# Garden Stealing



## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

Wow- I never thought the area I grew up would have things like this going on! I had a freind tell me that everything in their garden that was ripe- or almost ripe, stolen from the garden!

this area is about 90 minutes from me - but still!


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## kirkmcquest (Oct 21, 2010)

I usually think of animals when I hear things like that.


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## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

well-it was carefully done- is what the problem was- and nothing like squash blossoms were disturbed... nothing stepped or ruined- just stripped of the ripe and almost ripe stuff


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## lorian (Sep 4, 2005)

Does she live in a city area? I can't imagine growing a garden in a city when the financial collapse comes. You'd have to post a couple dogs, security camera and possibly a guard.


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## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

it is an old coal town- not really a city- a old town.. which is why it surprises me!


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## Eyes Wide Open (Oct 14, 2010)

My garden is in a community garden, and security has definitely crossed my mind. My yard is suited for growing mushrooms (not hyperbole, it actually grows 4 species of wild mushrooms that I can see), hence the community plot. The plot is behind a building and not visible from the road, but there is no other security whatsoever, no fence or anything. DH is a little worried that come harvest time, people will come and help themselves. 

In the meantime, it's just been field mice helping themselves. Field mice apparently like swiss chard to an extreme, plus enjoy snacking on basil. The chard harvest is a total bust this year among all of us gardeners. One guy put out traps and caught one so far.

You gotta wonder, though. I mean, stealing is despicable anyway, but who steals garden vegetables? Would a high school kid steal vegetables? The klepto I knew in my younger days would never do that - she liked to steal clothes, junk food, and hamsters from the pet store. Would some scumbag steal vegetables? Don't they swipe from (and sometimes stick up) 7-11s?

Imagine a venn diagram - those who would steal, and those who enjoy and know what to do with vegetables. Where's the overlap?


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

Happened to our church sponored garden which btw is located just outside city limits on farmland. 
All Summer long this guy with a big expensive pick up drives by & waves. One day my co-chair shows up to start watering there he is helping himslef to peppers. Saying that the owner told him to come pick what he wants. No didn't know the owners name.
LLS she told him that it's a church garden & we do food donations so most of the produce is spoken for. Then he starts talking about how they have two families with all these kids ...
Truth was he lived close by on a big two acre lot mostly lawn. Never once that whole Summer did he come over & volunteer. Really could have used a good truck to cart over a picnic table from church. Or help deliver food to the two pantries we helped.

All my co-chair keep saying was that it was a good thing that I wasn't the one who found him picking. She said she could see the headline now, " Deacon didn't turn the other cheek".

As to urban gardening years ago I had a small problem with a neighbor who wanted to pull that grandma act when I caught her reaching over the fench picking tomatoes. Reminded her that this is how I feed my children & next time ask.
Then I told her I'd trade her produce for water as this was before our rainbarrels. Yeah a frozen look on her face and no answer. 

Sorry for the rant, garden produce stealing really makes me wanna ...


~~ pelenaka ~~


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

> Where's the overlap?


Between adults with kids to provide for and the unemployed who have fallen off the statistics but still don't have a job. 

Not defending stealing, I'm just saying... if it came to it, I can see a mother or father raiding a garden to put something, anything in little Johnny's tummy.


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## Pouncer (Oct 28, 2006)

I am so glad I don't hear much of that up here, except in Anchorage and Eagle River. My garden cannot easily be seen from the road, they would have to go right by the house to get to it-and the greenhouses cannot be seen at all. There's a reason for that, lol Many people have their gardens fenced, due to moose. Helps to keep the mostly honest out as well.


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## stanb999 (Jan 30, 2005)

olivehill said:


> Between adults with kids to provide for and the unemployed who have fallen off the statistics but still don't have a job.
> 
> Not defending stealing, I'm just saying... if it came to it, I can see a mother or father raiding a garden to put something, anything in little Johnny's tummy.


By definition a zombie... :duel:


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## kirkmcquest (Oct 21, 2010)

Sometimes animals can be very stealthy and you don't see evidence of what it was. Recently I noticed some of my potato plants were smashed down and I thought some kids must have done it. There were no animal tracks and I saw some boot marks. I was mad for days and patroling the garden to catch the sob who was doing it. One night I caught the culprit 'red handed' it was a porcupine. He was going through the field and pushing vines down to eat the grubs and etc underneath! The boot marks must have been mine.

Anyway, I don't know your area but it seems strange that a person would strip your garden. If they did, it must be a local kid or somebody very close by who can watch it.


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## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

Several years back aplace up the road had fruit trees an a grape arbor. It was put in by mennonite owners and well taken care of. They then sold out and it resold a couple of more times. Fellow hire us to cut and bale the hay, as i was cutting i noticed one of the previous owners drive up and while the guy set in the pickup his wife got out and picked about a bushel of ripe grapes. I mentioned it to owner when he returned that weekend as I didn't want to be blamed for it. he said they did not ask or have permission but he let it slide...This guy(that got the grapes was well known for poaching and raiding, picking up whatever he felt he could get away with, didn't have a regular job and he and wife lived off the land, everyone else's they could git away with included..:hrm:


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## stamphappy (Jul 29, 2010)

Been happening for a long time. At our party on the 4th a neighbor was telling a story about when she was a child (this would have been 30 years ago), they had watermelons stolen from their garden. Of course, I could definitely attribute this to kids.


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## nadja (May 22, 2011)

This is apparantly happening more often and I think as times get harder even more. I having just started my first small raised bed garden, did it so even if the ups man actually finds his way to my driveway, he cannot see any of it. That also goes for my solar as well. But this will continue to be a problem , only increasing with the economy going down.


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## Ode (Sep 20, 2006)

If it was someone who did it from hunger, I find that sad. I also wonder why they wouldn't plant their own garden, since even just a few tomato and zucchini plants will have produce coming out at an enormous rate. I live in a small town, but we have our homeless population, I suppose everwhere does these days since the government stopped institutionalizing the mentally ill. I imagine some thefts of easy food can be attributed to them, but who knows who does it really.

Quite a few people here have some fruit and veggies growing in their yards that are clearly visible and without a barrier. My next door neighbor for example, has a huge vegetable garden and about 30 fruit trees. About 6 of those trees are within 10 feet of the sidewalk. His yard is completely unfenced, with no security lighting. Anyone could strip his garden and he wouldn't even know it until the next day. But every year his fruit trees go unpicked as far as I can tell, as the ground around and under them are littered with rotting fruit that dropped from the trees unpicked. I asked him once if he would mind if I picked some and he got quite irate, saying the fruit was his and he did mind. It mostly feeds flies and other bugs, because even the birds and rabbits can't make a dent in the dropped fruit. If it was me and I couldn't use it all, I would call the food gleaners or local shelter, but only he knows the reasons he has for letting it all rot and go unused.

I guess we are lucky there doesn't appear to be a zombie infestation in my neighborhood.


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

A lesson I learned years ago: Never, ever plant a sweet corn, pumpkin or watermelon patch near the road. Adults will steal corn and pumpkins and teenagers will ravage a watermelon patch. This is nothing new or dependant upon economic or social classes. It's been the norm for many years.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Last year all of my moms grapes were stolen the SECOND they became ripe (we had been watching them, waiting to make juice and jelly). Definitely not animals as the people had to really work to get around the monster tomato plants. Every single grape was gone overnight. Didn't take anything else, just the grapes.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

Becka03 said:


> it is an old coal town- not really a city- a old town.. which is why it surprises me!


What town was it?? Im curious (I live in Northeastern PA)


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## NewGround (Dec 19, 2010)

This could also be hungry children who know their parents don't have enough food and took it without thinking of all the consequences... Still wouldn't be right, but a possibility...

For the future, expect this to get worse... grasshoppers will gladly help themselves to that which they have no right...


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## cmcon=7 (Mar 7, 2010)

smoe stupid kid? stole one of my tomato plants saturday, I think he thought it was pot.


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## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

beaglebiz said:


> What town was it?? Im curious (I live in Northeastern PA)


It was near Clearfield Pa


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

laughaha said:


> Last year all of my moms grapes were stolen the SECOND they became ripe (we had been watching them, waiting to make juice and jelly). Definitely not animals as the people had to really work to get around the monster tomato plants. Every single grape was gone overnight. Didn't take anything else, just the grapes.


If they left the stem clusters then it was birds. They stalk grapes like crazy and they'll swoop in and eat them at dawn the very day they become ripe.

If the whole stem clusters and grapes together were gone then I'd suspect a human thief. There's a special place in hell for fruit thieves, I believe.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

when I was in the city, people would steal my garden flowers....sometimes they would even rip up the whole plant out of the ground. They would dump the plant in the street and take the flowers.

Used to really peeve me off.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Sounds like the entitlement folks... didn't you know they have first call on anything the producers of the world generate?

Off of politics now...

luckily this happened when the world's still awash in food... hopefully the parties involved will realize there are parasites around, and take measures... if this were to happen, when there was no food, it'd be a death sentence...

I could see a time when scarecrows are used again... the life size kind buzzards would really get a jones on for...


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

A few years ago I was growing some sweet corn in my front garden by the road. One day as I come driving in I seen a trail of corn husk leading from my corn patch to the street and then on through a yard and to the first trailer house in a trailor park across the road from me. I knew right away that it was the the two little monster boys that lived their. Approximate age of about 6 and 7 years old. So I went up to the house and knocked on the door and the mother answered. I explained the missing corn and she was so ambarrased about it and offered to pay for the corn. I told her to never mind about the corn just to have a few words with her boys and see if they'll stay out of the corn patch. The corn wasn't near ready to pick and eat. I knew they were just being curious little boys so when the corn was ready to pick and eat, I picked a plastic walmart bag full and gave it to them to have for dinner. They no longer live in the trailer park anymore, but I made friends for life by doing that. The boys are quit grown now and don't remember anything about it, but thier mom always smiles and says Hi to me whenever we meet somewhere.


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## PhilJohnson (Dec 24, 2006)

My Grandma told me stories of when she was a kid about people stealing from their garden. Sometimes a cow would go missing too. My Grandpa used to steal food from the Japanese when he was a kid. He grew up on Hawaii and there were a lot of Japanese there at the time. They had a tradition where they would put food out on their ancestor's grave. My Grandpa and his buddies would wait for them to leave and then feast on the food.


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## Rusty'sDog (Oct 14, 2010)

For awhile, the only place I could grow veggies was in a community garden. Other gardeners there were always complaining that as soon as a tomato got ripe, it would disappear. So, I planted 'green when ripe' tomatoes...never a problem. LOL


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

I doubt that it is hunger. There are food banks and soup kitchens all over the place. I don' think anyone is really going hungry. Nobody is going to starve if they don't steal tomatoes.

I live in a no crime area and nobody is poor, yet my entire grape crop was stolen last year. Stems and all, so it wasn't the birds.

Neighbors told me they would see people wandering in my fruit trees taking apples.

My property is fenced and that didn't slow them down. They had to take the chain off the gate and open the gate to get in with the fruit trees. This year, there is going to be a padlock on my gate.


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

During the Depression, my Grandaddy raised chickens to sell for meat & eggs. He had to move them all into the basement because they kept getting stolen.


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

Years ago I lived in a series of apartments. I always grew tomatoes in pots, either on the balcony or patio. One time, while living in a ground level apt with a walk out patio, every single time I had ripe tomatoes someone would steal them while I was at work. 

A couple of years ago my inlaws had a truck full of "migrants" pull over and quickly strip an apple tree in their front yard. They were at home at the time, and my FIL walked out there to tell them to leave. They were unapologetic and my MIL was afraid he'd get shot.

People have always been opportunistic about stealing - my sister had her bicycle stolen out of our front yard when we were kids. But there's something extra offensive about having vegetables stolen from the garden you've spent so many hours in. If someone came to me and said they were hungry, I'd be happy to load up a bag of produce for them. But I'd hate knowing someone watched until I wasn't home and then raided my garden.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

lol I tell my neighbors to come glean all my extras....any time they want....not ONE has come to do so. But they tell me to pick it FOR them. I tell them I picked all I want, I'm tired of picking. If they want some come get it! But they don't want to go to the work of picking it LOL


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## bourbonred (Feb 27, 2008)

Stealing a bike--now that's trashy; but entering my garden to steal--that's holy ground you're walking on...


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

Well, consider that if they will watch and wait to steal from you out of your garden then what else will they take when they think they "need it" or "deserve it"???

I've told this one before. My sister lives in a small town(University Town) and had a very carefully tended apple tree in her yard. She went out to pick them and the tree had been stripped with a great deal of branch dammage. She asked around and got a tip on where her apples had gone and when she got to the womans' house she was canning them up into apple sauce as fast as she could. The woman told my sister she did not know the apples were her's, that she just told a male friend she had seen an apple tree could he get her some...she was sure the tree she meant was not in my sister's yard!
She paid my sister for the apples and complained they were not worth the price..they were wormy!


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Dont think this is anything new.

We were robbed of a goose the night before Christmas and Thanksgiving and it was glaringly obvious were they went.

Dad said..."They are hungry",let it go.Blew my mind actually,this Kid only saw THIEVES!!!!!

I learned a lesson about charity and that we were charitable when we didnt think there was a need but one existed.*They didnt rob us blind though*,and thats a BIG point IMO.

Guess thats where I learned its a GOOD thing to feed hungry people,and I still believe that without being judgmental AT ALL when someone is HUNGRY. But hey,they could have asked,sure Dad would have given it to them but they probably felt nobody was going to feed dirty Hippies?


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Thank you kind people who understand what hungry is,and shame on thieves who are just lazy pigs who steal because they can.


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## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

I once came home to find my newly ripened tomatoes partially eaten, and mostly on the ground. They also smelled vaguely of fermentation, so it was probably raccoons.

Thing was, I was going to pick them and give them to my co-worker who was having a garage sale that very weekend to raise money for the 3-day breast cancer walk she goes on every year, to sell on the bake sale table! :fussin:


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## Sededl (Jan 14, 2011)

This is a little of thread, but its sad to think of anyway. This year during the fourth of july, we always have a cookout. We had a old grill that was just about done. The bottom had sheet metal in it and when it finally gave out, we cut the lid off and welded it to the legs. Well anyway I told DD to go get the grill ready. She walks back inside and said she couldnt find the grill. Im like HUH? what are you talking about? its right out there. Lo and Behold someone had stolen our grill, the only thing i can guess is for junk weight.

We also had out nylon clothes line cut and stolen.

Someone also had the gaul to first steal our whole license plate, then the next time cut just the sticker off.

People never cease to amaze me. And the funny part, we always had a large garden beside where the cars and grill sat and it was never bothered.

While our clothes line was right behind the house


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

We were pretty upset a couple of years ago as our tomatoes were also stollen right as they were getting ripe. There was a new batch just ripening, so we watched dilligently. Right before our eyes... our geese systematically ate them, picking only the ripe ones! So now we have a fence around the garden and only have the rabbits and birds to contend with. 

On the flip side, we have a wonderful neighbor that tells us when he's had enough of his apples. We go over there with the apple picker and clean the tree up, as well as the fallen apples under it. We feed the fallen apples to our critters and can the good ones. They appreciate the apple sauce they get later.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

When I lived in town, I would take a razor and slash the sticker on the tag each time as soon as I got it. It is a LOT of trouble to replace a stolen sticker! Can get real expensive too. If you slash it (against the "law" someplaces) they can't get it off in one piece.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

We live in town with a VERY loud dog and fenced yard - even barks at people he knows, like neighbors. I keep our garden on the far side of the yard (we live on an alley) and about 2-4' from the fence on the other side. So far we haven't had any problems.....but there are allot of gardens around me that would be easy pickin'.

Now, if someone came to the front door and knocked and asked for something to feed their kids....I'd see what I could do. But we have allot of resources in this little town for those that are hungry...3 or four churches have meals on different days, another does a lunch weekly for kids when school out, and there are at least 2 food distribution spots.....not bad for a town of less then 10,000


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## olivehill (Aug 17, 2009)

AverageJo said:


> We were pretty upset a couple of years ago as our tomatoes were also stollen right as they were getting ripe. There was a new batch just ripening, so we watched dilligently. Right before our eyes... our geese systematically ate them, picking only the ripe ones! So now we have a fence around the garden and only have the rabbits and birds to contend with.
> 
> On the flip side, we have a wonderful neighbor that tells us when he's had enough of his apples. We go over there with the apple picker and clean the tree up, as well as the fallen apples under it. We feed the fallen apples to our critters and can the good ones. They appreciate the apple sauce they get later.


Can you send your geese over to teach mine some work ethic? I must have those darned entitlement class geese. Mine learned to wait until I'd filled up a bucket with the day's harvest and then the second I turned my back, dive into the bucket. It's incredibly how fast they can eat an entire five gallon pail of tomatoes. :nono:


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

Had that happen here once with green beans, they were ready and I made the statement to SIL at the time that I was canning green beans over the weekend. Went out that saturday am to pick and nary bean one. Thank heavens we are no longer kin.
Don't know where she is geting her beans now.
Nancy


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

One thing I've considered for next year (because our garden is in view from the county road), is that I would leave a strip all the way around it probably 2 feet wide. I would let the grass in that strip just grow up as tall as it wanted, and NOT mow it. It would look awful, for sure, but anyone driving by would just assume it was an overgrown weedy lot, and not see the stuff growing BEHIND the waist-high weeds! I plan on planting my corn BEHIND the one outbuildling where you can't see it from any road. Yes, the garden is surrounded by a 4' fence and is right outside the kitchen and home office windows, but if someone wanted to sneak in and steal suff, if we weren't home it wouldn't be very hard for them to do it. I figure I'll beat them at their own game and hopefully my strip of weeds will work. 

I've worried about this myself, when things get really bad. I fear that people who haven't bothered to prep, or are too lazy to do so, will just steal from the rest of us.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

olivehill said:


> Can you send your geese over to teach mine some work ethic? I must have those darned entitlement class geese. Mine learned to wait until I'd filled up a bucket with the day's harvest and then the second I turned my back, dive into the bucket. It's incredibly how fast they can eat an entire five gallon pail of tomatoes. :nono:


Jack, the dog, does the same thing. He LOVES fruits and veggies. I cought him taking my harvest as I was putting it in the basket......:nono:


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

Sededl said:


> We also had out nylon clothes line cut and stolen.
> 
> While our clothes line was right behind the house


Wow. You have my sympathies. I've never heard of someone stealing clotheslines before. The BBQ grill - well, like you said, for the iron weight, or maybe they were just too cheap to buy their own. But clotheslines? Wow. :shocked:


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

farmerpat said:


> One thing I've considered for next year (because our garden is in view from the county road), is that I would leave a strip all the way around it probably 2 feet wide. I would let the grass in that strip just grow up as tall as it wanted, and NOT mow it. It would look awful, for sure, but anyone driving by would just assume it was an overgrown weedy lot, and not see the stuff growing BEHIND the waist-high weeds! I plan on planting my corn BEHIND the one outbuildling where you can't see it from any road. I've worried about this myself, when things get really bad. Yes, the garden is surrounded by a 4' fence and is right outside the kitchen and home office windows, but if someone wanted to sneak in and steal suff, if we weren't home it would be very hard for them to be seen. I figure I'll beat them at their own game and hopefully my strip of weeds will work.


make those weeds "wildflowers" and you'll get excellent pollination in for your garden too...


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

NickieL said:


> make those weeds "wildflowers" and you'll get excellent pollination in for your garden too...


Thanks - I hadn't thought about that. I just figured make it look as bad as possible, and people would just assume there was nothing behind it because the weeds and grass grow tall out here.


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

bee said:


> Well, consider that if they will watch and wait to steal from you out of your garden then what else will they take when they think they "need it" or "deserve it"???
> 
> I've told this one before. My sister lives in a small town(University Town) and had a very carefully tended apple tree in her yard. She went out to pick them and the tree had been stripped with a great deal of branch dammage. She asked around and got a tip on where her apples had gone and when she got to the womans' house she was canning them up into apple sauce as fast as she could. The woman told my sister she did not know the apples were her's, that she just told a male friend she had seen an apple tree could he get her some...she was sure the tree she meant was not in my sister's yard!
> She paid my sister for the apples and complained they were not worth the price..they were wormy!


I'd have called the cops and had her cited with trespassing AFTER she paid me for them. Wow -- some people just have GALL.


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

Cindy in NY said:


> During the Depression, my Grandaddy raised chickens to sell for meat & eggs. He had to move them all into the basement because they kept getting stolen.


I've had the same thing happen the last 5 years running. Funny thing - they NEVER take the roosters (for eating) - they only take the LAYING HENS. And, I know who did it, but I can't PROVE IT (my neighbors can't either - they got hit too). So now I have them behind a 4' fence with a gate and an LGD who roams and barks constantly.

If someone's that desperate, all they have to do is ask and I'll give them one or two. This same woman actually had the audacity to call my husband the day before and ask if I had any fertile eggs for hatching (she did this for 4 years straight till I told him to SHUT UP TO EVERYONE ABOUT MY CHICKENS!!!!!!!!! Tell anyone who asks they don't lay any more, I'm just too softhearted to kill them!), and then lo and behold, the next day, more than HALF of my laying hens were gone. From behind a closed gate.

I fear it's only going to get worse, the closer to TSHTF we get. People will start scoping out in advance what is easily stolen, and those will be the first things to go. Me -- I plan on PADLOCKING my 4' gate tomorrow.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

farmer part, I also have a strip of "weeds " on the roadside of my garden. Not on purpose,but because it's a wet spot(we have many springs here). People would think my garden is full of weeds, and it actually was bothering me, cause I like a neat garden. This thread will help me look at it in another Light.


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

Well, 7thswan, it's cheaper than a fence and a fence only calls attention to things, where people see a patch of weeds once, and figure once weeds, ALWAYS weeds. I can't easily move my garden to another location, so I'm gonna have to leave mine where it is --- that's why I thought about the strip of weeds. Glad the idea will work for you!


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## Usingmyrights (Jan 10, 2011)

I'm dealing with this same thing. Not stealing yet, though I haven't checked on my grapes. My problem is more the location of what I want to plant. I really wanted to line my drive with persimmon trees coming in off the road, but from what I here about persimmons, they'd probabably ened up getting stolen. Instead they are about halfway down the drive (out of sight from the road) and right across from my bee hives. It just happened to work out that way as far as the hives location in reference to the trees. The rest of the stuff is even closer to the house. My concern is neighbors. I haven't met the ones that just moved in, from what I've heard an older lady bought it as a retirement house and was renting it out until then. The renters just moved out since they're getting a divorce and this seems to be too quick of a turn around to be more renters unless the lady already had somebody lined up. Its really the people two doors down that I'm worried about though. My garden plans, which depend on my money holds out the next 6 months is to have about 12-15 citrus trees, about 12 pear, peach, and apple trees (combined 12), I've got 7 persimmon trees already and may add some more, about 100-150 blue berry bushes, try to get my grape vines trained up on trellises and growing better, and get a small approximately 3000sqft garden put in. I also plan to try to get the blackberries that are already growing, better established and producing better. The berry bushes are what I think will end up getting robbed.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Ernie said:


> If they left the stem clusters then it was birds. They stalk grapes like crazy and they'll swoop in and eat them at dawn the very day they become ripe.
> 
> If the whole stem clusters and grapes together were gone then I'd suspect a human thief. There's a special place in hell for fruit thieves, I believe.


nope, clean cuts. Definitely used a knife/pruners to get the clusters off. We thought birds at first too but we couldn't find one cluster left.


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## Sweetsong (Dec 4, 2010)

My gardens are obviously in my front yard--tomatoes, beans, sunflowers, etc. 'cause that's where the sun is. I am concerned about theft, but I'll just have to be faster than the thieves I guess.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

oregon woodsmok said:


> I doubt that it is hunger. There are food banks and soup kitchens all over the place. I don' think anyone is really going hungry. Nobody is going to starve if they don't steal tomatoes.
> 
> I live in a no crime area and nobody is poor, yet my entire grape crop was stolen last year. Stems and all, so it wasn't the birds.
> 
> ...


A securely locked gate is only as good as the fence that it's attached to... the old 'saw' about locks being for honest people is true... 

My rich neighbor insisted on putting in new fences, gates with fancy locks, etc. I told him there was no need... if he didn't want me on his place, a simple chain (no lock) was all that was required. He locked it anyway. I mentioned if "I" wanted in, the barbed wire the gate was tied into could be snipped in less than a minute, or simply driven thru... his eyes got big! as he'd never even considered it. Some of the local thieves drove thru the fence less than a month later, searching for construction materials to steal. I tried to do the right thing exactly once, calling him when they were breaking in.... he told me it was none of my business... okeydoke! Later the Constable came by and wanted to know if it was me that'd broke in and stole his 'stuff'. Told him no, that I'd called the owner, and he said 'don't worry'. Told him check with the local thug hangout down the highway if he wanted to look for the stolen goods, as I'd seen them in the area the day before, and had ran them off...

When the fruit starts getting ripe, I'd make it a point to visit often, at all times of the day and night, to let the thieves 'know' your looking for em....


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## Freya (Dec 3, 2005)

One year I had decided to grow a bunch of little pumpkins for a homeschool Halloween party in my front yard. They were doing awesome and I had even kept the squirrels from eating them.

And then one morning two days before the party (and all the kids knew I was bringing them) I walked out and they were all gone. Cut off clean. :flame:


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Anything not within visional or hearing distance could easily be taken; and, though I do not condone thievery, I do understand the need to put food on the family table. Also, those community food banks set up to feed the hungry do not actually feed "all" the hungry. They are often governed by laws that state a person/family has to "prove" they are living "under" the poverty line. For the hard-working whose income is just above that monetary boundary and for the family whose main provider lost a job and has not been able to find another, there is little established in the community to help; and I can see it getting worse instead of better. (Also I have had neighbors in the past who bragged about "loading" up their "vans" with foods from those places and taking it home to disburse to whomever they willed.)

My Mother had a great idea that I'm going to put into play as soon as I can. She wanted a memorial to her "daddy". (She had stated she actually thought the Ten Commandments was her daddy's law until she was grown.) My plan is to construct a road-side stand with seasonal produce and a large sign saying, "Take what you need; pay what you can." 

Something needs to be done for the people who have fallen between the cracks of our damaged system; and if those who have a lot are not willing to share with those who are hurting, then others need to. Yes, I can see thieving being a new "occupation".


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## bourbonred (Feb 27, 2008)

Motdaugrnds, that sounds like a great idea and I hope it works out for you and you are blessed because of it. Myself, I personally am trying not to advertise that we have chickens, eggs, beef, turkeys, gardens or fruit trees. There was a time I wanted to sell eggs at the front gate on an honesty pay system. I'm glad now that dh vetoed that idea. Opsec is a term we laughed at here for a long time. It was a family joke. I'm not laughing anymore. I don't want the neighborhood thinking of my home connected with food when folks are hungry, because if it comes to that, my place will be full and over=running with my own loved ones I'll be trying to feed.
To the OP, my garden is in the front yard and very visible from the road. I haven't come up with a way to hide or conceal it. DH will be putting in a wooden fence along the road, but doesn't want any "brambles or bushes" cluttering up his neat little fence (so he said when I advocated multiflora roses or blackberry brambles beside the new fence)


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I had two litters of Great Pyrenees puppies stolen a yr ago. They were born a couple of days apart and both litters barely had their eyes open. I made sure the next litter was inaccessible unless the trespassers REALLY made an effort. Didn't lose any of them.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Mom and Pop have had quite a few thefts from their roadside stand over the last couple years. Mom even ran off one guy in the middle of the night who was in the process of taking ALL their muskmelons! The one time I put some cherry tomatoes out there a couple handfuls were stolen.
This year the shop and stand are fenced and padlocked. Couple days ago they had to leave in a hurry. Gone for less than 2 hours (of course the fence didn't get closed and locked) and half the zuchini was stolen! Mom says she's about done. It would be cheaper for her to just buy what she needs from another market and to heck with the local thieves.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I wish somebody would steal this snapping turtle out of my pond.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I remember the story my grandmother told about grandpa. There were two neighbor kids who came over and stole from their garden; and when he discovered this and found out who they were, grandpa filled a large bag with a nice supply of vegetables/fruits and carried it over to them. Then he told them, if they needed more, to come knock on his door and he would go out and help them gather more. Those kids never stole from him again.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Your grandfather was cut from a different cloth than mine. 

I remember as a boy there was a fellow down the road who kept trespassing on our property to poach deer. One day my grandfather caught him at it and he pointed his rifle at my grandfather in a threatening manner.

Well, Grandpa was of a certain sort and though there was a lot of talk about how he'd come home from the war "not quite right", he was awful concerned about the state of this man's soul that he would point a gun at a neighbor. Grandpa kept going over there at night to see if the fellow was out and about in order to find a good time to have a nice private chat about it and give his neighbor a chance to repent.

I guess that fellow must have incurred some bad luck though because about a week later he ended up with a broken leg and a busted up face. Claimed he fell. 

Grandpa must have been worried for the man's health after he took that fall because he'd drive over there and sit in the man's driveway watching him. If the man looked out the window Grandpa would wave. After a couple of months of that, I guess that fellow was afraid of falling again because he sold his property and left the county. 

All the rest of the time Grandpa was alive, nobody poached or stole from him. When he passed, my father was tested a few times by thieves and poachers but dear old Dad had a friendly, family way about him and soon word spread that he ought not be stolen from either.


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## Sunbee (Sep 30, 2008)

Well, the way that our summer's gone so far, I can see exactly how someone wouldn't have a garden or money for food, but would know what to do with garden produce. If I didn't have stored food we'd be in a real bad situation right now, and I don't imagine we're the only people out there who've moved to get a job, wiping out their savings in the process, and weren't able to get in a garden this spring--we're aiming for a few fall crops and some hens.
Some employers are behaving very badly, morally and legally, right now and people are so scared they'll loose their jobs that they take it--just information for those of you who aren't in that situation. I'd imagine that people that don't have any jobs are in even worse shape. Remember too that all the free lunch programs and food banks in the world aren't much help to people who have no way to get to them. If a person doesn't have money for food, do they have money for gas? It's not right to steal, but I can see how someone who maybe can't afford the gas to get to the welfare office or food bank, and doesn't have any food right now, would be awfully tempted, especially when their kids are hungry, and especially if someone's given them cause to think that their neighbors wouldn't help them out.


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## HTG_zoo (Apr 18, 2011)

I was talking to my mother about this today and she told me that some of her friends who live just down the road from me, put out produce on a honor system. They figure if you can't afford it, you might as well take it. Some folks have taken some food now and paid later, and some folks even paid but didn't take anything.

I don't think our garden is in any danger of being stolen, our neighbors weren't even aware it was a garden until one came up the drive way to talk to us. We let the weeds go around it (for lack of a good weed trimmer) and then I put the potatoes around the outside and hilled them up with straw. It looks like a weedy patch to the average passerby.


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## demeter (Jul 15, 2010)

Many, many years ago, my aunt had some of her canned blackberries stolen from her shed. Aunt, who was every inch the lady, sat with her hands in her lap and said quietly to me, "Well, I hope they eat them and it gives them the drizzly sh*ts!"

Demeter


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## Freya (Dec 3, 2005)

Cyngbaeld said:


> I had two litters of Great Pyrenees puppies stolen a yr ago. They were born a couple of days apart and both litters barely had their eyes open. I made sure the next litter was inaccessible unless the trespassers REALLY made an effort. Didn't lose any of them.


 Wow that's a different kind of low. I mean I know dogs get stolen quite often for resale but pups that young. Dang. 







Cyngbaeld said:


> I wish somebody would steal this snapping turtle out of my pond.


 You should put out a sign! :happy2:


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## Freya (Dec 3, 2005)

Ernie said:


> Your grandfather was cut from a different cloth than mine.
> 
> I remember as a boy there was a fellow down the road who kept trespassing on our property to poach deer. One day my grandfather caught him at it and he pointed his rifle at my grandfather in a threatening manner.
> 
> ...



*Yeah your grampa sounds like alot of my eldery and dearly departed family members. The half that farmed through the depression always gave away alot of food.........and the half that went through any "war" were VERY particular to keep that food.*




.


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Well, I'm thankful for living in the country! I didn't get a chance to get in a good garden this year. My neighbor's was doing gangbusters as they both just retired and were spending a lot of time in their garden. This morning she shows up with a LOT of cukes and zukes!! Guess I'll be making pickes and freezing zukes!!


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