This morning, when I woke up and looked out the window at the vegetable garden, I could see something was amiss. The tall teepees I'd put up yesterday for pole beans were knocked over, as was the end of the pea fence above. I could see that some of the electric fence wire was down, with the bright yellow plastic insulators scattered on the ground. The only thing that could have caused this mess was a moose tramping through the garden.
And sure enough, there were the large tracks, beginning in the asparagus bed; she then knocked down the bean poles, the pea fence, and walked through other rows; above, the five inch track is alongside the little bok choi plants. She exited the garden on its southern side, continuing on to the pond, which was probably her destination all along, taking a short cut through my vegetables. Moose are not like deer, frightened of the electricity in the fence; they don't seem to mind dragging electric fence wire across a field, being stung in the process. Nothing much at all frightens them, which is not surprising, considering how large they are.
One good thing about moose is that even though I've had this happen a couple of times before, the moose has never actually caused too much damage, aside from having to replace toppled poles and rewire the electric fence. So far, as opposed to deer, they don't stay to graze in the garden. Lucky me.
Amazing the destruction of the moose, even the electric fence drag! Glad "he" doesn't come around too often. Ever see your moose?
ReplyDeleteOh Altoon... I thought for sure the story would end with and the vegetables being all trampled. I'm very glad he was well-behaved on that score.
ReplyDeleteYou must have been very dismayed at first glance...but like you say..be thankful for small mercies!
Yes, I'm definitely thankful, Sophie.
ReplyDeleteMaggie, I've seen moose here several times, but not in the past couple of years. Once I was able to get within 50 feet of a cow moose while she drank at my pond. They're impressive, but funny looking, creatures, most majestic when trotting with a high floating motion.
Ah, that's the thing about gardening: unpredictable...the blessing & the curse.
ReplyDeleteWe did see a Moose once in Sweden on the road outside the family house. I don't think people understand how large they are and feel when you are close. We were able to get about 20 feet away and she walked as we did. My mother-in-law has had calves born on her front yard in the Swedish countryside.
Julie, your story reminded me that a couple of times, while driving on a country road, a young moose calmly trotted alongside my car for a 1/4 mile or so, their head way above the top of my car. It's amazing that your mother in law had calves born right in front of her house. I'm surprised the mother moose would be that unafraid.
ReplyDeleteWe had a major moose vs garden incident last fall.
ReplyDeletehttp://theextremegardener.com/blog/?p=137
So far this spring I haven't seen any sign of her, and I'm thankful for that. Maybe she went over to your place?
Leigh, I read your moose story, which was much sadder than mine; I'm glad she hasn't appeared so far this spring. A neighbor told me that there are a lot of moose around this year.
ReplyDelete