Well I know one thing I won't be harveting. A bear came by and during the course of one night, stripped every single apple off my King apple tree. A neighbour had phoned me to let me know that there was one about, but I was more concerned with keeping the garbage cans and dogs out of reach and hadn't thought about the dammed apples.

I'd been keeping a close eye on "my crop" and had checked for ripeness a few days previously, but had decided to give them a week or so more before picking them.

He/she had obviously been keeping his eye on them for some time too. Last year I hadn't bothered to pick the apples at the very top and had left them for the birds. We were surprised last winter when the tree mysteriously developed a 45 degree tilt, so we figure now, he must have whetted his appetite with last winter's slim pickings.

This spring we put a temporary prop under the trunk and main branches, as the tree is a pretty good size, until we had a chance to get a machine in to dig it up and move it to a better location in an upright position again.

I was actually enjoying the tilt, because it made pruning easier. I figured that for at least this year, it would make picking a lot easier as well and despite the position, the deer were still having a difficult time getting at the majority of the apples even when the stood on the hind legs.

Guess the supported incline made it far easier for the bear too. I was pretty certain wherever we moved it, we were going to have to enclose it with deer fence, but I never thought we might have to electrify it.