My earliest memory is of my brother's birth. He is a little over 2 years younger than me. He was born just 3 days before Christmas. The family story is about how my father was on his way to a company Christmas party when my mother went into labor. When the baby was born, the hospital  left a message at the restaurant, as my Dad had no yet arrived, but several of my Dad's friends got the message first and headed to the hospital to see the new baby, the first boy. As the story goes, they all claimed parentage to have a chance to see the baby first. 

In my memory, I am walking with my father, bundled up in a winter coat, up a very long set of stairs to the doors of the hospital. It's cold and there is snow on the edges of the stairs. Then there was a nurse, handing me a tiny sled with candy and a popcorn ball (which I had never see the likes of before). She said "This is a Christmas present from your new baby brother." And so ends the memory.

I am a listener. Not always, of course, for just as much as the next person I enjoy the sound of my own voice. But mostly I listen and hear. When I am in a gifts interview my job is to listen for when people might be using the charisms with which they have been gifted. I listen for the times when the Holy Spirit has gifted them with the supernatural abilities that help them to use their gifts for others to build up the Kingdom of God on earth. When I am in spiritual direction my job is to listen for the God-moments in a directee's life and to help them to see those moments more clearly, to feel and respond to the presence of God in their lives. The gift of spiritual direction is creating the space in life to attend to the God-moments, to seek to grow and expand one's relationship with the Divine. I believe that taking the time for spiritual direction can be a monumentally healing experience; deepening your prayer life, deepening your relationship with God can change the way you look at the world, can change your life in such positive ways. I encourage everyone to seek out a listener in their lives.

More great-grandparent stories. WIlliam A. Reed is another great-grandfather of my friend.

​William A. Reed was born on 01 Jun 1875 in Dunkirk, Hardin, Ohio, United States as the first child of Albert Reed and Sylvia M Razey. He had one sibling, namely: Clarence Alden. He died on 21 Oct 1963. When he was 26, he married Rena Bella Slocum, daughter of Calvin R. Slocum and Sylvia C Amidon, on 30 Oct 1901 in Canisteo, Steuben, New York, United States.

We first find William in the 1880 Census as a 5 year old living on his father's farm in Ohio. His father and his father's parents are listed as having been born in Ohio, while his mother Sylvia was born in New York, as were her parents. William was born in Ohio.

By 1910 William is married to Rena, living in Steuben New York with their 3 children and working as a Manager in a Silk Mill.

William A. Reed and Rena Bella Slocum had the following children:

• Edna Ardinell Reed was born about 1903 in Niagara Falls, New York, USA.
• Sylvia P Reed was born about 1907 in New York, USA. She died about 1992.
• Merle Alden Reed was born on 17 Dec 1908 in New York, USA. He died on 25 Jul 1999 in Englewood, Sarasota, Florida, USA. He married Ruth Ross about 1936 in New Jersey, USA. He married Evang Thomas on 02 Dec 1961 in Westport, Connecticut, USA. He married Miriam Hadlock Bowker on 28 Mar 1984 in Charlotte, Florida.

In the 1920 Census, the family is still living in Steuben New York with all three children at home. William is working as a Bookkeeper in a Silk Mill.

By 1930, William and Rena were both 54 years old. Only Merle was still at home; William's mother, Sylvia was also living with the family as well as a servant. William is again shown as a Manager in a Silk Mill. I can't seem to find him in the 1940 Census. But we know that he and Rena lived to celebrate their 65 Anniversary together.

William Reed is the father of Merle Reed who is the father of Peter Reed.

I never thought I could like a body lotion as much as I like Lubriderm. It was recommended to us by a doctor and Oh My! it's better than any body lotion I have ever used. No fragrance, no oily or sticky feel, just soft moisturized skin. Highly recommend!

Ricardo Savio was my great-grandfather, the father of my Noni, Palmira Savio Osto. He was born on 14 Mar 1888 in San Giorgio delle Pertiche, Padova, Padua, Veneto, Italy as the second child of Bendito and Maria Savio. He had two siblings, namely: Romano, and Achille. He died in May 1955 in Somerville. When he was 25, he married Catterina "Catherine" Borlin "Burlin", daughter of Antonio Burlin and Giuditta Volpon, on 03 Apr 1913 in San Giorgio delle Pertiche,Padova, Italy.

He and my great-grandmother, Caterina Burlin Savio, arrived in the United States in December of 1913. So here's another weirdness: their marriage date (from the Italian documentation) shows that they were married in April 1913, my Noni's birthday is March 1913. And they arrived here just 9 months after my Noni was born. I feel like there's another story there...

According to the Immigration record, they were traveling with Riccardo's cousin, Galliano Anselini (?). They were all from the same part of Italy, San Giorgio in Padova. They were all going to join Luigi Borlin who was listed as the cousin's friend and the brother-in-law of Ricardo (so, Caterina's brother) at Bedford Street in NYC.

Ricardo registered for the WWI draft in January 1917. He was living in Brooklyn, NY and his occupation was listed as Uniform maker and he reports he is married with 2 children (this is before my Noni came over from Italy.) He is listed as having a medium height, medium build and is blond haired and brown eyed.

I can't find record of him in the 1925 NY Census or in the 1920 Federal Census, but they do show up in the 1930 Census. Ricardo and his wife, Caterina are living on Easton Turnpike in Somerset New Jersey. They have 3 children: Pauline, Eugene and Mario and a boarder, Primo Osto (who evenutally married Pauline/Palmira). Ricardo was 42 years old and his wife was 44. Ricardo was listed as an Operator in a Chemical plant (Calco).

In 1942 at the age of 54 years old, Ricardo registered for the WW II draft. According to his draft registration, he was 5'4" with brown eyes, grey hair and a light complexion with glasses and a mustache.

​Riccardo died on May 11, 1955 at the age of 67 and is buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Joseph Ritner Guild is another great-grandparent of my good friend... so here's another Ancestry Story. 

​Joseph Ritner Guild was born on 28 Dec 1891 in Smithfield, Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA as the third child of John Albert Guild and Clara Belle Phelps. He had three siblings, namely: Grace Belle, Edith Ellen, and Albert Fenton. When he was 20, he married Florence Adelia Havens, daughter of Jabez Beriah Havens and Anna Belle Field, on 19 Jun 1912 in Bradford, Pennsylvania.  ​

​The above image is of his WW I draft registration card, completed on June 8, 1916 on which he is described as tall, with a stout build with blue eyes and brown hair. 

We have records of him from the Census records from 1900-1930.  On the 1900 Census he's listed as being 8 years old living in West Burlington, Bradford County, Pennsylvania with his parents John Albert and Clara Belle. In 1910 he's in Athens, PA working as a farmer on the home farm of his father, John Albert Guild.

In 1920, he's 28 years old and married to Florence Adelia Havens, who is 26. They are living in South Waverly, PA; they own their own home. They have 4 children living at home; Ina Belle, Joseph Ritner Jr, Warren Albert and Doris. Joseph Sr is working as a Warehouse manager for Quaker Oats.

In 1930, still in South Waverly, Joseph Ritner (mostly known as just Ritner) was 39 years old with 5 children living at home, the same 4 as in 1920 plus Fenton Wesley (age 5). Ritner is working as a Manager at Quaker Oats.

He died on 19 Oct 1930 at the age of 39 years old of Typhoid fever. He is buried at Tioga Point Cemetery in Athens, PA. His wife went on to remarry and lived until she was ​90 years old.

Joseph Ritner, Sr. was the father of Joseph Ritner Guild, Jr. who was the father of Susan B. Guild.

Since this blog is where I record whatever strikes my fancy, I thought it would be interesting to have a list of the "things my mother said." These are sayings and phrases that I remember her saying along with those of which my siblings reminded me. So here they are, in no particular order:

• Do something useful and intelligent
• Bring it here (when you wanted to show her something and she was engrossed in a book)
• Peace be with you (whenever one of us was upset with the others)
• If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all
• Cigarettes are out, matches are out, stove is off, washer is off, dryer is off, dishwasher is off (the mantra before leaving the house)
• Don't have a pot to piss in
• You bet your bippy
• Were you there? (brought out whenever one of us complained about a circumstance. Rumor has it she got that one from my Noni.)

As a substitute for swearing in front of her children, she had some interesting "swear words":

• Son of a Seahorse
• Your Aunt Tilly's Underwear
• Bull Balls

Reverend Charles Alexander Ross is the great-grandfather of a good friend of mine. He was born on 12 Nov 1883 in Newburgh, New York, USA as the fifth child of George Monroe Ross and Carolyn Lawson. When he was 24, he married Nanny (Annie) Maclennan Merritt, daughter of John Merritt and Annie MacDonald, on 18 Sep 1908 in New York, New York, USA.  He died in Aug 1973 in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess, New York, USA. He was a minister in Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian churches throughout his career.

At the time of the 1940 Census he was living at 580 Westminster Avenue in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He rented his home for $85/month (about $1700 in 2022 dollars). His wife, Nanny M answered the census questions. Their daughters Elizabeth and Antoinette were still at home. He was 56 years old and Nanny, his wife was 51. Both Charles and Nanny had high school educations. Charles was born in New York while Nanny was born in Scotland. In 1935, the family was living in Rutherford, New Jersey. Charles' occupation was listed as Clergyman and Nanny reported that he worked 50 hours in the previous week. According to the 1930 Census, Charles served in a World War I. Below are a service record and draft registration card for Charles Ross.

This short summary is, obviously just a tiny bit about who he was. I found a great deal more information about him at Newspapers.com. He was apparently a very charismatic preacher. He showed up in Newspapers.com almost once a decade for his sermons. He had the entire text of one his farewell sermon in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on September 15, 1919.

He preached for many years and ended up in the newspaper again in 1962, in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

Charles Ross and Annie (Nanny) Maclennan Merritt had 4 children: Jean, Ruth, Elizabeth and Antoinette. Ruth Ross is the grandmother of my friend. She married Merle Alden Reed and with him had 3 children: David Merle, Peter Charles and Carol Ann Reed.

So, while it's now available, without being transcribed and indexed, it's not very helpful yet. The National Archives has a very tedious method of helping to transcribe the names on the Census page images, but I much prefer the one at FamilySearch.org. I have used it to help transcribe other images (deeds, contracts, etc. from back in the day), but soon the U.S. Census project will launch and you will be able to use the FamilySearch app to do the transcribing. ​https://www.familysearch.org/en/info/1950-census-details

While I wait for the indexing project to begin, I am working on transcribing names from old deeds, wills, land records, etc. to be added to the FamilySearch and Ancestry databases to help people find their anscestors.

Just saw a cute Facebook post that mentions contrapposto, a word I had never heard before. It's an Italian word that means "counterpoise." According to Wikipedia, it is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of it's weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane.

Based on these old photos of my Dad, he learned the visual value of the contrapposto and used it to his advantage. Of course I am biased, but what a good looking guy he was.

Here it is, it's been released. But, as with all things, there's more to the story than the 1950 Census being released. Next comes the huge task of transcribing all the information so that it can be indexed and searched. The data isn't really helpful if no one can find what they are looking for.

How to help? This is the official 1950 Census website from the National Archives: https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ 

They have an option for you to help with transcribing, which I will be doing. To find a relative on the 1950 Census at this moment, you will need to know their Enumeration District. Without that there's no way of finding the correct Census page.

As always, I say a prayer of thanksgiving for not only all the census takers with good handwriting (it's a real chore to decipher people's bad handwriting from decades ago), but also for all those who help with the transcribing. Without transcription, it's very very difficult to find information in the census because it cannot be indexed.

So, as I mentioned above, my first find in the 1950 census were the grandparents of my husband, the Joseph Marcinek family. By 1950, Jack (Dear Husband's Dad) had left home and Nancy, age 18, was still at home. They were at 1710 West Pine Street (as they were in the 1940 Census, which made them a little easier to find in the 1950.) Joseph was 45 and his wife Marie was 43. He was listed as the Proprietor of a Retail Grocery Store (this is the store they had in the front section of their house on West Pine Street (Shamokin must have had zoning regulations that are much different than they are today.) 

I know all this may seem boring and tedious to many, but to a woman who loves genealogy and who has a "terrier-like" persistence when it comes to finding answers, this is a day filled with hope for more answers to find!

I've summarized some of the info that I found on the 1940 Census as it applies to one generation back from my parents... I wondered what I could find about the next generation back. Who was still living in each family group and what were they doing.

Ages in the 1940 Census:

• John Bobora was 53 and his wife Suzanna Strauss Bobora was 51
• Riccardo Savio was 54 and his wife Catherine Borlin Savio was also 54
• Michael Marotto was 65 and his wife Marie Penna Marotto was 62
• George Matthews had passed away, but his wife Eva Johnson Matthews was 56

All the others of that generation had passed away before the 1940 Census: John Marcinek, Anna Duzick Marcinek; Axel Younggren and Malinda Mattson Younggren; Elof Segerstrom and Anna Thomson Segerstrom; and finally, Emilia Capusso (mother of Primo Osto)

Primo Osto was the head of his household in 1940, but it was Pauline/Palmira, my Noni, who answered the questions of the census taker. They lived on Somerset Street in Bridgewater New Jersey and rented their home for $20 per month (about $405 in 2022 dollars). There were four family members; Primo, Pauline, Gloria their daughter and Lawrence (Felio). Primo was 38 years old and Pauline was 24. She reported that both she and Primo had an elementary education. I don't know what kind of education either of them had in Italy, but I know that my Noni never learned to read or write English; I don't know if she could read or write Italian.

Primo was listed as a Dye Operator at a Chemical Factory. In 1939 he earned $1400 a year (about $28,370 in 2022 dollars) and he worked 52 weeks of the previous year. Both Primo and Noni were passionate gardeners and one story I heard about Primo was about the grape arbors he build to grow grapes and make his own wine.

As I was digging into the 1940 Census to bring out more details and stories from the information provided in the Census, it dawned on me that having a "cross-family" summary might be cool. What kind of living situation did each branch of the family have? What were the occupations and the education levels and in what parts of the country were they located.

Where was our family in 1940?

According to the 1940 Census, the Fred Younggren family lived on a farm they owned in St. Croix  County, Wisconsin. He estimated the value of the farm to be $15,000 (about $304,000 in today's dollars) They lived in the same place in 1935. There were 6 members of the household: Fred; his wife Mildred; their twin daughters Lois and Lorraine; Arthur Younggren, Fred's brother and; Harrison Lee a hired hand.

Fred was 67 years old, Mildred was 54, the girls were 14 years old. Fred had an 8th grade education, while his wife had 4 years of high school. Fred and his daughters were born in Wisconsin while Mildred was born in New Mexico. I am very curious about the journey Mildred's family took to get from New Mexico to Wisconsin, but I have few details on that story.

Fred's occupation was farmer and he had worked 48 hours in the last week of March 1940... wow, at 67 years old! He didn't list his income from farming, income was just listed as "other sources."

Here are the newspaper clips that came out after Lois and Lorraine were born. They are from the La Crosse Tribune and the Chippewa Herald-Telegram

Pasquale Marotto was my grandfather. He married Rose C. Matthews and had 4 children (the oldest of which, Michael, died as an infant. Pasquale Junior, Marie (my Mom) and Madeline were their other children (though Madeline was not born at the time of the 1940 Census.)

The family lived on Elizabeth Avenue in Franklin, New Jersey. Franklin was a small town with a population of about 4000. They owned their home and it was valued at $2500, about $47,500 in today's dollars. Pasquale was 30 and was the head of the house; Rose was 28. Pasquale had an 8th grade education and Rose had a high school education and training as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Rose worked as a nurse in a hospital; Pasquale was a Chief Operator at a paint factory. The family had a maid named Eleanor Wade who also took care of the children. My mother had wonderful memories of how loving Eleanor was to them. 

According to the Census, Pasquale made $1248 (about $23,712 in today's dollars), interestingly Rose's income is listed as 0 although she had an occupation, at which she had worked 48 hours in the last week and the family had a maid so she could work... so $0 income. Weird.

Here are a few photos... again, some come as screenshots from Super 8 video so the quality is terrible.

My great-grandfather on my mother's side, George Washington Matthews, died when he was only 48 years old (1888-1936) and didn't make it to being recorded in the 1940 Census. At the time of the 1940 census his widow, Eva Isabell Johnson Matthews was 56 years old and living with her daughter Georgia (who I think my mother always called Peggy...) in Seaboard North Carolina. She worked in a sewing room for the Works Progress Administration earning about $330/year (about $6,270 in today's dollars). She rented her home for $5 a month, about $95 in 2022 dollars. She and her daughter both only had a 4th grade education. Eva was born in Virginia; her daughter in North Carolina. I have only a few photographs of Eva. Some are snaps from some Super 8 videos we have from the Marotto family.

George and Eva Matthews had 5 children: Rose, Hettibelle, Arthur, Rufus and Georgia. Arthur died as an infant. Rose/Rosa is my grandmother and the only child who left the North Carolina area and came north to New York and eventually New Jersey to have a family.

While these are not from the 1940 timeframe, I was able to find a couple of newspaper clippings about Mr. and Mrs. George Matthews (1911 and 1916.)

For Ancestry geeks like me there's nothing more fun than finding new, real, pertinent information about your (or someone else's) ancestors. The Census records are an amazingly good way to get information about your ancestors. The Census records are only released 72 years after they were taken, this is for privacy reasons of a sort... by time 72 years have passed most of the people who answered the census have passed on and the details of their lives can be disclosed without consequences to them.

So, let's take a walk through a census record.... This one is an example from my dear husband's family tree.

The family lived at 1710 West Pine Street in Coal Township, Pennsylvania. They owned their home and it was valued at $3000 (about $57,000 in 2022 dollars). Marie was the one who answered the Census-taker's questions and she also gave herself as the head of the family. If you  knew her, you could imagine her doing this!

Marie was 3 years younger than Joseph, her husband. She had a high school education and he had 3 years of a college education. She was born in Illinois and in 1935 lived in the same house she was currently living in. Joseph was listed as an "unpaid family worker" in a family business. They owned a small grocery store that was in the front rooms of their house on 1710 West Pine Street. His income was $1200 per year, which in current dollars is a little over $24,000.

The 1950 Census is being released in a couple of days. I don't know what information will be immediately available on Ancestry.com and how long it might take them to index all the information available, but I am SO excited! Recent (this century) Census records are only released every 10 years!

Just for fun, here are some Newspapers.com stories I found about the Marcineks in the early  1940s. These are from the Shamokin News-Dispatch newspaper. A little backstory. John Marcinek was the father of Joseph Marcinek and Anna was his wife.

Still Pond quietly
Revealing nothing at all
Peace lingers under

My Noni, Pauline (Palmira) Savio Osto was an immigrant to the United States from Borgoricco, Padua, Venice, Italy. She arrived in March of 1928, having just turned 16 years old. She came alone because her parents, who had had 2 sons in the United States since their own immigration, sent for her. The ship she arrived on was called the Conte Grande and it departed from the port of Genoa, Italy. She could not read or write (never did learn) and she arrived with $25. Which, I guess, back then was a fairly large sum (my guess is based on the rent that she and Primo paid for the house they were renting in 1940.)

I think it's interesting that the column next to nationality (Italian) is for "race or people" the Italians were divided into Northern and Southern Italian. As a child I didn't recognize what an important difference this was; I have Italian grandparents on both sides. However, on  my mother's side, they are all Southern Italians from the Naples area and on my father's side, they are all Northern Italians from the Venice area.

A story I didn't know until I was nearly married was that Noni grew up thinking that her Aunt Virginia Borlini, was her mother. When they told her that her parents were sending for her to go to the United States, she hid in the barn for three days to try to avoid having to go. I wonder too about her parents.... Noni was born in March of 1913. Caterina Borlin Savio and her husband Riccardo Savio arrived in the United States in December 1913. This means that they abandoned their first-born at the age of 9 months. My Noni lived her early life thinking her aunt was her mother. Why would a couple leave their so very young child behind?

By the time of the 1930 Census, Noni was living with her parents, two brothers and a boarder in their home named Primo Osto. She was 17 years old and working as an operator in an asbestos plant. She could not read or write, nor did she speak much English.

I found another interesting story about her in Newspapers.com. Apparently, when she was 18 years old she had been sent to live with her Uncle Luigi Borlin. Unhappy with this, she convinced her cousin Lena Borlin to run away with her. Here are two newspaper articles that talk about the runaways. I love the line in the longer one that had these gems:

For those who knew her, can't you just imagine the flood of indignant Italian that must have flowed forth following being "caught" by the police.

Spirited and unconventional Noni's story gets more interesting when it comes to her children, but that's a story for another day. Noni married Primo Osto, the boarder in her family's home in New Jersey; he was also working as a dye operator in a local factory. He was 15 years older than she was.

By the 1940 Census they were renting a house of their own and had two children; my aunt Gloria and my Dad (Felio) He's listed on the Census as being named Lawrence. My Dad had many names, but that's also a story for another day. They lived in the house next door to Noni's parents.

Noni raised her three children primarily on her own; since Primo was much older than she was and was at some point injured at work. He left his family here in the US and returned to Italy and died in the mid 1970's.

Noni was an avid gardener and her gardens were everywhere around her house on Finderne Avenue in Bridgewater, New Jersey. One of the stories she told was that when she was pregnant with my Dad she helped her husband bring in stone for the foundations of the house. My uncle Leon still lives in that house. 

Whenever we would go to visit, we always set up a table outdoors. In fact the only time I can remember eating indoors at my Noni's house was when we went there for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Growing up, I heard two "main" story-lines about my grandmother, Rose (Rosa) Cornelia Matthews Marotto. The first was about her having sold her cow to move north.

The other story was about the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). My mother attended a DAR tea with a friend of hers and was sooo impressed with how lovely it all was (white gloves and all). My grandmother, Rose, told my Mom "You could belong to the DAR too. We have ancestors who fought in the revolution." More on this later... I will write on how I finally found the connection that allowed us to become members of the DAR. But on with the story of Rose's Cow....

 that Hettie Belle had married the man Rose wanted, Claudie Rose. But then her name would have been Rose Rose. At any rate, at the time of the 1930 Census, Rose was still living with her parents in Roanoke Township, North Carolina (street address: Jackson and Gum Fork Road). Our next touchpoint is the 1940 Census where Rose shows up as married with 2 children.

The story gets a little more interesting when we add in my DNA results. Turns out I found two people, who I had never heard of before. They each showed up as a "close relative" of mine. Not understanding how such a thing was possible, I started to dig a little deeper into the tree of this "close relative." I looked at the tree that was posted online to try to find some family connection, but there was nothing. 

Finding no connection except that Robert Sandman was born in New Jersey, I took a leap and reached out via email to Robert's daughter to ask if her father was adopted and she said Yes! That her father found out after his mother's funeral that he was not her biological son. So, he lived his whole life not knowing, and when he did find out, the one person who could have given him information, had passed away. Robyn and Robert searched all over New Jersey to find a birth certificate, but there wasn't one. They only found his birth recorded in a registration book. So, we don't have any "paper proof" that would stand up to scrutiny, but we have the DNA results, the interesting timing of Rose's move north and the timing of Robert's birth.

So, Is that why her grandfather wouldn't give her money to come North, because she was already pregnant with Robert? We don't have any way of knowing the truth, but what an interesting story DNA can tell us!

I want to be happy; you too?

It's seems like I've been seeking all my life for what will help me to feel happy. This blog post is simply a compilation of those resources that help me to re-direct myself from despair to happiness. Enjoy!

The video below was sent to me by a dear friend (Nancy Opgaard). I think it explains some of the reason that the "pursuit of happiness" can be a fast track to nowhere and that the pursuit of gratitude and compassion can lead us directly to happiness.

I can't remember when I first came across this video or even who recommended it to me, but I LOVE it and return to it periodically when I need a reminder of simple steps to being more happy.

Yale University's Dr. Laurie Santos has a course on Coursera on The Science of Well-Being that is excellent and FREE. ​

Lift me, hold me now
Again, again, one more time
Tender toddler love

The bottom drops out
Silent howling agony
Behind my bright smile
​

They are beautiful, there's no denying it. But if you want to grow anything, and I mean ANYTHING in Connecticut, you will be subject to your hard work getting "stripped down" by wandering hungry vermin, I mean deer. They eat anything tenderly popping up in the spring. They eat the buds of samplings, strip the bark off ornamental bushes, eat every leaf of a newly planted rhododendron that is supposed to be Deer Proof. Hahaha, there's no such thing!

There are many articles online about how to keep deer from eating your hard work and many more products that you can buy to help you deter deer, but unfortunately none of them, and I really  mean NONE of them will work in the long run. I am usually a peaceful woman, but these vermin make me want to develop a taste for venison.

Here is some of the top advice for deterring deer:

• Ways to Keep Deer Out of Your Yard
• Deer proof gardens: 4 sure-fire ways to keep deer out of your garden
• 5 Ways to Keep Deer Out of Your Garden

I've given up on trying to grow vegetables. I buy mine from our local organic farm, in a Community Supported Agriculture system. I do still grow my own herbs, since the deer are slightly less likely to destroy them. I think the next thing I am going to try is to plant very prickly shrubs all around my property. I figure if I make this as inhospitable as place as possible, I might have a chance of keeping them from eating all my herbs.