Last weekend we were in Washington state volunteering at a Feed the Troops event. The Pacific Northwest BBQ Association cooked up BBQ for over 1000 Navy personnel and their families. It was an honor to share great BBQ with them. And it was a whole lot of fun, too, prepping, smoking and serving so much food. We did 40 pork butts for pulled pork sandwiches, 140 racks of ribs, piles of chicken, smoked mac n' cheese, smoked beans with pork and lots of chili with beans - all cooked outside. The Clearwater Resort and Casino co-hosted this event, providing potato salad, corn, coleslaw, muffins, beverages, hot dogs and dessert. They also provided the venue complete with tables, chairs and a great band. We were so crazy busy that I didn't take a single picture....
until we got back home and found a big surprise....
This is all that is left of my beautiful bush beans. Just little bean skeletons. They should have been ready to start picking when we got home... But the strong winds that blew while we were away ripped the gate to the garden open and the deer stopped by the all you can eat buffet!!!
The enjoyed the potato plants with their meal of green beans, too.
This isn't the best picture - but you can see that the branches have been stripped on the tomato plants. Those darned deer managed to grab pretty much all of the red tomatoes and probably 75 percent of the green ones, too. So much for all the hours I spent picking hornworms off the plants....
They even munched my one and only hollyhock. It must have been their dessert - along with some lilac bushes and petunias!!!!
To have most of the garden devoured this time of year is heartbreaking. But what can you do? You can make sure to bungee cord the gate before going away!!!!
3 comments:
That's a lot of BBQ and for a good cause. So sorry about the garden. My first thought was that the woodrats got to it. They are a lot smaller than deer, but can cut things down to the ground. The worst part is they leave it all behind to dry before hauling it away to their cache. This year hasn't been so bad. We caught one a few weeks back and none have moved into the vacated territory yet. We got hit with the wind as well. We were home at the cabin to see waterspouts form and head for our front door. No real damage, but the BBQ took a tumble and my bean plant in a pot took a face plant on the deck. -- Margy
First off, hats off to you and all the fellow cooks! What a wonderful thing you all did, I am sure it was enjoyed by everyone. So sorry about your garden. I can imagine how disappointed you must have been when you saw the carnage. :-(
aww man, that's terrible about your garden. I'm sorry that happened. I bet those were some happy deer and full, deer. Hope you are able to salvage something.
And kudos to you for the work you did for the troops! Nice job!!
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