Black tailed deer family visits daily

Photo of a black tailed deer at EWF

Our black tailed deer family roams through at least twice a day these days and seems comfortable here. Last Sunday afternoon, three young deer came through nibbling on the blue elderberry patch as they passed through. They paused for a few minutes, so I was able to share this image. Then they bounded off, their tails in the air. A day later, they wandered through the front yard and into the side yard that is being turned into a Three Sisters Garden later this month. This space in front and at the side of the house is irrigated so it is ideal for expanding our native plant nursery, especially after we discovered the perennial herb, Rose Checkermallow (Sidalcea virgata) becoming established after I removed the non-native plants in the yard.

Our elderberry patch is expanding up the hillside to the north and we noticed the deer are nibbling on their fresh new growth, so hopefully they will survive. When we planted our first crop of elderberry in 2021, they came through and reduced the plants to stubs. Then they came back the next year with new growth and have been growing ever since. This encouraged us to increase our crop and make plans for a pilot project this fall as we begin to market locally sourced organic blue elderberry syrup at the Salem Farmers Market and Salem Holiday Market.