Charge!

 

In yesterday's blog entry, I was bemoaning what feels like increased pressure from the various varmints that give us fits at the Genuine Faux Farm.   When I write things like that I try to maintain either a philosophical side or a humorous side to the whole thing because - well - what else can I do?

That, my friends, was a rhetorical question.  I do not require an answer, so let's leave it at that.

But, since it is MY rhetorical question, I can provide you with a bit of an answer anyway (writer's privilege!).

The picture above shows most of our solar chargers that we use to power the poultry netting fences that we use around the farm.  Like so many other things on the farm this year, we're finding that the last couple of years have put us in a less than optimal position.  Batteries need replacing, there are some shorts in a few of these that need to be repaired and the gator clips on others are needing to be replaced.  So, we've got them all in one place so we can "Frankenstein" some into working pieces for our farm.

You see, ever since we got some motivational help in June, things on the farm HAVE improved for us.  Tammy and I were just reminding each other of the things we did just today on the farm that would have taken a week (or not gotten done at all) just three weeks ago.  We've even managed four back to back days with some serious physical labor and we're still standing.

Though we did have a little bit of a laugh at the bottom of the stairs again.  But, yes, the trip up the stairs was ever so much easier this time around.

The problem is this - we're getting things in the ground.  We're getting the cultivation done.  We're getting the weeding done.  We're even getting irrigation and fences set up.  But, if the chargers for those fences don't work... deer and other varmints visit anyway, which is very frustrating.

The other issue is trying to figure out where to put fences.  These deer have decided they like being around the house.  That means potted plants are....

Wait?!  Where did the potted plants go?  I found the pots....

and some dirt....

ARG!

And so, we keep working to change things up in hopes that we can protect some of our crops, some of our flowers, some of our chickens...    Losses are a part of the game of farming and its the way the world works.  We can give up or we can charge up our batteries and work for other solutions that might solve the problem.

For now, we've decided to charge.