Fencing
Fencing is a very important aspect of homesteading, whether you want something to stay in or keep something out of you don’t have a good fence it could cost you your whole investment. A quality, and well thought out fence is important.
When constructing fencing you need to ask: what is it that I need protected, how high does it need to go, how strong does it need to be, and how to balance this with your budget.
We knew deer love green baby apple trees, they would eat them to the ground in one night if not protected. We weren’t about to lose our beloved orchard the day we planted it. We decided to encircle our trees with a 5 foot wire fence attached to T-posts. It is strong, sturdy, and a small enough enclosure the deer won’t jump in it. So far it has worked great. The downside was: it was expensive and over a larger area deer could easily jump over it.
We researched into inexpensive deer fencing, as our garden area is quite large, and found an idea where you attach clear fishing wire to t-posts every 6 inches up the post. It forms an invisible fence that supposedly when deer try to walk through they hit the wire and back off, and won’t jump over because they can’t see how high it goes. We also attached plastic bags as a noise and movement deterrent and some plastic owls. This worked great for a while until the fawns figured out how to crawl under the fencing when the tall grasses grew enough to push the wires up.
When they discovered they could get in, they were relentless. They ate our raspberries, blueberries, greens, even our asparagus almost to the ground. The apples are still protected with the wire fencing. Darrick and I discovered they figured out they could chew the wires and walk right on through. On to plan B.
Plan B we found some 7 foot mesh deer fencing. Our farm land is a long rectangle shape surrounded by plantation pine trees. The trees are mostly in line and evenly spaced. Darrick cut the branches to about 7 feet up around the perimeter and took the deer fencing and attached it with galvanized screws to the pine trees. The deer can’t jump over because there are branches blocking it. They can’t go through it, under it, or around it either. We are hoping this will protect our garden from the beautiful, but pesky, creatures.
We will keep you updated on Wednesdays and Saturdays so stay tuned. Post any comments or questions below. Thank you for following us on our journey.
God Bless,
Darrick and Kay
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
~ Acts 17:26
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