Two Views

View of our scarecrow with neighbor's horse barn.

In a breeze, the pant legs flap, the pie tins clang, and it looks like he's dancing.

Critters in the Country Eat Well

As I was leaving the property this morning, a dozen or so vultures were on the ground surrounding one of the groundhogs James shot on Saturday. They had just started to feast. When I returned 3 hours later, nothing was left except a skeleton and some skin.

Earlier, when I opened the back door, I startled a fox that was eating a chicken. It dropped the chicken, ran a short distance, stopped and looked back, then ran off to the woods. Ten minutes later, I looked out and the chicken was gone. I think the neighbors behind us must have chickens. Their home is in the direction I see the foxes coming and going. We will need a guard dog.

Long Weekend

This was a very productive weekend. James was out with his pellet gun and shot 3 groundhogs. One was even bold enough to come up to the house, and hid under the back door steps. There are still at least several in the thicket near the garden. James needs to get back out here and get to work. There are some recipes online for groundhog. But I don't think that we will be hungry enough to try them, since we usually have steak, chicken, hamburgers, and hotdogs on hand.

Got another plum tree (Damson) and fig tree planted. Mama and I put up video tape fencing around the figs, the new plum, and the main garden. Also got the garden hoed and some fertilizer spread on the veggies. Now we need some rain.

When I opened the garage door this morning, a 3-foot long black snake was outside the door. I prodded it to move into the shrubs. Hope it gets some moles, voles, and/or mice.

Saw a fox run across the horse pasture this morning while I was hoeing. Yesterday, we saw a racoon. I believe that it was at the horses' salt lick. Usually, a racoon out in the open in the middle of the day is rabid. Let's hope not.

Two bluebirds are building a nest in the house on the grape arbor end post. It was fun watching them defend their home from 2 mockingbirds that have a nest in the crepe myrtle in front of the living room window.

I ordered 3 grape vines: Darlene (bronze, 22% sugar), Late Fry (bronze, 20% sugar), and a Black Beauty (23% sugar). They should be shipped sometime in November. And they will be old enough that we might have a few grapes next year, if I get them planted this Fall. According to the county soil survey, we have good soils for grapes. But muscadines can grow just about anywhere.

Video Tape Fence

Here at Whisperwood Farm, we use the latest technology to increase and protect our crops. Most people have heard of barbed wire and electric fences, but have you heard of a video tape fence? The tape from an old VHS cassette was used to protect our fig trees, as shown in the photo. You should see it in action! The tape flickers and hums in the slightest breeze. It should be quite effective in deterring the deer. A convenience store in Burlington has hundreds of old movies for $1 each. So this could be the cheapest fencing material available. We plan to try it around the larger garden and raised beds too. Notice the clover in the unmowed areas. We need to get our bee hives.

Hardwood Floor

Our hardwood floor was installed by Romanoff Flooring, who works for Home Depot, which is where we got our Bruce 3 and 3/4 inch wide planks. The guy did the whole floor in one day! And he did a nice job of framing our marble hearth.