleared and the fence up. As noted there is still work to do. But staking should take an hour maybe two at most. The gates, depending on what we decide to do, could take some time.

Fencing

In this post I wrote about how we'd decided to install a deer fence, along with the prep work and the initial delivery of the fencing materials. As we had ordered from two different companies*, we still needed to wait for the remainder of the supplies. Which gave me time to finish the prep work of clearing the path.

And it turned out that even after the rest of the stuff arrived I had more time. I had ordered the wrong gauge monofilament. We needed 8 gauge and I ordered 12 gauge. Oops. And when I tried to attache the monofilament to the anchor tree it slid right through the gripple.

This is a Gripple. Actually, it is a Gripple Plus. Made by the Gripple Company. Which is in the business of making Gripples. Hence the name.

Once we received the correct size monofilament line I was able to use the gripples to anchor the line to the trees.

The standard method is to roll the fence out on the ground for the length needed and with your helpers lift it up and use zip ties to attach it to the line. Then you use U-nails to permanently attach it to the posts, in our case trees, and then use hog ring staples to attache the fence o the line.

I had no helpers. And thus had to improvise. Using the base for our deck umbrella, my hiking stick, and a pipe I found in the garage I stood up the roll of fence as shown above and like a roll of paper towels pulled it along the path.

Of course it got caught on roots and stumps and branches. But I was able to pull it the from one anchor tree to the next.

I first tried clothes pins in place of helpers to hold up the fence. But they were not up to the task.

So I switched to carabiners, of which I had a limited supply. But they did the trick. And unlike human helpers, didn't eat pizza or drink any beer. More for me!

And I proved to myself that I could, on my own, install the fence.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

And I was able to do this even while dealing with the physical limitations of living with a ruptured disk in my back. Thats where my utility cart came into play, I used it to transport all of the tools and materials I needed. (Look closely at that image and you'll see we've used up all the fence on this roll, only the cardboard tubes are on the post next to the step ladder.)

I think it looks pretty good. By setting it behind the tree line of the yard it does not change how he yard looks (it's almost invisible). And it leaves an edge area of cover for birds and other critters.

I actually enjoyed doing this by myself. In addition to the sense of accomplishment it also took my mind off not only my troubles but the f*cked up situation in the world.

Alas, all too soon I'l be finished. And maybe then I'll even have a job.

🦌  🚧  🦌  🚧  🦌

* The two companies we used were:

The McGregor Fence Company

Kencove Farm Fence Supplies

If you want any specific info on how we did this email me and I'd be happy to get into the specifics. It really is this easy.