Good Fences

By Becky Nelson
Bramblings
As I have recently written, the resident bear is becoming quite bold. This week, the bear and I have been competing for wild blackberries, right at the side of the road off my lawn. As the berries are ripening, it is just a matter of opportunity that I can snag a pint, as the bear has been visiting and bears are not kind to the brambles. Lots of the stalks have been chewed off, with a big patch trampled where the bear has trashed the patch in order to eat the sweet treats.

With deer mowing off cucumber, squash and bean plants, we have resorted to spraying a yucky smelling concoction on the most tender plants in newer plantings to keep them from being destroyed. This works for the deer, but we can’t use the material when picking crops, as no one wants their summer squash or cucumber smelling like rotten eggs. This is when we resort to fences. We have temporary electric fencing that we plan to install around the first corn crop to keep Yogi the Bear out, and around the pumpkin patch, where Bambi and friends love to snack. We will wait a bit on the pumpkins, as they were planted so late because of wet fields and the blossoms are just barely starting with no fruit to be seen.

A line from a Robert Frost poem, Mending Wall, comes to mind. “Good fences make good neighbors.” This is a profound statement when thinking of all sorts of fences.

Fences here at the farm are oh-so-important, both for keeping critters in that we are tending and keeping critters out that we don’t want to feed. Fences are very effective at keeping bears out of beehives, cornfields and backyards with bird feeders if they hold and electric charge and give the neighborhood visitor a good zap for their trespass. Really, really tall fences that deer can’t jump over are pretty effective at keeping the beautiful animals out of our orchards and bean patches. Electric fences just a few inches off the ground around our gardens of beans have limited effect against woodchucks, raccoons and skunks.

Fences are built around the farm to keep critters in, too. Good fences keep the cattle and sheep and goats where they belong and out of the neighborhood where they would create a nuisance trampling flower gardens (this has happened) or eating neighbors gardens or shrubbery.

Good fences keeping the unwanted out and the wanted in…both making good neighbors. And these fences need not be walls or wood or wire. We have all seen electronic fences for dogs to keep them in, but electronic fences on our computers to keep the unwanted hackers and virus-bearing junk out of our files and fences of encrypted information to keep others from stealing our important information are just as important.

But a fence can be overkill…imposing fences also send a message. I am reminded of a family trip to Newport, Rhode Island to visit the mansions of the very rich, where the massive fences and walls surrounding the personal islands of luxury sent a very real and very degrading message. A wall too impenetrable or a fence higher than needed constructed with razor wire or spiked tops sends a very different message than a tidy, well-kept fence with a guardian at the gate.

Fences are important…to keep things in from trespassing on others’ turf and to keep threatening things out of our own space. You stay on your side, I stay on mine, we respect each other’s existence and we also respect the need for a fence as good neighbors should. We can see each other, wave a friendly and neighborly hello, protect our own, respect the property of others, and be good neighbors. A profound statement, Robert Frost. Good fences do make good neighbors. I wish the bears and deer no harm, but I sure don’t want them destroying my garden.