August 22, 2009: Week 13

I guessed it would be another week of harvesting eggplants, cucumbers, green peppers, and hot peppers. I really don't mind -- it's a fun job to find the most ripe vegetable (or fruit?); it's also really amazing to me to see a little plant make so much produce. I was ready to go to the fields but my first job was to spread peanut butter on the electrified plastic wire strip around the farm. Some deer tracks were found in the fields and the fence needed to be baited again. I am told that deer can jump 8 ft over a fence. This "fence" is a white plastic band about 1/2 inch width over a metal wire about 4ft high. Animals can certainly crawl under it or jump over it, but the electricity that runs through the wire is the deterrent. Here is the plan: the deer smell the tasty peanut butter on the plastic strip, give a lick and Zzzzt! they experience the not-so-tasty goodness of 9,000 volts. So, of course, they don't come back and hopefully spread the word to other deer to stay away. As I was doing this for the full perimeter (1500 to 2000 feet), I was thinking of marketing names or slogans for this product : Lick-A-Bolt, Zap-Away. I was also wondering if deer like peanut butter or some other spread like Nutella, or perhaps marshmallow Fluff?

This week we also harvested some watermelons and cantelopes; this is more difficult to time because of the discernment needed to find out about the sweetness inside. What is the sound of the thump? What is the color and texture of the rind? How easy does the melon fall away from the stem? ....