For as long as I can remember the Japanese Maple has been my favorite tree. Mind you, I didn't always know what that bright red, Bonsai-looking tree was called, but it's always been my favorite.

About 3 years ago I set out to purchase a Red Dragon Japanese Maple. Turns out...they're expensive as snot. And so I waited, and waited, and coveted, and waited until a good deal found me. I picked up a beautiful medium-sized [maybe 3 ft. tall] Red Dragon for about $65. This was a steal considering all the nurseries around here wanted upwards of $250 for the same tree.

That would have been the happy ending to my fairytale love affair with the Acer Palmatum...it's not a happy ending though. My tree has been ravaged. I'm not talking about a branch or two. I mean this thing has been decimated.

Here's what I woke up to this morning:


My poor little Maple tree has been murdered. Not only has it been broken in half by some beastly creature, it's limbs have been pulled apart.



I would typically blame the dogs for something like this, as they have done their fair share of ruining my plants and flowers, but this was too big a job for either of them. This took some serious force. Even Harlan, who is approx. 45 lbs running around the house full speed wouldn't have done this at a full collision.



I've got two theories as to what could have happened. Wanna hear them? Okay good.

Theory #1 - Some Church-Goer who didn't appreciate my recent message on Community and Building Relationships took out their anger on my little red buddy. This is possible...although not probable. If it were me, I would have slit my tires.

Theory #2 - The Garden did it.

Allow me to explain theory #2. We have a garden at our house.

See figure A.:


The above, said garden is doing quite well...which is exactly why I think it victimized my tree. Not enough evidence? Allow me to continue!

Our garden is filled with hair. Carrie cuts hair on the side and each and every individual who gets a trim around here ends up in our garden...well, at least their hair does. You see, our garden is completely Organic. Rather than spray something on our garden to keep the Deer away, we have opted for more natural methods. Enter hair.



Now I'll be darned if it doesn't work and work well. We don't have any problems with Deer eating our stuff. Hair has been proven to keep them away...it really works!

Check out figures B., C., and D. for more evidence:

The proof is in the pudding...or in this case, it's in the vegetables. The deer aren't able to have their way with our tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, squash, beans, corn, etc.., and they're pee-ohed.

As retribution, Bambi's brother Rocco has taken the life of someone close to me. If you've ever seen what a deer can do to a tree with it's antlers, you'd agree with me that the marks are very similar. I have no clue why a male deer would want to come up to the smallest tree in my yard and completely molest it, but I'm not a deer and so I'm unable to answer that question.

All I know is that Little Red will be missed.

Some of you may think we're crazy, and you might not be mistaken, but on our quest to be a little stranger than most we have decided that we are going to keep chickens at our house.

We don't plan to have a Rooster at this time, but you never know. At this point, we're in the research stage as none of us have ever done this before. I am looking up information on building a Do-It-Yourself Chicken Coop with a run for around 8-12 Hens.



From what I understand, it's best to start out with adult chickens before trying to raise them. This should be fun. I'm sure there will be all kinds of adventures involved. We're also plotting a good-sized garden to get some vegetables and herbs growing at the house. It's about 30ft x 30ft so far. We're going to try our hand at some organic hippie stuff.

If you've got any insight or leads for info on getting into chicken farming please let me know. If you're a personal friend of ours...look out for some fresh eggs sometime in the near future.