The battle with the porcupines continues. Each night they creep in to the field and gorge themselves on what is left of the dwindling supply of potatoes. Something has to be done. I have been following the policy of “chemical warfare” collecting my urine during the day and spraying it in the evening around the edges of the field. The smell of human urine is supposed to be enough to keep them at bay – so far it has not seemed to have done any good at all. They keep on coming. (by the way, anybody know just how much urine a day a human body actually produces? … a surprisingly large amount is the answer)
The porcupines are a protected species so hunting or trapping them is not an option. So just what can I do to solve this problem ? I decided that I need some advice so I travelled round all of the Agraria in the area to see if anybody else had the same problem. It would appear that the porcupines have been taking advantage of their protected status and breeding in large numbers. Many unfenced gardens and fields are being invaded by these animals and all we can do is pick up the pieces the next morning,, and there is the only real answer – fencing to keep them out.
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Erecting fences around the barganews vegetable garden would be just too expensive but what about a bit of technology to do the work – electric fences ?
Once more I needed some advice on the subject and who better to ask that Pietro Messina up at Grifoglia who has an incredible selection of plants, vegetables, fruit trees and vines all growing around his agriturismo in the mountains up above Barga surrounded by deer, wild boar, porcupines and badgers and all without the protection of fences. He has constructed a series of low level electric fences around his precious vegetables which even though are no taller than knee high seem to keep the maurading animals at bay.
Armed with Pietro’s precious advice I then toured round the area once again looking at, comparing prices and specifications for various electric fences.
The following day construction started on the barganews vegetable garden electric fence. The following evening it was switched on for the first time. Now it is just a question of sitting and waiting to see what the new day will bring. Will the fence be enough to keep the animals at bay ?
Watch this space.
In the meantime click on the link below to Pietro talking (in Italian) about his experiences with animals and electric fences.
The chronology, if I understand it correctly, is thus: Initially, the planting was shockingly piss-poor. But it later suffered from shockingly poor piss. In stage three, it will be left pissless but even more shocking.