Yesterday it was pouring rain as I drove Sophia to the Portland airport... Though Oregon has a rainy reputation it rarely comes down in July, but yesterday it was like the whole state was sad to see her go.

An hour after her departure my Dad arrived from San Francisco. I have been waiting for him to get here; the garden has been in serious need of his expertise. So this morning we got to work. After the rain it was easy to pull up all the new weeds that have been invading my beds. I started with that, as my dad mulched all of the tomato plants with hay to keep the moisture in the soil.

For the past week or so we have noticed a problem with the tomatoes. They keep disappearing. There are baby green tomatoes growing on most of the tomato plants, but day by day they vanish. Now there are only a few left. Today there were deer tracks in one of the tomato beds. This is a big big problem. So we're searching for friendly forms of deer control... We have plenty of weeds that the deer could be chomping on, why do they have to like what I like?