Scott: You have a wonderfully clear understanding of the deer overpopulation issue. Thank you for adding some extra clarity. I also like your idea of the use of salt licks for "birth control." That way no one has to shoot "Bambi." Pam: The cages are quite easy to make, except for one or two points. First, the rolls are terribly heavy. At Southern States here in Winchester, they load them in my Suburban with a forklift, but a very strong young man can lift one. I jockey them back and forth to roll them out and am careful to get out of the way when I get them to tumble out. I never buy more than two rolls at a time to leave room for this maneuvering. I brace them in the Suburban with bricks. After that it is pretty simple. Find a place with some room to piece-by-piece unroll them for cutting. I use some small bolt cutters to cut the wire, securing the free end with weights to keep it from rolling up on me. The next step might be difficult for you, depending on the strength in your hands/fingers. That is twisting the cut ends--just 3/4 of a turn, really--to secure them. I do this at only three points--more is not necessary. I do the top in one direction, the middle in the other, and then the bottom back again, to add a bit of stability. And each side at each level I twist in the opposite direction. Wearing heavy gloves makes this easier. I am 70 with some arthritis in my fingers, so I am not that strong either. My guess is you could make the same number I do, but it takes just a bit of practice. Of course you could use some kind of soft tie wire to secure them--that would not take any extra time. The way I do it adds some stiffness and makes the rolls keep their round shape better. But using the tie wire with a one section overlap should be just as good. That would just require about 5% more wire per cage. I cut each cage at the 19 section point--that makes cages about 3 1/2 feet across at the top (although I am not completely sure the sections are exactly the same with all brands of this wire), which is wide enough to give protection. A very few times I have had deer put their head/tongue through and nibble anyway. In a few cases I have put extra wire--chicken wire around the upper part to prevent this. I also put the larger openings at the bottom--to accomodate the anchoring rocks and to make the openings higher up harder for the deer to poke their heads through. Finally, you really need the taller wire--anything less than the 46 inches will not be enough. Yes, I put these around the trees and just leave them there until they are not needed. Keeping in place them until the trees are 6" caliper is perhaps overdoing it a little. The risk is less after they are 4", but I have had some scraped minimally up to 6". If the bark gets thick, that affords some protection a bit earlier. Black Walnuts at about 4 inches are fairly safe. Tough lower branches at the "rubbing level" can add extra protection with hardwoods. With pines the deer will simply strip all the lower branches off to get to the trunk. --Spruce

I've enjoyed looking at everyone's holiday decorations, and will look for fruit to include in my next year's wreaths, something I hadn't considered before. I did very little for holiday decorating this year due to family and work obligations (not even wreaths!) but I did find time to fill my buckets at the end of the driveway for the winter. Like Pixie Lou I just went around the yard and clipped things (though no 6 year old to help, unfortunately.) I started with tying up the dried grass in the big barrel to make a tuft, though as you can see from the photos, that didn't hold together so I'll skip that in future years. I pushed the spruce, red maple and yellowish pagoda dogwood branches into the soil and then had to leave for 2 weeks. When I got back the buckets were frozen, so I added the white pine and holly by just tucking them in as best I could among the spruce branches. In past years I've done smaller arrangements, but they've disappeared under the snow, so I decided to try for something more exuberant this year. My inspiration was some of Deborah Silver's planter arrangements on her Dirt Simple blog, but hers are more formal than I wanted for my rural setting. I think I'll stool the stump sprouts on the red maples (cut down 2 years ago since they were damaged and dying) to keep the color brighter for next year's buckets. One plus I've noticed in previous years - when the snow melts in spring, the birds love the holly berries and will strip the branches in the buckets in a matter of an hour or two. From December 2010 From December 2010

Try several of the Dollar stores in your area! I see tall decorative jars and also one's with wide mouths. If all else fails, resort to using mason jars! I love mason jars for just about anything!!! Top the jar with a decorative fabric (maybe a small fruit pattern) or just tie a fabric ribbon around the rim of the jar. You could even glue a little fruit cluster to the top! Sangria is a more casual drink, so you don't have to get to fancy.....I think the gift itself will be "festive". Wish I was on your Christmas list! :) Gail

I make mine on 24" or 36" straw wreaths, using velvet ribbon in a base color to cover and then start my process...not one of them is ever the same. I not only use shiny brites but anything from that era or in the color combo I need, as long as it's glass. I do all my shopping during the spring/summer flea markets,tag/garage/yard sales,thrift stores,antique stores etc... I even now have a network of folks who call me when they have some in that are in good to mint condition. Right now I'm working on getting up enough white,which I found are from the retro Victorian decorating in the 80's for a completely white on white piece with white marabu. It's already sold...just waiting to find the final pieces. good luck..here's my favorite one from last year... Here is a link that might be useful: Pink n White