Carl Vertrees

On the evening of July 3 while we were grilling ribs and subsequently enjoying them, unbeknownst to us three deer were feasting in our garden.

Unfortunately, the garden is not easy to see from the deck or the house, otherwise we’d have chased them off much earlier.

They decimated our bean crop — I’ll call that the main course, after whetting their appetites on zucchini, a few young and tender corn shoots. Perhaps it was rose bushes, raspberry vines and strawberries for dessert.

We’ve lived in the same house on a large lot north of the Maple Street Bridge since we moved to Redmond in 1975. We occupy the second house built in our block in a rural subdivision adjacent to the city.

We have always had occasional problems with deer and other wildlife, but when builders began constructing new homes on the west side of the canyon, that apparently really infringed on their environment, and they began their quests for greener pastures.

If we’d used more forethought when we replaced our fence in 2006, we’d have opted for a taller one. The four-footer that demarcates our lot from the street and the alley is hardly a challenge for any deer, although a couple of years ago, a deer obliterated a section of our five-foot vinyl fence when it miscalculated the height.

(We’re not the only ones in our family with deer issues. Our daughter in McMinnville rescued a fawn that nearly impaled itself on her wrought iron fence earlier in the week.)

We’ve tried many gimmicks to discourage deer in our garden. A neighbor is proud of her solar powered deer sensors that emit a high-pitched tone beyond the human hearing spectrum. We bought a set of four this spring, but our deer apparently just tune them out.

We don’t purport to operate a zoo, but we have provided habitat for rock chucks, raccoons, skunks and porcupines who have marauded our garden in various degrees over the decades. One year the porcupines were especially destructive as the corn ripened around Labor Day. Raccoons have demonstrated their peskiness with their acute dexterity. When I tried to trap one, I caught a skunk instead!

We know gardening in Central Oregon has its challenges. Most of the well documented ones are weather related. We’ve been known to have frost any month of the year.

With global warming, I believe our spring weather is least impacted. We historically try to plant most of our garden about May 15 if the soil temperature is at least 60 degrees. This year I planted most things about May 20, and tomato plants a week later.

When we moved here in 1975, it was not uncommon to have a killing frost right after Labor Day. Now, those frosts have been at bay until early or mid-October. About two decades ago, I helped a friend harvest his still ripening tomatoes on Halloween.

I’ve been a gardening devotee since childhood when my parents had a Victory Garden in Seattle during World War II. We’ve had previous gardens with increasing success in Sitka and Anchorage, Alaska, and Bend and La Grande, Oregon.

Since 2008 we’ve been superintendents of land products at the Deschutes County Fair. Last year we picked our successors, but they’ve recently bowed out because of unforeseen health issues.

We’ve relaunched the search. If you would like to consider supervising that exhibit, we’d welcome the opportunity to discuss the duties and rewards vertrees@bendbroadband.com.

Mayor Ed Fitch has pledged that Redmond voters will decide in November whether cannabis should be sold in our city. I don’t feel strongly about that issue. The old curmudgeon in me would rather have a say about eliminating fireworks. How many homes in Redmond and Terrebonne had fires caused by fireworks this year? Several were reported. With July 4 arriving as dry season begins to peak and burning conditions are severe, I think igniting fireworks is insane. Let’s vote on that!