Comments

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  seeingreen wrote:

  Sorry to hear of your plant losses but what delightful robbers they are (you probably don’t think so)! Electric fencing should do the trick though and keep them off your precious vegies.

  Posted on 09 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  anelson wrote:

  cute robbers

  Posted on 09 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  AspenShadow wrote:

  Good luck with the fencing.

  Posted on 10 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  rainymountain wrote:

  Too bad about the veggies, that must be disappointing. An electric fence sounds a good idea given free-ranging horses and cows.

  Posted on 10 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  KathN wrote:

  Oh dear. Hope the fence works for you. It should, and then you won’t have to deal with marauding, really cute but unrepentant horses again. The look on the one’s face says it all. Enjoyed your veggies!

  Posted on 10 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  browndog wrote:

  Tsk, i can certainly commiserate on plants lost to animal damage. Only my marauders are not so pretty.

  Posted on 10 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  laurieann wrote:

  My marauders were deer – they like to eat all of the flower heads off of anything blooming. After getting the chickens and setting up the coop with the electronet fencing in their path from the woods – no more deer!

  Posted on 10 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  greyslate wrote:

  Sorry about your marauders! They are terribly handsome. We too are looking into electric fencing: this year wild turkeys stripped all the blueberries from our bushes. They used to be near extinction in our area, so we are happy to see their species rebounding – but not eating our berries!

  Posted on 10 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  Dogs wrote:

  Whilst I have a soft spot for your galloping goumet eaters of fine vegetation, you should be able to get a portable hot wire charger, runs of a car battery and lasts a fair while. Single stran about 1 metre of the ground should do the trick. All the best with it.

  Posted on 11 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  Deanna wrote:

  Perhaps the owner of the horses needs one of those electric ankle devices, so you can find him when you need to!

  Posted on 12 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  cristina wrote:

  Thank you for your suggestions.
  @ Deanna – The owner has been identified: he is well known by the forest rangers; he treats his horses well, but the animals are very often roaming out of the fenced pastures he rented (more than 20 km away, horses walked a lot!). And he lives … in Switzerland! So the horses are still here around, and this evening 11 cows arrived too.
  Tomorrow I will pick up the ‘electric fence’ I ordered from a local shop. I’m rather tired of chasing away animals which are back in a few minutes! I’m hearing just now a cowbell!! Oh no, again!

  Posted on 12 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  xan wrote:

  From my point of view, this is such a bizarre problem to have. O_O

  Posted on 12 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  dianelouv wrote:

  Two cows came in and ate my cucumbers and banana tree. We had to fix our fence but since then we’ve been without visitors.

  Posted on 13 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  cristina wrote:

  @xan – It’s a bizarre but also irritating problem. I will be serious for awhile. In my opinion it is related with the lack of respect of common rules in this (as in others, I suppose) isolated mountain area and with the low respect for the rights of the newcomers.
  A recent Italian prize winner movie – Diritti’s Il vento fa il suo giro (The wind blows round ) – tells the story of a good-willing shepherd (a former teacher) and his family who move to a little depopulated alpine village. Local people (a close-minded community) consider him as a foreign body; they don’t accept him and, in the end, force him to leave. I’m facing an anthropological problem of this kind. Here people (luckily not all) is rather close-minded, don’t want any change and … I find their cows and their horses in front of my house. They don’t care about us, don’t consider our rights and our motivations for being here, they simply say “It has always been that way, my grandfather used to do it and I’m doing it too”. I know, It’s not easy to explain (and it’s discouraging to cope with). An illuminating sentence has been said by one ot these to my husband “What do you want? you have been the last to arrive here” :(
  (Here, if someone wants to read something in English about the movie).
  @dianelouv – I’m glad for you, but the situation here is really tough!

  Posted on 13 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  greyslate wrote:

  That is frustrating and infuriating, and very well explained. I am sorry. Is it possible or reasonable to fence most of your area (in addition to the electric fence you are picking up), or do you risk damage being done to such fencing by the locals as well? I know it is so in some areas.

  Posted on 14 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  cristina wrote:

  Thank you, greyslate. Most of the area is already roughly fenced by wood poles and wire through the country hedges. To close the area we should add two gates and a railing along a low stonewall next to the house. I can’t exclude that sooner or later we will do that, but we like the open and informal appearance of this place; it’s the last building on the mountain, after it there are only woods. Locals are simply mistrustful people.

  Posted on 16 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  Colleen wrote:

  How awful. It sounds like the cows and horses are the least of it. I hope your neighbors see Il vento fa il suo giro and recognize how bad their behavior has been. Okay, that’s probably not likely, but I hope it anyway. Good luck Christina.

  Posted on 17 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  cristina wrote:

  @colleen – Thank you!
  I don’t think that the locals could appreciate this kind of movie (and furthermore… in Bedonia there is no cinema!)

  Posted on 17 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  graibeard wrote:

  @cristina. I fully understand your predicament and sympathize with you. I have first hand experience of the situation you describe. Being 3rd generation in an old established neighbourhood still means being referred to as the “newcomers” by the descendants of the original settlers, who may only be a generation or so ‘older’ but bragging rights on trivial things matters to some. The open mind boggles at the thought process involved but unfortunately it goes with the territory.
  To attempt to change it by yourself would be a herculean task, perhaps once the area is ‘discovered’, and settled by others it will change but that brings other problems to the mix, often the ones we want to leave behind.
  
  All I can suggest (and I’m sure you’re better at it than myself) is to ignore the offence it gives. Parochial attitudes will only change with exposure to new experiences and so very slowly at that. Embracing (or at least mixing) and subtle education is best where possible, isolation is the enemy and is what allows those attitudes to gain root in the first instance. It’s a juggling act because the solitude that places like yours give are, by definition, isolated and thus a step back in time; that’s what attracts us so often.
  
  Mind you, you can always turn the fence on high – but that only works on the animals. ;-)

  Posted on 17 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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  cristina wrote:

  @graibeard – I’m so glad to hear from you (I miss your journals and your witty comments!!).
  You, a newcomer being at third generation?! No, I have no chance… :(
  I agree with your considerations, unfortunately with the last sentence too… (and I feel uneasy dealing with these attitudes).

  Posted on 17 Aug 11 (almost 2 years ago)

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