Gardner’s California Homestead

[animalmom]

Don't give up on your peppers. They are incredibly hearty and should come back.

 

[GardnerHomestead]

Don't give up on your peppers. They are incredibly hearty and should come back.

thank you! this is the first year they have even grown to a decent size and had so many beautiful peppers on them already. i will not give up yet!

 

[farmerjan]

I have just started following your thread....reminds me of when I was younger with all the canning and gardening. It is a great life you are giving your children.
The deer needs to be venison.....
One thing you might want to do is add a couple strands of fishing line along the top of the fence....the shiny reflection of the fishing line is often a good deterrent as they don't like to try to jump something that "shimmers" it is also a good deterrent over top of chicken pens if you have problems with hawks and such.... Not saying it will stop it, but might help. And it is a cheap way to try to discourage them. You can put up some extensions on the posts... don't need to be fancy, but something you can just attach the fishing line to...

We don't have gophers here.... we have ground hogs that get quite big....called woodchucks up in the new england area....and they can decimate a garden. Probably 5-15 lbs full sized... and catch them in live traps and shoot and dispose....they love cantaloupe and watermelon.....raccoons and possums will work on things, especially corn.....

I am not a goat person, but yours have some real pretty colors.
The Gloucester old spot do have a fair amount of fat, and it makes real good lard... but they are less fatty if killed sooner too. You get over 2-225 and they start to just put on alot of fat....some are leaner, but that is a good tipping point for laying on fat. I am partial to hampshires, berkshires, and durocs(for dispositions).

 

[GardnerHomestead]

I have just started following your thread....reminds me of when I was younger with all the canning and gardening. It is a great life you are giving your children.
The deer needs to be venison.....
One thing you might want to do is add a couple strands of fishing line along the top of the fence....the shiny reflection of the fishing line is often a good deterrent as they don't like to try to jump something that "shimmers" it is also a good deterrent over top of chicken pens if you have problems with hawks and such.... Not saying it will stop it, but might help. And it is a cheap way to try to discourage them. You can put up some extensions on the posts... don't need to be fancy, but something you can just attach the fishing line to...

We don't have gophers here.... we have ground hogs that get quite big....called woodchucks up in the new england area....and they can decimate a garden. Probably 5-15 lbs full sized... and catch them in live traps and shoot and dispose....they love cantaloupe and watermelon.....raccoons and possums will work on things, especially corn.....

I am not a goat person, but yours have some real pretty colors.
The Gloucester old spot do have a fair amount of fat, and it makes real good lard... but they are less fatty if killed sooner too. You get over 2-225 and they start to just put on alot of fat....some are leaner, but that is a good tipping point for laying on fat. I am partial to hampshires, berkshires, and durocs(for dispositions).

I agree about the venison. Would be easy to get him, the deer here are either desensitized to humans or super hungry and thirsty, or maybe a bit of both. I've been with 5 feet of several this year. I'm going to extend the tops of my fences with the fishing line that's a wonderful idea, thank you! The hawks are prolific up here as well, i dont freerange much because of them. Wow thats a huge rodent lol, idk which is worse, the pocket gophers are so small but can still do alot of damage. Our dogs seem to keep the raccoons/possums away for now.

Thank you about the goats, they are the sweetest animals. Mischievous as all get out lol.

The GOS was a fatty pig, i got so. much. lard. More than i will need for the year im sure, but its beautiful and so tasty! We will butcher our IPP crosses in a couple months. We ran out of Kevin a couple months ago, with meat prices the way they are it cant come soon enough. They are close to 200 lbs each.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Try hanging some Irish spring soap around the perimeter of the fence. They don't like the smell of it. Definitely see if you can hang additional stuff on the fence to make it look taller.

The deer that got into my garden ignored the tomatoes and tomatillos but chomped on the strawberries, peppers, kiwis, fruit trees, and squash. One of the strawberries doesn't look like it's going to come back. All the rest look a little shocked but are slowly coming back.

 

[rachels.haven]

Lol, you ran out of Kevin. I love it.

 

[GardnerHomestead]

Try hanging some Irish spring soap around the perimeter of the fence. They don't like the smell of it. Definitely see if you can hang additional stuff on the fence to make it look taller.

The deer that got into my garden ignored the tomatoes and tomatillos but chomped on the strawberries, peppers, kiwis, fruit trees, and squash. One of the strawberries doesn't look like it's going to come back. All the rest look a little shocked but are slowly coming back.

i will try this. i was so sad about the tomatoes i wish they would have left mine alone.

 

[GardnerHomestead]

Lol, you ran out of Kevin. I love it.

Kevin Burgers was a family favorite lol

 

[Baymule]

We name our meat too! LOL

you can also tie surveyor tape to flutter in the wind on the fishing line.

 

[farmerjan]

Have a friend that hangs old computer discs/cd's on fishing line to they move in the wind....