Juno’s gift …
The Roman goddess Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was the protector and special counsellor of the state. Among other things she was the daughter of Saturn and the mother of Mars and Vulcan, but from our perspective her most important characteristic was that she loved geese. As a result, geese were allowed to thrive in and around the temple of Juno in Rome and this proved to be particularly fortunate for the citizens of that fair city.
In about 391 BC the Gauls led by Brennus, chief of the Senones (an ancient Gallic tribe from a region close to the River Seine), invaded northern Italy. After defeating the Romans at the battle of Allia in 390 BC, Brennus marched on Rome. The citizens of Rome retreated to the Capitoline Hill (one of Rome's seven hills) where they were protected by steep rocky walls. After several unsuccessful attempts to storm the hill, the Gauls decided to scale it under cover of darkness. The historian, biographer and essayist Plutarch (AD 46 – after AD 119) describes the resultant skirmish thus:
About midnight a large band of them [the Gauls] scaled the cliff and made their way upward in silence …. Neither man nor dog were aware of their approach. But there were some sacred geese near the temple of Juno …. The creature is naturally sharp of hearing and afraid of every noise, and these, being specially wakeful and restless by reason of their hunger, perceived the approach of the Gauls, dashed at them with loud cries, and so waked all the garrison …. The defenders, snatching up in haste whatever weapon came to hand …. So the Romans escaped out of their peril. (Plutarch, Parallel Lives Volume 1 - Camillus)
Perhaps as a consequence of this early notoriety, throughout the ages geese have been used as guardian animals. Thus it was that Cath made a few calls and we sped off into the countryside to collect two Sebastopol geese (a male and a female) to become our guardian angels. Luckily the previous owner was on hand to catch them for us. Having never handled a goose before we were pretty awestruck by the power generated by their wings when trying to defend themselves. Eventually we got them into cardboard boxes and into the tray of the ute. As an added bonus, the female was sitting on four eggs which we hoped would significantly add to our little gaggle.
A quick family straw-poll had decreed that the names of the guardians be Maverick and Goose. We managed to unload them and get them into the orchard without too much trouble, but unfortunately the stress of the journey led to Goose repudiating her eggs. Alas, there will be no goslings at the farm this year.
Apart from this rather sad mishap the two companions seem to have settled well in the orchard – so well in fact that they have chewed one or two of the apple trees and we are going to have to put wire cages around the trees again.
They have not yet completely adapted to our presence. On the first morning after their arrival, Cath walked into the orchard to feed them some pellets. Goose took off in the other direction and managed to fly over the orchard fence – this despite our internet research which claims that Sebastopol geese “cannot fly well due to the curliness of their feathers and have difficulty getting off the ground.” Interestingly, it was clear that she wasn’t up for wandering about and desperately wanted to get back with Maverick. Eventually we walked her around to the gate of the orchard and two companions were reunited in a cacophony of sound.
Since then there have been no major problems. Pepper occasionally charges at the fence and barks but they have now decided to ignore her. We have noticed a few raptors flying around, but Maverick seems to give the alarm signal pretty well. We hope he continues to do this when we place him in charge of our (yet to be established) brood of chickens. A very pleasing development this morning was that for the first time, they came over to meet Cath as she offered them breakfast pellets over the orchard fence. There was a distinct spring in their step as they strode towards her. So apart from two chewed apple trees and four lost goslings everything is going completely to plan …
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