Czech Deer

Hello all!

As if the rain weren't enough to make a mess out of a perfectly good lettuce planting, we now have six - yes six - firmly entrenched and expensively fed deer. Three does, three fawns, all very cute, all fat and shiny from a healthy diet of Sidehill farm greens. They have eaten lettuce. They have eaten radicchio. They have eaten escarole and swiss chard. And, as the ultimate insult, they have eaten all of our czech black peppers. The entire plants. All the way to the ground.

Now as many of you know, czech black peppers are no innocent sweet bell - behind that lovely purple exterior, they pack a pretty good punch. Enough heat that I wouldn't just go out and munch one down off the plant. Enough heat to make a pretty good, well, deer repellent. But apparently, we have been blessed with an entire family of special Czech deer - immune to hot peppers of all sorts. Right here at Sidehill Farm! Will wonders never cease!

So as a result, we have no more summer lettuce (or czech black peppers). We are starting to plant lettuce, salad mix, and other greens for the fall crop, but it will be a number of weeks before they are ready. If you want your lettuce now, you'll have to harvest yourself a little venison first. But be careful, it might be spicy.