Commando Gardening and Baking on the Barbeque

Each year I try new methods to deter the deer. The one pictured below is directly under a plum tree dropping ripe fruit. 

I plant less and less out in the great wide open for these critters and their daily buffet. This is Year Three, I believe, of a hopeful grape crop from vines now matured. I wrapped the vines in chicken wire last fall and added more chicken wire wrapping for more protection. 

My experiment of combining the two vines with a bamboo arch was a Fail. When the deer would grab the vines to eat, the bamboo would break. Chicken wire mummy wrapping seems to be successful for the time being. You can see the year's prior attempts at deer deterrents with cattle fencing (they crawl under it) and barbed wire up to 8 feet tall (they jump over it). 

Much to my surprise, I discovered a surviving rose bush. I planted three of them last spring and by summer they had been deer munched into oblivion. You can barely see it behind the chicken wire and tomato cage, but it's there!

Our summers extend into stretches of 100 degree weather. That doesn't allow for much baking inside, so I have learned to bake on the grill. 

I harvested my first home grown rhubarb. I made an attempt last year but where I planted it was too hot and it died. I bought a new plant this spring and put it in a large movable planter so it could be moved into the shade. 

Here is the recipe, torn from a 2008 Parade magazine. 

Dinner included a fresh salad, with the rhubarb crisp (pre-grill baking on the left, post grill baking on the right), a whole chicken and corn on the cob all cooked on the barbeque.