September 25, 2019
I am at the Shuswap. There is no sense in maintaining an internet service here since I won’t be back until the early spring, though in the past, that has not been true, so I have no idea why I am believing that now. Still, I am putting the lawn chairs under the deck and manually running the hose up the hill so that gravity will drain all of the water out of it. I move that hill up the hose every day in the summer – getting water to the raspberries and to the lake garden I planted. A few tomatoes have ripened on the tomato plants. The raspberries gave fruit all summer. The beans are never going to produce more than 10 or 12 pods, just to demonstrate how late in the spring I did the planting.
Bonnie and I planted about the same time. I call my garden just a test garden to see if I can actually plant and have anything sprout through the soil. To my test was a resounding success as was hers. And if she waits for another three weeks, she is even going to get beets and carrots.
I checked the apple tree at Richard and Miranda’s house.
There are apples on the branches.
Mid-summer I went to that tree and took out all of the apples that were within six inches of the next apple.
I can say I was loath to do that, even though the internet told me that was the proper wait to prune an apple tree.
I looked under the apple tree and saw three big patches of bear scat so some of the apples must already be gone.
Still, many are left.
I ask Greg if it is he who cleaned all of the bear scat off of the road, because I am curious how that kind of work is done. He said no it must have been Glen who did it.
The best apple tree on the property, the one to the west of the Bates’ house has been a target of the bears. The lower limbs have been broken off and are lying on the ground. The same thing has happened to the Bates’ pear tree at the front of their house, their twisted pear tree. They didn’t get one perfectly formed fruit. The pears are delicious but they are one, two, three or four bite pears, depending on how twisted the fruit is.
Glen gave me a better description of the bear being in his fruit tree on the road side of the house.
He and I had just walked out of their front door and he told me that the bear was in the tree, and the 2 racoons were hanging on one of the outside limbs of the same tree.
He said that the branch was waving up and down and he had no idea how it was holding the weight of the two racoons.
The bear was after them and they were hanging on for dear life. Glen yelled at the bear, “Go, bear, go.”
Do not just read those words, but lower your voice, puff out your body and throw your voice as far and as loud as it will go.
Glen said that the bear jumped out of the tree and looked directly at Glen.
Glen could read the bear’s face.
“Those are my racoons, they are my dinner and you aren’t getting in the way of my meal.”
Glen drew even more air into his lungs, took a larger stance, raised his arms and yelled again, “Get out of here.”
The bear turned, jumped on top of the lower retaining wall and galloped off through the Pilling’s garden.
And that is how we try to take care of our fruit trees: some of us scare animals away and the rest of us just pick up broken limbs or try to walk around fresh bear scat.
Arta
I am at the Shuswap. There is no sense in maintaining an internet service here since I won’t be back until the early spring, though in the past, that has not been true, so I have no idea why I am believing that now. Still, I am putting the lawn chairs under the deck and manually running the hose up the hill so that gravity will drain all of the water out of it. I move that hill up the hose every day in the summer – getting water to the raspberries and to the lake garden I planted. A few tomatoes have ripened on the tomato plants. The raspberries gave fruit all summer. The beans are never going to produce more than 10 or 12 pods, just to demonstrate how late in the spring I did the planting.
Bonnie and I planted about the same time. I call my garden just a test garden to see if I can actually plant and have anything sprout through the soil. To my test was a resounding success as was hers. And if she waits for another three weeks, she is even going to get beets and carrots.
 |
| ... the stink bugs have arrived now that it is fall ... |
There are apples on the branches.
Mid-summer I went to that tree and took out all of the apples that were within six inches of the next apple.
I can say I was loath to do that, even though the internet told me that was the proper wait to prune an apple tree.
I looked under the apple tree and saw three big patches of bear scat so some of the apples must already be gone.
Still, many are left.
I ask Greg if it is he who cleaned all of the bear scat off of the road, because I am curious how that kind of work is done. He said no it must have been Glen who did it.
The best apple tree on the property, the one to the west of the Bates’ house has been a target of the bears. The lower limbs have been broken off and are lying on the ground. The same thing has happened to the Bates’ pear tree at the front of their house, their twisted pear tree. They didn’t get one perfectly formed fruit. The pears are delicious but they are one, two, three or four bite pears, depending on how twisted the fruit is.
 |
| ... one, two and three bite pears ... ... delicious if you are willing to eat around the blemishes... |
He and I had just walked out of their front door and he told me that the bear was in the tree, and the 2 racoons were hanging on one of the outside limbs of the same tree.
 |
Photo Credit: Glen Pilling
... 2 racoons and a gun ... |
The bear was after them and they were hanging on for dear life. Glen yelled at the bear, “Go, bear, go.”
Do not just read those words, but lower your voice, puff out your body and throw your voice as far and as loud as it will go.
Glen said that the bear jumped out of the tree and looked directly at Glen.
Glen could read the bear’s face.
“Those are my racoons, they are my dinner and you aren’t getting in the way of my meal.”
Glen drew even more air into his lungs, took a larger stance, raised his arms and yelled again, “Get out of here.”
The bear turned, jumped on top of the lower retaining wall and galloped off through the Pilling’s garden.
And that is how we try to take care of our fruit trees: some of us scare animals away and the rest of us just pick up broken limbs or try to walk around fresh bear scat.
Arta
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