Lazy Gardener's Little Town Farm

[Lazy Gardener]

Yeah. WHy is it that the grass always grows fastest along the fence line? Does grass get stimulated by electricity? HMMM>... I see the beginnings of a great winter experiment here!!! Our neighborhood is such that there is rarely any visiting from one yard to an other. Only happens if it is deliberate... for a reason. Across the road neighbor is more social, and I have one walking neighbor who has her finger on the "pulse" of every one in her walking range. All are friendly, none appear to be dysfunctional.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I actually do have a couple of tie out cables, one is usually posted at front and back doors.

 

[baymule]

You may need them to catch and return her dogs to her. We fenced our place even to a gate on the driveway to keep strays and other dogs out. Almost everyone keeps their dogs up, which is a good thing. If a dog is chasing livestock, it is a shot dead dog. You might want to warn your neighbor of that fact, not that YOU would want to shoot her dogs, but everyone is not as nice as you are. If you ever do shoot a neighborhood dog, you'd better load it up and haul far, far away to dump it out or bury it real deep. SSS

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I would absolutely hate to have to do that. But... if a dog was killing my birds... I would do what I had to do.

 

[baymule]

For a first offense, especially if you knew the dog and liked it's owners, it would be the "right thing to do" to chase it off, report it to the owners and have them pay for the injured/dead livestock. And never let it loose again, because for the next time, it would be a dead dog. Some people do right by their dogs and pay damages, apologize and lock up their dog. Some don't and those are the ones whose dog would get shot if it stepped foot on our place.

I consider it my responsibility to fence in my place, build secure pens and shelter and have 2 Great Pyrenees to keep my animals safe. We haven't had a dog come in to do damage. There has been some come up to the fence, but weren't interested enough to try their luck.

 

[Britesea]

I am grateful that our neighbors have been understanding about the few times our dog has gotten out- mostly before the new fence got put in. They knew we were trying to keep her home, and we were learning what worked and what didn't. When you have a large dog, sometimes even a chain isn't enough. Luckily she wasn't interested in killing anything, just wanted to visit all the friends she hadn't met yet!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Yes, being a good neighbor is a 2 way street. A knee jerk reaction towards a neighborhood dog is NOT a good thing. Nor is a neighbor who lets their dog run loose a good thing. I've had several bad dog experiences:

1. Neighbor's dog came into my yard and killed a LOT of my chickens. They were penned. I caught the dog and called the neighbor. She stated... "Not my dog. My dog is right here." A few minutes later, I heard her out calling for her dog. I called her back, and asked her if she'd found her dog yet. Then, stated... "If you want your dog, you need to come down here and get him. And you need to see how many of my birds he's wounded and killed. And you need to pay the damages." She came, was quite sheepish. Paid damages, but never apologized.

2. Neighboring dogs (2 LARGE) came into my yard when hubby and I were out working. They did a stand off against us, even growling at hubby when we got between the dogs and our penned flock. Several weeks later, the dogs returned on a rainy day. They came in through my garage, toddled up through the family room and came wandering into my kitchen. I shut all doors, blocking these large muddy beasts into my house, and called ACO. I had to get very persistent with him to come pick these dogs up. Owner did eventually call and apologize.

3. Prior egg customer who had a "known to be a chicken killer" dog. He let the dog out of his truck and the dog attacked my smaller dog, causing a torn ear. The man never apologized, stated it was my dog's fault because she "didn't stand her ground." This one left me totally speechless. If he shows face on my property with or without his dog, he will be informed that if he ever shows his face again, I will be calling the police.

Given these 3, plus the most recent one... I would use shooting a dog as a last resort. But... If in a stand off with a dog who intends to do harm to me or any creatures in my stewardship, I would shoot.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

On a more positive note: I picked 5 tiny little summer squash this morning. What a delight to have some of them cooked up with my supper! Now... to just keep up with the oncoming glut of veggies. I hope to blanch a lot of them, do IQF on cookie sheets, then vac seal them.

Picked 4 tiny little eggplant yesterday. Getting enough cherry tomatoes for limited snacking.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Glad to hear that the garden is starting to produce.
I need to go out and scour the weeds for peas. The pea plants are 5 foot tall - because the weeds are that tall, but they are producing something.
Tomatoes are setting fruit also. Lots of green tomatoes showing through the weeds.

 

[Britesea]

I've been very happy with the weed control this year- second year in a row with wood chips in place. We also don't have to irrigate as often.