Yeah, I had the same problem - stupid deer bite the stems off halfway down but don't eat them. WTF?!? So I bought a bunch of 1" chicken wire fencing and wrapped them all up.

Now the deer have moved on to the apple tree. What next?!? My yard is starting to look like a concentration camp with all this fencing around my plants. :mad:

what if you fed them *something else* you're willing to sacrifice, since they're there already...

ie: lead

At least you can eat the offending party. Maybe the beetles would be okay in heavy cream...

ie: strychnine

I thought of offering this in my original post...

Actually, the beetles (depending on the beetle) are better boiled in oil.

Pathmark (supermarket) has pints of New Jersey blueberries for $1.28. Cheap, no work and full of blueberryness. ;)

I think beetles should be slow roasted with garlic.
I imagine the outer wings would always be too crunchy to be palateable (I'm assuming these are BIG) so you just need to soften the insides.

If they're little things (ie a handful at a time type food) I would stir fry, perhaps dip them in flour first to get a crunchy texture.

BTW I can't agree with providing food to protect your garden. That's a lesson learned in history (see Elthelred the Unready if in doubt). Conning towers and searchlights are the way to go.

Damn, that is cheap. Ours are in season (and they grow them in Texas too, it's not like they have to travel too far) and they're still $2.99 a pint. Off-season they're $5.99.

If blueberries were that cheap here, my freezer would be full of them. And my wife would be a little miffed at me for filling the entire freezer.

There's a place nearby that sells big buckets (3-4 lbs., I think) of individually frozen berries (you can buy one type of berries or a mixed berry bucket), for $6. Now that is the best deal one could ever hope for, and the berries are all grown locally in OR/WA so you know you're getting great quality. They're great for cooking/baking - always available and yummy.

Still, berries are way better eaten straight off the vine, so I bitch and moan and gripe a lot, but I'm happy growing my own. Just picked the first batch of raspberries this morning. :)

I'm about at that point! :D

A few months ago I planted a "mystery seed" that I found on the floor of the gardening section at the hardware store. The seed was about the size of a peanut -- kind of squarish, dark tan. The seed eventually turned into an ambitious vine, with broad green leaves, and it's been putting out flowers for two or three weeks. They seem to wilt within the day -- this is the first one I've caught open! This bloom is about 5-6 inches in diameter. I think our mystery plant might be a morning glory, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/...1bed5e8de0.jpg

Oh sure, that the African nightstalker.
During the day the blooms wilt because they are only used in the dark, enabling the tentacles to seek out human ear wax.
The amazing part is when the tentacles enter the ear, they ignore the wax near the entry and bore for the wax in the opposite ear. They do this from both sides, and have sex while passing in the middle, leaving the seed to grow there.
But of course you knew that... everybody does.:borg:

That'd explain the headaches. :rolleyes:

Looks like pictures of a morning glory, but I don't know. Can't you get high if you eat morning glory seeds?

I thought am glory seeds were the size of broccoli or radish seeds. I was going to make an off color joke relating morning "glory" to morning "wood" and the obvious "seed" entendre, but then I got distracted.

But whatever, the flower looks like an am glory.

And Bruce, as usual, you are f king hilarious.