Do It Yourself Projects for the Homestead
Learn how to build a varmint fence, tool cleaner, hot box and soil sifter.
By the MOTHER EARTH NEWS editors
July/August 1977
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Follow simple instructions and illustrations from the editors of Organic Gardening and Farming to build your own varmint fence.
ILLUSTRATION: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF
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Some of the best homestead tools and devices around
aren't for sale in any store. They're the ones conceived
and tested on farms — and in back yards — around
the world. Many are homemade varieties of commercially
available implements ... others are personal answers to
particular how-to-do-it problems. Whatever, they all have
one thing in common: A large part of the pleasure that
comes from their use derives from the knowledge that
they're self-made.
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And so it is with the following four projects,
selected from a helpful new book put out by the folks at
Rodale Press. We've chosen items particularly well suited
for summertime use, but Build It Better Yourself
offers construction plans for over 200 more ... a great
number of which could surely benefit you!
A Varmint Fence
When Lesley and Marion Blanchard moved to their eight-acre homestead near Sedona, Arizona, they found that, although their heavily mulched garden produced prodigiously ail summer, they were able to harvest only a scant amount. The problem was predators: "Deer, porcupines, rock squirrels, chipmunks, trade rats, skunks, gray foxes, jackrabbits, range cattle, and birds," Mrs. Blanchard relates. "You name it, we have it."
The Blanchards live in "open range" country, which means that it's legally up to the homeowner to fence in his property against cattle, not up to the cattleman to keep his roaming herd within bounds. The cattle, porcupines, and squirrels were particularly destructive.
Refusing to surrender, the Blanchards designed a colossal cage 20 feet wide by 100 feet long to keep out the marauders. In this space Les planted sixteen dwarf fruit trees — peaches, pears, apples, apricots, plums, cherries, and prunes — all of which would mature at less than the 8-foot height of the cage. The trees were planted 10 feet apart, with vegetables occupying the rows between the trees.
Within two years, the apricot, peach, and apple trees were bearing heavily. Thanks to the cage, the fruit now belongs exclusively to the Blanchards, who no longer need battle the beasts and the birds for their tree-ripened harvest.
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