Perhaps this is too much of an 'aside,' but you mentioned "deer." And something about sharing the garden's yield? Fear that you will get nothing?That's happened here already!
We have always had a number of deer passing through, as my farm grows over 45 acres of corn every year and much more around us. Last year, one deer figured out to jump the fence into our new veggie garden, just to nibble the few sweet corn silks, with hundreds of acres of field corn all around!? Of course, we got no corn from those stalks, as the pollen never reached the cob, but the amount of deer depradation wasn't too bad.
However, this year is a different story. I believe it's the same doe, who had twins and has clearly learned to pull ears of corn all along the cornfield edge by the driveway, just going from one to the next, hanmering the outside row, breaking over 6 foot stalks to eat whatever she fancies. We have never seen this much corn damaged before, over our 20 years here.
So last week, when our first little stand of sweet corn had tassled and cobs were well along, I noticed some critter had gotten over the 30" high fence and trashed half the stalks. Of course, we thought it was the pesky doe, but then I saw the half-eaten ears had canine-type teeth marks on them. We also saw a gorgeous red fox run across the road near there. We had seen a fox dennin the next field with 4 kits, so mamma might be hungry, too - and a fox can climb!
Then there are the raccoons.
Yesterday, we erected a freakin' 8 foot high wire enclosure around the 10 foot block of our next sweet corn and I tied orange safety tape to flutter in the breeze. Whatever got our first batch of corn showed NO MERCY and ate the ENTIRE CROP. Didn't touch the beans, the potato vines, the leeks, the cabbage or the squash. Just the damn sweet corn. I don't mind "sharing" but there is zero point in working this hard to give it ALL away to greedy critters, agreed?
On English and tea discussions: my in-laws are from down under and they like their tea hot with milk in it. One elderly auntie claimed when it's really hot outside, she feels drinking hot tea cools her off!? So there is no accounting for taste; don't worry about them commenting on our tea habits!
A wonderful tea I was introduced to by my Mexican friends was Flores de Jamaica (dried Hibiscus flowers). I buy the blossoms in the local tienda. It's a little messy as they have some grainy sediment, so you need to steep the blossoms, pour the liquid through cheesecloth and then a coffee filter, but I make a gallon of it and drink it ice cold, unsweetened. No caffeine to jack my BP, and it tastes so great, tangy and crisp, and is a beautiful ruby red. Many of my Mexican friends won't drink it without adding sugar. But I found it's a real healthy alternative to regular tea during the summer.
