While Joe the dog and I were walking this morning, we came across a full grown deer and her two babies sauntering down the middle of the street. Our neighborhood is quite close to several different designated Open Spaces, which means we have a lot of critters that more urban areas do not. Turkeys and deer are quite common, along with raccoons, skunks, opossums, and the occasional coyote. We probably also have bobcats and cougars once in a while, but I've never seen one of those.

We used to have quite a problem with deer eating a good portion of our crops - like, easily 50% of our produce. Once we began production in earnest, we knew we needed a more permanent solution. It's been about a year since we devised a way to extend our existing fence, and I thought you'd like an update on how it's working.

The bottom four feet of fence is Redwood and was installed when we first moved in, 12 years ago. (That high fence belongs to our neighbors.) Putting up post extensions and a three-tiered wire took most of a weekend, and it's not particularly pretty. But honestly, you can barely see it.

Tom and I call this 'deer deterrent' rather than 'deer proof' because any determined animal would be able to knock it down easily, and a truly hungry deer could jump it (it's only about seven feet tall). It's unlikely that they would expend the energy, though, and a mother deer isn't going to go somewhere her babies cannot. About a week after installing this system, a deer DID break through a corner of the fence and get in to the tomatoes, but after repairing that breach, we have not had another. Not one. So I call this extended fence an unqualified success.