Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!
I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.
We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.
To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Oh, Deer!
Can you see the deer? on the path in the wood, in the middle of the shot?
We saw the deer again, right up by the garden fence , just as it was getting dark. We all went outside in the rain to see - Compostgirl in her pj's, all of us holding our breath, the cats very worried and thrashing their tails at this "intruder". The deer stood and looked at us and then quite calmly and slowly wandered off into the wood.
Today, we have been outside moving electric fence netting to keep the hens off the newly emerging potato haulms in the raised beds outside of the garden fenced area - it was nearly time to stop for lunch, when to my amazement the deer appeared again!
When I first saw him, he was only about 15 m away from me, right by the hen house and garden gate.
He slowly moved into the wood, apparently unconcerned by our presence,
We think it is a young male Fallow Deer.
Wonderful ( as long as he leaves my veg patch alone!)
I enjoy your blog and have subscribed to get it by email but I think this is the first one that came since about april 19- has anyone else had a problem?
ReplyDeleteI was chuckling at the deer as here (in the Eastern US) there are EVERYWHERE- they walk all arounf the house and jump in and out of my pastures! I hope you enjoy yours and he is not as destructive as ours(but I like them anyway).
Lovely! :-)
ReplyDeleteHello Lynda, sorry you have been having difficulties with the notifications - I don't know about email notifications but my regular commenters seem to be commenting as usual?
ReplyDeleteAnyway - Deer ARE an issue in an area about 2 miles away (Woolhope dome/Wye valley AONB) but we have never seen any deer in our wood or garden before - and this one is very unafraid - I saw him just now and he walked off when I got to withing 2 m of him...he seemed completely unconcerned by me!
I am pleased he is in our wood but slightly worried about the damage he could potentially cause if I am honest.
He is Mrs C! LMC would love him, Compostgirl has already named him(rolls eyes)
ReplyDeleteHe's beautiful! I just hope he leaves your trees alone.
ReplyDeleteI have just discovered that deer are partial to beetroot and runner beans... thankfully I read this, rather than discovering the hard way.
Hi again!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! It is so diverse and interesting. How did I not know you had an eglu though?
I spotted the deer straight away in the first picture, which is unusual for me!
The coir compost in the last post is an interesting concept. I use it for bedding for my pet tortoise and he loves it!
Martin
Hello Martin and TGS.
ReplyDeleteI saw him again at dusk tonight, right by the garden five bar gate...he seems uninjured and looks well, so am not sure why he is so apparently tame?
Maybe I am a deer whisperer as well as a chicken/mole/dormice/robin whisperer?
Martin - no idea why you did not realise we have an Eglu? Compostman got me one and two hens back in 2007 as a present - a re introduction for me to hen keeping after many years ...I bet he regrets it now as two hens rapidly became many - re triggering my henny obsession!
Coir is good stuff - I use Fertile Fibre for growing if I have to buy growing medium as they are certified organic and only a few miles away from us so very local!
I just came across these natural/pesticide free way of keeping deer and the smaller critters away from the garden, its really good! Hope that helps :)
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.hgtvgardens.com/the-buck-stops-here-protect-your-garden-from-deer/