We both win--every time we bypass the grocery store for our own or like-minded friends' food is another step closer to self-sufficiency. This was the first time I'd NOT gotten a turkey from Wegman's or another corporate store.
What if you catch one, keep it in a large cage and feed it a diet that will improve the quality of the meat. Just a thought, or you can go meatless and join the vegan movement.
Amazing garden! My husband & I had a beautiful, & healthy garden years ago, back in the mid-1990's, & he always prepared the soil, planted the seeds, & Iris flowers, & our harvest's were wonderful. But, he passed in 2012, & I had to sell our 10 acres/house three years after he passed. I took care of weeding, & checking our plants daily since the deer always snacked on plants. We grew string beans; broccoli & cauliflower; watermelon, cucumbers & squash. Our Zuccini plants thrived, as well as our spaghetti squash. I do miss gardening together. Now, my Daughter is learning how to garden, & as of yesterday, we transplanted a bunch of seedlings into Solo cups, just until the weather warms up & she now has time to plan her garden patch. I'm so proud of her, & she shows a great interest in growing food for the family. She has cucumbers, tomatoes, chili pepper plants (seeds from store peppers), & watermelon, & of course, Colorado wildflower seeds. I helped her transplant the baby seedlings & it was fun to see her grow & learn the wonderful life of growing plants!
"rats on sticks". 🤣 We called them rats with antlers. But the raccoons can frustrate you even more with the corn. They pick off an ear, eat just the end, and throw it down, EXACTLY the way rats do with the food. Nibble here and nibble there. And they're harder to chase off. Free range dogs or have-no-heart traps.
We're sort of do it yourselfers. I use mobile electric fences for the deer, which slows them down somewhat. Lately we have groundhogs and fox dominating. The raccoons levels are down due to a sickness, and the opossums, (with which we had made peace), are down a bit too.
Anyone have a good home remedy for repelling rabbits? Here in the Pacific Northwest we have been overrun with them in past few years, far outpacing the deer in sheer destructiveness. Other than plants in the sage family, there seems to be nothing they won't eat.
If we want any young greens or beans to survive the bunnies, we run electric wires just above the rows. (We have beef cattle, and electric fence is a way of life.) We run a personal zapper just for the gardens and fruit trees. That works pretty well. We have a high top mostly for the cool weather greens.
You're right. It's time. I WILL go over to Home Depot this afternoon to investigate vegetable plant options. A few tomato plants at minimum would do nicely.
Aren't the Dogs the first line bark alarms at night around dusk to run deer back into the Forrest?
I often have my daughters dog for long periods of time at my home. He is a mini aussie who thinks he's a golden retriever and maybe in a past life he was. This boy had Fido-radar i have never seen before. If there are white tail deer out side within 50 yards he will rise from a sound sleep on the living room floor and scoot to a window and grumble.( yes grumbling is permitted inside barking is not) He will bark up a storm when we see them outdoors. Ya can't fool em. Like K9 radar.
To this day I don't know how he does this trick? And I really don't mind it. The grumbling hilarious.
"Monty" sure as heck has. We have a true spectrum of Minn wildlife within a mile radius of the homestead. Witness the ebb and flow of harsh winter and wimpy ones. We assess the level of alarm bark differently for Monty. No BARKING is ever allowed in the house.
Now that doesn't mean he won't crash thru gates of hell to get out on the deck to do it.
And um he is pretty darn good about the rule. Now to work the list of others. ( not yet 3yrs)
But we are inside an enclosed house when he does this. Any season. Rather Puzzling.
totally agree about outdoors. He has been making left turns off the bike trail straight up a well worn deer trail for a few years when he is on leash. All i say is yup, that's their deer trail.
A few more sniffs, a glance up at me and we continue back walking on an asphalt trail.
Some dogs can smell 1 part per billion, if their ears still work, they can tell the difference between your automobile engine, and all the others, from a half a mile, some dogs can smell cancer, absolutely amazing.
Enclosed house just means limited air movement with the outside, not stopped.
May also explain why sometimes, your dog will growl at a closed closet door. And we hope its not a ghost!
Sounds like our Monty Boi! He's a Peach. Hard to say if he is Bloodhound caliber Fido.
He is still young enough to be ultra curious. Like he has to log everything he sees and smells. About the time 9 or 10 rolls around all that goes back to "idle in neutral mode". Hah
We are moving into our new home on 7 acres in May. Not sure if this will work, but we plan to use a product called petplaygrounds.com to protect our future garden from animals. The product is VERY affordable. We used it in our prior home to keep the dogs in.
I applaud your use of fencing rather than traps. I hope it works well for you. I hate hearing all of these pejorative terms for animals that have every right to live, and which, in my opinion, enhance our lives, not diminish them. It's up to us humans, with our supposedly superior brains, to figure out ways to live in harmony with them while also protecting our crops and property.
I've never had a garden ever since I failed miserably with my first garden.
I didn't have to contend with any bunnies eating my plants.
That being said, would chicken 🐔 wire panels be used to fence in the garden to keep them out if you could also take precautions to keep them from digging?
You must garden again!! 👍Start small and be ready to plant more than once.
The little animals will wiggle under the chicken wire. Some people bury the lower part of the fence down into the ground, but it breaks down pretty fast and makes a mess. Raised beds and chicken wire will work. Electric fence is cheapest, mobile and adaptable. The varmints hate it but it doesn't kill them.
Did the FDA Just Admit It Was Wrong About Ivermectin? (04/25/24) In addition to learning more about the FDA lawsuit surrounding ivermectin, we were treated to a fun farm visit where Jan Jekielek and Dr. M trimmed apple trees in Dr. M’s gorgeous, blooming orchard (video 38 min 37 sec):
Deer are a problem everywhere. My husband and I have been back yard gardening for over forty years and we have found that a commercial spray made from dried sheep blood works quite well to repel the deer.
Also, I easily dry my basil leaves on a cookie sheet in the sun. No fuss, no muss, no electricity.
Thank you so much for the recipe! This post was awesome, brought me back to my childhood. My great Aunt and Uncle has fruit trees, vegetable garden, dairy cows, chickens, and raised their own beef. Did all the work, just the two of them, and both lived into their late 90's. How I long to go back to that.
Karen I so relate to your comment about bringing back childhood memories…my mom and dad lived on their own farm till my dad was 93 and my mom was 92…my dad was still in his garden planting and reaping his harvest in his early 90’s…my mom lived till she was 96 and my dad till he was 95…such an amazing legacy. Thank you Dr Malone for these inspirational pictures and words…so appreciate all you do!
Thank you for the breathe of fresh air and encouragement. At 92 I hesitate to get a plot in our community garden next door. I do think I am going to get at least two large pots for my very small apartment patio. I love zucchini so that will be one with some parsley. Then one with cherry tomatoes and spinach. It is worth a try anyway. We don't have the wildlife we used to so they should be fine. We have leash laws here too. I only wish I could have chickens too. Love you both, Rosie
I've lived in Italy for about half my life now and over 30 years in a medieval tower house with quite a bit of land around and mountains nearby. There's still a lot of wildlife here and as I get older I like to spend more of my time outside. My veggie patch gets better every year, there's nothing like trial and error for learning the best way to do something. I think my most rewarding activity is to venture out in the morning to collect an armful of wild edible greens that grow all around, in such abundance! And spring is the most magical time of year.. what bounty!
My father's last words, before he died. "Plant trees. the only way the earth will survive is by planting trees." When we moved to Utah , five years ago, we planted 12 trees around our home. Eleven of them were fruit trees. We had a good sized harvest last year. It looks to be far better this year. I am not into organized religion, but have carefully read the Bible for the last 40 years...looking for answers. In Genesis, when the Lord turned Adam and his family out of the Garden of Eden...They were told...now you will work very hard tiling the land and the women will suffer in labor. Interesting, because tiling the land has almost destroyed the top soil on earth...and women suffer immensely in labor from eating the products of the earth. I personally learned something in my own life...from three very difficult 26 hour labors. I could have died during the first one. My diet was wheat, corn and other processed foods. I was immensely surprised, when I gave these foods up and stuck to totally natural; unprocessed food.. My 4th labor happened so fat, that when I rushed to the hospital, I was told to hold back and wait for the doctor. I held back for almost an hour. My fourth child was born in an hour and a half.. If I had only known, I would have had the child at home.
My small raised garden planter finally rotted away this winter so, inspired by your repurposed horse tank, I finished sanding our old one and have one coat of Rustoleum on the outside (only) and bought a second color to paint a darker border at the bottom (yeah, well 🤣. thinking about letting the grandkids hand paint some pictures on it after it cures!) and will have a couple tomato plants, a bell pepper plant and a cucumber plant in there before long. I have some pots with herbs from last year that are already coming up.
I've read about processing herbs and freezing them with a little water in ice cube trays. I think I might try that, then I just drop in a cube or two while cooking.
I hate to tell you but the motion lights have not stopped the deer at my house. We originally got them because we were having a skunk problem, they did resolve that. I have them spaced all along the front porch, sides and back of the house. The deer still ate every single Daylilly bloom and Black Eyed Susan bloom that run the whole length of the front and side of the house. It was at this point I decided deer weren't so beautiful after all. I was sitting on the porch swing late one night when a deer came up, the light came on, it was not the least bit startled, just looked around a second and proceeded to demolish more flowers. So I bought a motion sensor that makes lots of noise (dog bark, gun shots, music, several choices) and flashes a light too. I will try that this year....and probably scare only ourselves and our cat. We will see.
We have the land for a huge garden now that all of our horses have crossed the rainbow bridge, but we don't have the strength and energy to do that anymore, and my sweet hubby isn't into growing things (my weeds he calls them) or any kind of gardening so I'm pretty happy with my raised beds.
I often think about how Roman citizens (including retired high ranking officials and officers) were granted a single "jugerum" which is about 0.6 acres. This was enough to support a whole family supposedly, and was as much as one farmer could manage in a day's work:
"That portion of land used to be known as a "jugerum," which was capable of being ploughed by a single "jugum," or yoke of oxen, in one day; an "actus" being as much as the oxen could plough at a single spell, fairly estimated, without stopping. This last was one hundred and twenty feet in length; and two in length made a jugerum." - Pliny the Elder
I have to imagine that many Roman homesteaders had at least a few acres (by modern measurement), aided by slaves perhaps. But maybe most citizens managed their single jugerum plot and got what they needed by and large – truly living within one's means (until the empire collapsed!)
Apr 18·edited Apr 19Liked by Robert W Malone MD, MS
Thank you for your soothing essay Your header pic brings on thought of a slow ride around your farm. Handsome. No green V K veggies allowed. Will being trying for little yellow tomatoes. I will be getting to water customer gardens and feed their deer. I'll be vicariously enjoying all of your gardening successes. Home grown freshly picked are the best.
Peaking around scarring in the eye that sees today. Beck to full caliber tomorrow hopefully.
Take care. Your spread looks perfect for healing and rebuilding.
As an after thought, I do garden like crazy. I have a large yard that is filled with plants and flowers of all kinds and have won an award or two from the local gardening enthusiasts. I grow orchids inside and the flowers and smells are heavenly. I just decided when I moved here to turn the yard into a haven for my clients and my family. Growing more than herbs was more than I wanted to handle when still working, and now it's all we can do to care for the house and yard. When my husband turns eighty (three years) we will downsize because being on a ladder on the roof isn't recommended. Life cycles, get it while you can!
My husband and I were back-to-basics enthusiasts.
My crowning achievement was a Thanksgiving mega dinner with guests where the conversation wound up talking about the food.
Turned out everything but the turkey had been grown in our own back yard!🙂
Same, but I got the turkey from a farmer friend down the road!
Oh. Then, you win. 🏅
We both win--every time we bypass the grocery store for our own or like-minded friends' food is another step closer to self-sufficiency. This was the first time I'd NOT gotten a turkey from Wegman's or another corporate store.
Ok.😃
My husband says wild turkey isn't good eating, but we do have a lot of those in the neighborhood.
What if you catch one, keep it in a large cage and feed it a diet that will improve the quality of the meat. Just a thought, or you can go meatless and join the vegan movement.
What? And do the ultra processed meat substitute instead. It take a lot of work to meet nutritional needs on a Vegan diet. No thanks.
nice,
in our back yard, a lot of turkeys are growing.
In the side and front yards to.
Along with bears and bobcats and lord knows what
Amazing garden! My husband & I had a beautiful, & healthy garden years ago, back in the mid-1990's, & he always prepared the soil, planted the seeds, & Iris flowers, & our harvest's were wonderful. But, he passed in 2012, & I had to sell our 10 acres/house three years after he passed. I took care of weeding, & checking our plants daily since the deer always snacked on plants. We grew string beans; broccoli & cauliflower; watermelon, cucumbers & squash. Our Zuccini plants thrived, as well as our spaghetti squash. I do miss gardening together. Now, my Daughter is learning how to garden, & as of yesterday, we transplanted a bunch of seedlings into Solo cups, just until the weather warms up & she now has time to plan her garden patch. I'm so proud of her, & she shows a great interest in growing food for the family. She has cucumbers, tomatoes, chili pepper plants (seeds from store peppers), & watermelon, & of course, Colorado wildflower seeds. I helped her transplant the baby seedlings & it was fun to see her grow & learn the wonderful life of growing plants!
"rats on sticks". 🤣 We called them rats with antlers. But the raccoons can frustrate you even more with the corn. They pick off an ear, eat just the end, and throw it down, EXACTLY the way rats do with the food. Nibble here and nibble there. And they're harder to chase off. Free range dogs or have-no-heart traps.
Can you get help from local weed and pest control or game and fish? You know the one we pay for ?
We're sort of do it yourselfers. I use mobile electric fences for the deer, which slows them down somewhat. Lately we have groundhogs and fox dominating. The raccoons levels are down due to a sickness, and the opossums, (with which we had made peace), are down a bit too.
Anyone have a good home remedy for repelling rabbits? Here in the Pacific Northwest we have been overrun with them in past few years, far outpacing the deer in sheer destructiveness. Other than plants in the sage family, there seems to be nothing they won't eat.
If we want any young greens or beans to survive the bunnies, we run electric wires just above the rows. (We have beef cattle, and electric fence is a way of life.) We run a personal zapper just for the gardens and fruit trees. That works pretty well. We have a high top mostly for the cool weather greens.
You're right. It's time. I WILL go over to Home Depot this afternoon to investigate vegetable plant options. A few tomato plants at minimum would do nicely.
I’m now in the mood to get my hands dirty and I have lots of empty containers. Time to plant something!
Do you have a local green house? Your plant will do much better than if you purchased from big box stores
The thought crossed my mind. Had a Home Depot gift card and used it. But will bear in mind your comment for future buys. Thank you!
Aren't the Dogs the first line bark alarms at night around dusk to run deer back into the Forrest?
I often have my daughters dog for long periods of time at my home. He is a mini aussie who thinks he's a golden retriever and maybe in a past life he was. This boy had Fido-radar i have never seen before. If there are white tail deer out side within 50 yards he will rise from a sound sleep on the living room floor and scoot to a window and grumble.( yes grumbling is permitted inside barking is not) He will bark up a storm when we see them outdoors. Ya can't fool em. Like K9 radar.
To this day I don't know how he does this trick? And I really don't mind it. The grumbling hilarious.
Animals have a "6th sense" don't they?
They just let their senses work for them as they are not preoccupied with the nonsense we are.
So true!!!
"Monty" sure as heck has. We have a true spectrum of Minn wildlife within a mile radius of the homestead. Witness the ebb and flow of harsh winter and wimpy ones. We assess the level of alarm bark differently for Monty. No BARKING is ever allowed in the house.
Now that doesn't mean he won't crash thru gates of hell to get out on the deck to do it.
And um he is pretty darn good about the rule. Now to work the list of others. ( not yet 3yrs)
Could it be his awesome sense of smell?
his nose knows.....
But we are inside an enclosed house when he does this. Any season. Rather Puzzling.
totally agree about outdoors. He has been making left turns off the bike trail straight up a well worn deer trail for a few years when he is on leash. All i say is yup, that's their deer trail.
A few more sniffs, a glance up at me and we continue back walking on an asphalt trail.
Some dogs can smell 1 part per billion, if their ears still work, they can tell the difference between your automobile engine, and all the others, from a half a mile, some dogs can smell cancer, absolutely amazing.
Enclosed house just means limited air movement with the outside, not stopped.
May also explain why sometimes, your dog will growl at a closed closet door. And we hope its not a ghost!
Sounds like our Monty Boi! He's a Peach. Hard to say if he is Bloodhound caliber Fido.
He is still young enough to be ultra curious. Like he has to log everything he sees and smells. About the time 9 or 10 rolls around all that goes back to "idle in neutral mode". Hah
We are moving into our new home on 7 acres in May. Not sure if this will work, but we plan to use a product called petplaygrounds.com to protect our future garden from animals. The product is VERY affordable. We used it in our prior home to keep the dogs in.
I applaud your use of fencing rather than traps. I hope it works well for you. I hate hearing all of these pejorative terms for animals that have every right to live, and which, in my opinion, enhance our lives, not diminish them. It's up to us humans, with our supposedly superior brains, to figure out ways to live in harmony with them while also protecting our crops and property.
👏🙏💯🎯
How do you protect your crops? Always up for some non-lethal ideas. (Transporting them to someone else's farm doesn't count. )
I've never had a garden ever since I failed miserably with my first garden.
I didn't have to contend with any bunnies eating my plants.
That being said, would chicken 🐔 wire panels be used to fence in the garden to keep them out if you could also take precautions to keep them from digging?
Do you know why chicken coops have 2 doors???
If they had 4 doors, they would be chicken sedans.
You must garden again!! 👍Start small and be ready to plant more than once.
The little animals will wiggle under the chicken wire. Some people bury the lower part of the fence down into the ground, but it breaks down pretty fast and makes a mess. Raised beds and chicken wire will work. Electric fence is cheapest, mobile and adaptable. The varmints hate it but it doesn't kill them.
Just a reminder that Apple Trees rarely win awards for most handsome and photographed.
The shape of the tree illustrates it's a race of each branch to outpace the other for warmest sunlight
Contests for sweetness and texture are timeless and dominate the landscapes.
❤️🩹 Check out:
Did the FDA Just Admit It Was Wrong About Ivermectin? (04/25/24) In addition to learning more about the FDA lawsuit surrounding ivermectin, we were treated to a fun farm visit where Jan Jekielek and Dr. M trimmed apple trees in Dr. M’s gorgeous, blooming orchard (video 38 min 37 sec):
https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/did-the-fda-just-admit-it-was-wrong-about-ivermectin-fallout-5621510?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email?utm_source=ref_share&utm_campaign=copy
Deer are a problem everywhere. My husband and I have been back yard gardening for over forty years and we have found that a commercial spray made from dried sheep blood works quite well to repel the deer.
Also, I easily dry my basil leaves on a cookie sheet in the sun. No fuss, no muss, no electricity.
Thanks for all your encouraging words.
Thank you so much for the recipe! This post was awesome, brought me back to my childhood. My great Aunt and Uncle has fruit trees, vegetable garden, dairy cows, chickens, and raised their own beef. Did all the work, just the two of them, and both lived into their late 90's. How I long to go back to that.
Karen I so relate to your comment about bringing back childhood memories…my mom and dad lived on their own farm till my dad was 93 and my mom was 92…my dad was still in his garden planting and reaping his harvest in his early 90’s…my mom lived till she was 96 and my dad till he was 95…such an amazing legacy. Thank you Dr Malone for these inspirational pictures and words…so appreciate all you do!
Thank you for the breathe of fresh air and encouragement. At 92 I hesitate to get a plot in our community garden next door. I do think I am going to get at least two large pots for my very small apartment patio. I love zucchini so that will be one with some parsley. Then one with cherry tomatoes and spinach. It is worth a try anyway. We don't have the wildlife we used to so they should be fine. We have leash laws here too. I only wish I could have chickens too. Love you both, Rosie
I've lived in Italy for about half my life now and over 30 years in a medieval tower house with quite a bit of land around and mountains nearby. There's still a lot of wildlife here and as I get older I like to spend more of my time outside. My veggie patch gets better every year, there's nothing like trial and error for learning the best way to do something. I think my most rewarding activity is to venture out in the morning to collect an armful of wild edible greens that grow all around, in such abundance! And spring is the most magical time of year.. what bounty!
Yum! Italy! The secret to their exquisite cuisine is fresh fresh fresh!
My father's last words, before he died. "Plant trees. the only way the earth will survive is by planting trees." When we moved to Utah , five years ago, we planted 12 trees around our home. Eleven of them were fruit trees. We had a good sized harvest last year. It looks to be far better this year. I am not into organized religion, but have carefully read the Bible for the last 40 years...looking for answers. In Genesis, when the Lord turned Adam and his family out of the Garden of Eden...They were told...now you will work very hard tiling the land and the women will suffer in labor. Interesting, because tiling the land has almost destroyed the top soil on earth...and women suffer immensely in labor from eating the products of the earth. I personally learned something in my own life...from three very difficult 26 hour labors. I could have died during the first one. My diet was wheat, corn and other processed foods. I was immensely surprised, when I gave these foods up and stuck to totally natural; unprocessed food.. My 4th labor happened so fat, that when I rushed to the hospital, I was told to hold back and wait for the doctor. I held back for almost an hour. My fourth child was born in an hour and a half.. If I had only known, I would have had the child at home.
My small raised garden planter finally rotted away this winter so, inspired by your repurposed horse tank, I finished sanding our old one and have one coat of Rustoleum on the outside (only) and bought a second color to paint a darker border at the bottom (yeah, well 🤣. thinking about letting the grandkids hand paint some pictures on it after it cures!) and will have a couple tomato plants, a bell pepper plant and a cucumber plant in there before long. I have some pots with herbs from last year that are already coming up.
I've read about processing herbs and freezing them with a little water in ice cube trays. I think I might try that, then I just drop in a cube or two while cooking.
I hate to tell you but the motion lights have not stopped the deer at my house. We originally got them because we were having a skunk problem, they did resolve that. I have them spaced all along the front porch, sides and back of the house. The deer still ate every single Daylilly bloom and Black Eyed Susan bloom that run the whole length of the front and side of the house. It was at this point I decided deer weren't so beautiful after all. I was sitting on the porch swing late one night when a deer came up, the light came on, it was not the least bit startled, just looked around a second and proceeded to demolish more flowers. So I bought a motion sensor that makes lots of noise (dog bark, gun shots, music, several choices) and flashes a light too. I will try that this year....and probably scare only ourselves and our cat. We will see.
We have the land for a huge garden now that all of our horses have crossed the rainbow bridge, but we don't have the strength and energy to do that anymore, and my sweet hubby isn't into growing things (my weeds he calls them) or any kind of gardening so I'm pretty happy with my raised beds.
I often think about how Roman citizens (including retired high ranking officials and officers) were granted a single "jugerum" which is about 0.6 acres. This was enough to support a whole family supposedly, and was as much as one farmer could manage in a day's work:
"That portion of land used to be known as a "jugerum," which was capable of being ploughed by a single "jugum," or yoke of oxen, in one day; an "actus" being as much as the oxen could plough at a single spell, fairly estimated, without stopping. This last was one hundred and twenty feet in length; and two in length made a jugerum." - Pliny the Elder
I have to imagine that many Roman homesteaders had at least a few acres (by modern measurement), aided by slaves perhaps. But maybe most citizens managed their single jugerum plot and got what they needed by and large – truly living within one's means (until the empire collapsed!)
Interesting...
Thank you for your soothing essay Your header pic brings on thought of a slow ride around your farm. Handsome. No green V K veggies allowed. Will being trying for little yellow tomatoes. I will be getting to water customer gardens and feed their deer. I'll be vicariously enjoying all of your gardening successes. Home grown freshly picked are the best.
Peaking around scarring in the eye that sees today. Beck to full caliber tomorrow hopefully.
Take care. Your spread looks perfect for healing and rebuilding.
Best always ♡♡♡
As an after thought, I do garden like crazy. I have a large yard that is filled with plants and flowers of all kinds and have won an award or two from the local gardening enthusiasts. I grow orchids inside and the flowers and smells are heavenly. I just decided when I moved here to turn the yard into a haven for my clients and my family. Growing more than herbs was more than I wanted to handle when still working, and now it's all we can do to care for the house and yard. When my husband turns eighty (three years) we will downsize because being on a ladder on the roof isn't recommended. Life cycles, get it while you can!
Downsizing actually sounds good the older we get.