Category Archives: Farm Life

Protecting Veggie and Flower Gardens from Animals

It is that time of year, well for those of us who live in regions with limited growing seasons anyway – the time of year when the garden beds that we labored over, and the ground we’ve broken up begins to bring forth its bounty. Not far behind the early vegetables and flowers inevitably come the rabbits, deer and other animals hoping for an herbaceous smorgasbord. After putting so much of yourself into tilling the ground, fertilizing the beds, carefully planting seeds and transplanting tender seedlings, it can be quite devestating to go outside to check on the progress and see whole rows of buds missing and plants stripped of leaves by voracious animal pests. What can be done to prevent this wanton destruction? There is a an answer, a proven one – predator urine. Obviously, we use it ourselves at Winterberry Farm, and we sell lots and lots of bottles to people all over the world, but if that’s not enough to convince you, here’s some recent press recommending the use of predator urine to keep animals out of the garden in a safe way:

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Garden beds at Winterberry Farm

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/protect-vegetable-garden-animals

“Predator Urine

You can buy predator urine online or at your local gardening shop. Usually, predator urine is more specifically, wolf urine. It keeps vegetable-predators — like deer — at bay because of its foul smell. Deer will smell the wolf’s urine, think a predator is nearby, and steer clear of your veggie garden.” stephanie osmanski

LONG WINTER NAP. . .OR NOT

The birds migrate south, the bears hibernate and I take an extended blogging break. It seems to be a pattern.  I wish it was because I was taking a winter slumber but the truth is just the opposite.  I have been so busy selling and shipping pee, crusher hats, bearguard and hawkstoppers that keeping up the blog has fallen to the wayside. As you can see from the photo, i haven’t even been able to keep up with the blowdowns in the woods.  So, here we go again . . .as a way to ease back into the blogosphere I give you some Winterberry Farm peaceful winter scenes(including the grandson on skiis). Enjoy

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Narnia?

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Thaddeus X-Country Skiing

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Dog Trails

Until I find more words . . .The PeeMan

 

Update from Winterberry Farm

Well, as you know if you have read this blog for any time, The PeeMan lives on a farm in Maine. Don’t picture mechanized agriculture or advanced animal husbandry – think more along the lines of a “hobby” farm(at least I think that’s the current lingo.) Nonetheless there are chickens and occasional pigs, a requisite old tractor, garden rows, apple trees and a pond. As for the name, well my wife won’t let me call it the PeeFarm and she loves the bright red berries that decorate the barren late autumn landscape every year so Winterberry Farm it is.roadpath2.jpg

Raspberries – now I am a bit allergic to fresh berries so I don’t quite enjoy them as much as others. My wife and daughter love them and traveled 2 hours north(yes – farther north)and dug up a friend’s excess bushes and transplanted them here. There is a patch of soil that is rather poor and all attempts at gardening this plot have met with pitiful results. So, the perfect spot for the hardy raspberry! Winterberry Raspberry Patch is born.

Chickens – I just don’t understand keeping and feeding critters all winter long and not getting a single lousy egg from them. But, my daughter wants chickens and now at least for a few months we have eggs. Eggs coming out our ears. Interestingly, our chickens tend be late morning layers. They like to take their time and enjoy the morning I guess – prima donas!

Flowers – My wife and daughter have decided to experiment with growing cut flowers. Experiment is the key word. No pressure, no expectations – that’s how my wife likes to operate. So, various beds are being prepared for planting the seedlings that have been growing at my daughter’s house. The cardinal rule in Maine is no planting before Memorial  Day and since we had a couple of nights right around freezing even this week, far be it from us to mess with the wisdom of the ages.

Spring Cleaning – perhaps this conjures up pictures of a feather duster and a few boxes filled with odds and ends destined for the thrift store. Well, you can forget that. Spring cleaning at Winterberry Farm is signaled by the arrival of a full size dumpster. And since my middle daughter is getting married what better opportunity for her to sort through all the childhood memorabilia, treasures and keepsakes that have been sitting in my storage spaces for years! Today in fact began the great purge.

Trout – Today also marked the arrival of some very special guests to Winterberry Farm. I was finally able to secure some Rainbow Trout for my pond. I took my grandson with me to pick up the 7″ beauties and most of the family watched the great release of all 50 of them into their new habitat.

Dogs – What farm is complete without dogs? Our two golden retrievers Zeke and Riley fit the bill – at least theoretically. The “stress” of laying around the house and occasional tennis ball chasing has led Riley to age prematurely. The dog is only 7 and his prescriptions cost more than mine! But, the arthritis seems to be affecting him less and he seems to be getting around better these days. Getting around is no problem whatsoever for Zeke! In fact, in the space of 24 hours this week, he managed to get into it with both a porcupine and a skunk. As you can imagine, neither he nor his people came out on the good end of that deal!

That’s all the Winterberry Farm news for now!

Until I find more words . . .The PeeMan