I love receiving letters and emails to hear from readers, and it’s also a way to always learn something new.
A column I published more than a year ago shared a reader’s lament about hungry deer destroying the beautiful broadleaf hostas planted as a garden highlight in her yard.
My printed response to that reader’s query for recommendations and help to ward away undear deer was less-than-sufficient for another faithful reader, Marilyn Poweska of Valparaiso.
In this previous column printed April 2018, I had explained that the hostas in the yard and gardens at our farm had not been the target of hungry deer despite our usual problems with smaller pests such as gophers, moles, rabbits and raccoons. My column suggested a tactic that has always worked, having a farm dog, or in the case of my older brother Tom and his wife Linda down the road, three dogs, to deter any deer from coming up too close to the house foraging for food.
Deer have a very powerful sense of smell and hostas rank as a favorite sweet and inviting aromatic offering. Because deer can detect scents from a great distance, they are both drawn to the fragrance of hostas, but also quickly deterred if they detect the scent of any canine in the vicinity.
Reader Mrs. Poweska, who is 90, felt my canine advice was not very relevant to many readers, especially if having a “yard dog” is not an option. Therefore, she contacted not only myself, but also my parents, to provide what she has found is a far more economical, simple and most of all, effective alternative.
This summer at our family farm, hungry herds of deer have now seized upon us, bravely dining nightly in our flower gardens and even the landscape nearer to our house and garden sidewalks.
“Use bars of Irish Spring soap for your deer problem and they’ll go away,” Mrs. Poweska advised.
“Just use a grater and shave the bars of soap into slivers to scatter about your garden, flowerbeds or the stems of the hostas. The deer will no longer approach because the soap has such a strong scent. Also, in the spring, think about planting more flowers that bloom yellow. Deer are warded away by the color yellow. If you notice, the deer prefer to eat green leaf hostas as opposed to the yellow dual-toned leaves.”
Green bars of Irish Spring soap were originally launched in 1970, the year I was born, and I can recall my mom buying bars of it during my youth for our green tile bathroom at the farm. Developed and manufactured by the Colgate-Palmolive Company, it was first launched as a product in Germany and directed for overseas consumer appeal before it was also distributed to stores throughout the U.S.
The strong fragrance, a green tinted appearance and the brand name carved onto every bar of soap made the product unique. What further propelled sales of the soap, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, were a series of popular TV commercials featuring men and sometimes women showering (seen from the waist or shoulders up) outside in a secluded wooded area near an Irish village, smiling and singing joyously as they lathered up with a bar of Irish Spring soap. The commercial spots also usually included a voiceover and footage of man’s hand using a pocketknife to cut away a piece of the soap bar to reveal the richness of its composition.
For the past month, my dad has taken the soapy advice of Mrs. Poweska and he reports the slivers of Irish Spring soap bars have fragrantly forced away our hungry deer and the soap hasn’t caused any harm to the flowers or vegetation.
On the subject of scent, on Tuesday, my mom made her recipe for a favorite Irish meal of boiled cabbage and corned beef with root vegetables, which always results in a strong aroma wafting through the house while it’s cooking. Paging through my three published cookbooks and previous columns, I was surprised that — to date — I have never published her recipe, which I’m featuring today.
The reason corned beef and cabbage was the featured menu item at the farm last week was at the request of my oldest brother Tom, who celebrated his 62nd birthday on July 23. Joined by Tom’s wife and my oldest sister Carol (all three who rank this meal as among their favorite dining delicacies), rather than birthday cake, fresh blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream was the dinner’s sweet finale.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published three cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.
Peggy’s Boiled Corned Beef and Cabbage with Root Vegetables
Makes 8 servings
3 pounds corned beef brisket, seasoned in brine
2 large onions, chopped
2 quarts water
3 teaspoons mixed table seasoning of choice, such as Mrs. Dash
3 teaspoons beef boullion paste
Black pepper to taste
8 large red new potatoes, scrubbed with skin left on
1 medium head of cabbage, chopped into pieces
6 large carrots, cut into coin-size pieces
1. In a large stewing pot, place corned beef and the brine and seasoning contents of package (usually peppercorns, Bay leaves…) with onions and water and additional seasonings and boullion paste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for two hours.
2. Add potatoes, carrots and cabbage to pot and continue cooking.
3. During the final 30 minutes of cooking time, remove the corned beef to a cutting surface and slice. Return slices to cooking pot for remaining cooking time.
