A yearling doe has discovered that she can jump through the strands of our electric fence and help herself to a tasty meal of local produce. She's eaten the small planting of green beans in the S. Raspberry field and started to nibble on tomatoes. I surprised her in the cherry tomatoes Thursday night around 9 PM. She seemed offended, and disbelieving, when I yelled at her to get out. Upon my first holler, "Get out! You can't eat this food, it belongs to others!", she bounded away from me about 30 feet. Then she looked back as if to ask, "Are you sure this garden isn't meant for me?" I yelled again, "Out! Out! Out!" and ran towards her. Graceful as could be, she leapt through the electric fence without even brushing against it.

Moraine Farm farmland seems to be a corridor for deer moving from the wooded area around the lake and the J.C. Phillips Nature Preserve. The sight of deer running across the fields, the road, down to our pond and out toward Cabot Street is a common one. We've grown used to driving cautiously down the farm road, knowing that deer may come bounding across it at any time.

This wasn't our first meeting. Since early spring, our doe and a young male companion have have grazed in the field between S. Raspberry and Iowa. I've not seen the yearling buck in the last few weeks, but this doe has been a fairly constant companion during our morning harvests. Occasionally she stands at the northernmost corner of Iowa, watching as we work.  At first I thought she was just curious about us human critters, up so early in the morning, bent over food. Maybe she thought we were grazing.

I found her inside the fence surrounding Iowa three weeks ago. She was nibbling a buckwheat cover crop. I shooed her away and redoubled our efforts to keep the electric fence baited. The goal behind baiting the electric fence -- smearing it at regular intervals with peanut butter -- is to tempt the deer to make contact with the fence with its nose or tongue. A sharp electric shock "trains" the deer that it is best to stay away from the area. If the deer makes contact with other parts of its body, its hide prevents it from feeling a shock.

Since our crops went into the ground, and the deer fence went up, we've been diligent in keeping it baited with peanut butter. We keep the area under the fence mowed so that weeds don't short out the electric circuit.  We keep the fence on except when we are passing through it or working inside it.

What's next? I am searching for someone with a border collie who might help the doe feel unwelcome in our fields and perhaps help her find some other trail to get to where she's going. I think this is going to be an uphill battle. As you know, Moraine Farm veggies are delicious.

See you at the farm!

Gretta (for Amy, Rebekah and Kim)