The Fig Booth

 Save the Fig Tree from the Deer!

    By April 1st the first leaves sprouted on our fig tree and I was determined to protect it this year. It was clear we needed a deer proof fence immediately, but as we researched fencing in our yard we discovered that

• it would cost thousands of dollars
• even if we hired people, they have a month long waiting list
• the Benner fence poles that seem excellent would be both expensive, and require shipping time and installation that the deer won't wait for. 

    One cheap alternative I heard about is deer netting. It costs under $20 for a 100 foot roll that is 10 feet tall. I decided to use my old Snake and Snake crafts booth to create a room around the fig tree on all sides and the ceiling. The big fence could come later. Vance and I set it up and wrapped it top to bottom on April 6. 

    If you look closely, you can see the plastic netting. It is very lightweight, and seems unlikely to stop a big animal from tearing through it, but people say deer hate the feel of it and back off when they touch it. 

    Little did I know at the time, that deer netting doubles as a snake trap.

A couple days later when I was in the fig booth weeding, Vance pointed out two big copperhead snakes were stuck by the corner of the booth not 4 feet away!

Scary, but kind of fascinating that real Snake and Snake were in my booth. They were alive, but could not free themselves, so they could not reach out to bite us. 

    We carefully cut a bit of the netting, and Vance got them into a bucket. I found a new home for them at an undisclosed location in some woods.