HRO BLOG February 2022: Good Boy, George
The year 2022 marks the start of our 5th season here as Hickory Ridge Orchard. For many years we have debated whether to start a monthly blog to write about our experiences here on the farm… and the common concerns were always raised: “Who is going to manage it?”, “Who has time to write it?”, and finally “Heck, who is even going to want to read it?!”. Ultimately, it was decided that if anything, lets document these experiences for ourselves, and for our kids & grandkids in the future. Anyone who has the time and/or want for reading them will just be icing on the cake! We decided this one would be dedicated to one of our three dogs we have here on the farm, George. Before we get into the shenanigans of our good boy, George, we first want to give a brief description about our operation to the first time readers that know little about Hickory Ridge Orchard.
Our orchard was originally established in 1993 by Sandy & David Binder. Over a period of 3-4 years they planted 1100 apple trees and by the time we came along in 2017, there were only about 450 trees left. When I say ‘WE’, I initially talk about my wife, Kelsey, and I. However, since 2017 we have welcomed into the world two children, Theo & Olivia, and went into a partnership with our neighbors, Tommy & Kaitlyn, who also have two young children, Dean & Garrett. That’s not to mention the 50+ wonderful employees we have had over the last few years that have contributed their time and knowledge to help us succeed! Collectively, we have started full scale agritourism destination, planted 1700 more fruit trees (with another 3000 to plant in the next 2-3 years), began the transformation from a conventional orchard to an organic orchard with hopes of being certified by end of 2022, and welcomed over 40,000 customers onto our farm just in the 2021 season. WHEW!!! I think I am ready for a nap just talking about it! But enough about that, lets talk about George 🐶
Many of you that have come out to the farm have probably met the tail wagging, half smile on one side & tongue hanging out the other, good boy George. For those who haven’t, allow me to explain. He’s unusual, “one of a kind” some might say… most people I’ve met usually have a handful of stories about that one dog they have, or used to have… but with George, we’re confident we have the ability to start a short book series about him. I should have known we were in for a ride the day we picked him up in Southern Missouri. He was only about 9-10 weeks old and the original owner said “Don’t try to pin him up son, it just won’t work. He’s an escape artist.” The look Kelsey and I gave each other at that moment would turn out to be the same look we continue to give to each other today. Boy, that guy was right. No matter what barn, fence, or kennel we put him behind, no matter what leash we tied him to, he figured out how to get loose. I finally gave up. Not because we didn’t care, but because it is exactly the way it was supposed to be. George didn’t want to go anywhere, he just wanted to stay by us and protect the farm like a real farm dog… and so, he did.
He became less ornery and more goofy as he came out of his puppy days. Randomly bringing rocks and small logs up to us to play fetch with as if they were prized possessions, ultimately satisfied if we would throw it so that he could chase something other than the squirrels that tormented him daily. On hot days we would try to take a dip in the pond, he would then of course join and take over any flotation devise we were utilizing. During snowfall in the winter, I would occasionally look out the window to find him jumping randomly into the air trying to catch the falling snowflakes. As of recent, he heard Tommy and Kaitlyn’s kids playing next door and he had to go investigate. Soon after, we received a video of their kids sledding down a hill and George on his bottom trying to do the same (we were only able to capture a short glimpse of his actions in the below video):
One of my favorite stories to tell people is the time I was out of town for work and Kelsey was eight months pregnant trying to feed seven 300lb hogs…somehow the gate came open and all of the hogs had gotten loose! In a plea for help she yelled for George, who was certainly not qualified & had not had any previous herding experience, but by the grace of God he had single handedly rounded up all of the hogs and got them back into their pin! On that day we decided to forgive him for the few chickens he may have, or may not have, pulled the tail feathers off of. 😂
From cuddling with the farm cats, to howling and chasing animals in his sleep, George has certainly captured our hearts, as well as the hearts of many of our customers. We couldn’t be more happy to have him help us start out what we hope to be many more blogs to come… and if you come out to see us someday, we too hope you get a chance to meet our GOOD BOY, GEORGE!
We ask that if anyone has any George stories of their own, or would just like to give us feedback on our first blog, please do so below!
