The old fence in winter Keep Step Farm Rockville, MD — The old fence Winter 2026

As the saying goes, if you don’t have a fence, you don’t have a farm.

About a month ago, my Dad and I replaced the old green mesh fence we put up last year with a new metal one. The new one is actually kind of hard to see from the road.

The green plastic mesh coming down in big sections in the winter due to the wind and heavy snow was the last straw. I knew this was going to happen, but I decided to go ahead anyway because it was cheap. Last year, every time there was even a little bit of wind, some part of the fence would come down, and I had to be up the next day or more often the same night, replacing it. I left a date early once to go fix it. It kept out the deer and animals no problem, but NOT the groundhog. You get what you pay for.

The fence itself is simple. It’s 10 foot t-posts with 2 feet in the ground for an 8 foot tall fence. High enough to keep the deer from jumping over. Did you know deer will jump over tall fences when there are delicious vegetables on the other side? Both the green mesh and the new metal one are tied to the posts with zip-ties. The gates are the fanciest part of the fence. They are a kit from Deerbusters. The metal mesh is from the same place too.

For people wondering why not go for wood posts for a more natural aesthetic. It’s because I would not be able to get USDA Organic certification if I did! Wood posts are treated with chemicals to keep them from rotting in the ground. Those chemicals are harmful and can leach into the ground and potentially into my vegetables. The only way I could use wooden posts is if I put them 15 feet away from my growing area. But I don’t have 15 feet. 15 feet would end up in the neighbors yard on one side. Good thing I worked as a agriculture policy analyst and knew to look this stuff up. So the new fence is up and hopefully it’ll hold better but if the groundhog gets in again, I’m going to lose my mind.

Check out the fence photos below.