life can be full of setbacks and it often throws things at us that we do not expect. After Paul being
ill for 6 weeks with shingles we thought that would be the bad stuff out of the way! Not so……
Paul was working on the sand ring shed when he was surprised by not one, but two pigs running around the sand ring. I ran to get Loraine to give a hand rounding them up and by the time we got to the sand ring both pigs have reversed tracks and raced back up the path into the fields.
We both followed and saw the pigs clamber up the stonewalling back into the field they had just absconded from. Our next-door neighbours keep a variety of animals including pigs, sheep, goats, cows, and horses. But something had happened to the electric fence and the pigs had made an excursion into our fields.
This, however, was not to be the only visitor. In the meadow field, there was a horse, quietly grazing on the lush grass and unconcerned by our presence. Strangely enough, the gate to the field had been closed? Yet no one to be seen. On further investigation we found devastating news that shattered our day – the horse had been in the newly planted orchard and had destroyed many of the trees. For some unknown reason, the horse had flattened 10 of our trees so that there were only 18-24 inches left on the main stem.
One of the broken trees we found in the orchard.
Another damaged fruit tree.
It was very upsetting as we had spent a lot of time with the planting and were very pleased with the results.
We spotted the daughter feeding the animals and called her over to tell her what had happened. She came around to collect the horse and gave us the telephone numbers of her parents to discuss the damage.
We went up to the orchard and took photos of each tree and then pruned the trees to cut off the damaged parts which left very little on some of them.
After re-seating the stakes and securing the trees we tidied up the soil and went back to the house. We tried to get advice from Adams Apples where we got most of our trees, but as it is Christmas, they are closed until 7th January so it will have to wait until then.
In the meantime, Jason and Claire from the backfield showed up at our door and introduced themselves and were very apologetic about the incident and were quite upset themselves.
I went with Jason up to the orchard to show him the damage and we agreed that nothing could be assessed until spring when the trees come out of hibernation for the new year. They will replace any trees that we wish to give up on so we shall wait and see what happens. That along with a shoulder of lamb from one of their animals was enough to keep us happy until the spring.
Besides, we made new friends and not only that, but claire is a beekeeper and as we wish to start that next she could be invaluable in getting us started, They also have extensive knowledge of animal husbandry which is also a bonus.
Anyway, we shall try to turn this failure into a bonus as if life gives you lemons – make lemonade.