Everything old is new again…almost.

Perhaps our biggest goal this year is replacing both gardens. What fence there is started as pulpwood loss cut in half and two inch poultry netting stapled to that. As we ended up with increasingly daring chickens and determined deer, the height of the fence increased in a very hodge-podged manner. Wooded fence posts, branches, yarn, and scraps of extra poultry netting were added in an attempt to keep out critters. Wood cribbing was placed along one side to keep out the groundhog.

The hodge-podge fence has worked for six seasons, but as we stare down the barrel of become a two-income homestead, we’re looking at projects that will save us time and make life easier. A more properly done fence, with removable gates, means a substantially smaller amount of time spent doing spring repairs. It also means a garden set up so that the kids can actually coffee in and help.

For materials, well, we lucked out. One of Hubster’s co-workers isgiving us a dream of a deal on cedar posts, including delivery. We’ll be going with welded wire fencing. I’ll be making removable 3′ wide panel gates – wide enough to get a wheelbarrow through comfortably.

To prep for the fencing, the first step is obviously to remove the old. The process started last night and I removed all of the larger garden. We kept as many pulpwood pieces up that would remain standing so that we have hole markers. I’m planning on tackling the smaller garden today.

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