Jesse Frayne wrote:
>Hi Robert and Kirk,
>We have had a garden on public land for 5 years, the first year everything was
>stolen. I saw a guy leaving with a grocery bag full of my tomatoes. I said,
>say, I hope you enjoy my garden. He says, oh, gee, I thought this was the
>schoolkids' garden. Like that make it okay! It's puzzling how most people
>don't understand how much work it is to grow stuff, they only see, wow, I love
>swiss chard!
>
>
I've told the neighborhood kids that they can help themselves to
whatever we've got growing, as long as they EAT the fruit and vegetables
rather than using them as ammunition. Once the temptation to wreck
everything is gone, they're actually rather gentle with my garden. We
have no fence and I don't really want to put one up, either. It just
seems unneighborly . . .
>My daughter put a string around the garden last year, with a sign: "Please,
>until we make our garden bigger, and can share with more people, leave us some
>of the produce." We had 30 apples on our young tree, someone took them all in
>one night, and broke branches too. Tree was so pissed off it put out only one
>blossom this spring.
>
>
Maddening, isn't it?
>We have had no theft this year EXCEPT THE CORN! So your letter struck me. I
>think it's finally sinking in. Perhaps also due to the surveillance of a
>great family of little Muslim kids who live near the garden and who come to
>help me putter around sometimes. They're very invested and mourn each loss.
>
>
Part of me would be LESS upset if the person who destroyed our maize
plants had actually taken the pods for food. That didn't happen,
though. I don't mind feeding people who are hungry because I'm affluent
enough that I can afford to buy food WITHOUT growing it, if necessary.
We've been eating the "not quite ripe" cobs over the past two days, and
while they're delicious near the bottom, I can't help but fret that we
would have really enjoyed our maize this year if it weren't for the
person who wrecked our crop.
>Anyway, very sorry about your marauders.
>
Thanks. A little sympathy goes a long way!
> They just don't know what they're doing, eh?
>
I suspect that it was one of a group of young teens playing tag or
"hide and seek" during the night. The unsuspecting person probably
figured hiding in my maize patch was a great idea, but got caught in the
tangle of pole bean strands, tripped and fell. Because the pole beans
created an organic web within the maize patch, when one section of
stalks fell over, many neighboring plants also got pulled down.
> Stealing stuff before it's even ripe. I shrug my shoulders.
>
>
Perhaps this sort of thing will worsen as food prices rise. I guess
we can only be grateful that we've still got carrots, potatoes, beets,
zucchini, lettuce and several other plants that didn't get damaged . . .
robert luis rabello
"The Edge of Justice"
"The Long Journey"
New Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.newadventure.ca
Ranger Supercharger Project Page
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/
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