Organic Gardening isn't for Sissies!

So about five years ago I decided that the hillside facing the south at my house was going to be an organic food forest/garden. Had I the slightest idea of what that decision would cost me in time and effort, I probably would have thought about it a little longer.

The first thing I planted was apple trees. Being the rookie gardener that I was at the time, I didn't consider the chief enemy of my apple trees.

The mule deer is from Hell...
...if you really want to grow fruit trees around where I live. There's nothing they don't like on an apple tree. They eat the leaves, the blossoms, the apples, the stems, branches and they'll even chew off the outer layer of bark on a young tree!

Ask me how I know all this!

If you want to grow apple trees...or any fruit trees around here, you need to have a solution for these things. They are cute and adorable as my wife and daughters remind me all the time...but I just grunt and call them "the enemy!"

My solution for "the enemy" was a fence...
...a high tensile wire fence. I built it last year, rebuilt it, fine tuned it and now, Bambi and his family will walk up to the fence and just stare at my apple trees with longing eyes. I receive cheap satisfaction of watching them try to figure out how to get in and after five to ten minutes, they just give up and settle for some buffalo grass instead.

The "fruit" of my efforts:

Legitimate-sized HoneyCrisp Apples.
YES!
The time, effort and problem solving has paid off!

Simple agriculture issues and problems mirror what we experience in life. We always have obstacles and challenges. In my opinion, the important part is the journey: how do I adjust and what is my attitude during the journey? Am I going to sit and whine about it and let the enemy become larger than life, or am I going to step back, analyze, think and solve the problem?

What enemies are you facing in your garden/life? How are you dealing with them?