I do have an extra solar powered motion detector light. I got them on sale at Costco last year and have an extra for a backup. They were not all that terribly expensive. I must say that they do absolutely nothing to deter the deer but hopefully will the people. I doubt that the homeless have anything to do with this theft. This was far more than what they could haul off. I still don't understand it and especially to come onto the jails property in order to perform the theft. The only way in is to drive in from the entrance to the jail. This just boggles my mind.

I will say that I spent the day finishing emptying the cups that I had of fermented seed. While it is not the amounts that I was planning on, it will do to support the MMMM nicely. Instead of the 37 varieties that I was planning on I have 28. I have three bags of ground up tomatoes in the freezer which is an all time low for me but it is something to look forward to come winter. I had some great tomato salads and some lovely pasta with fresh tomatoes. I wish it was more but it is far more than I had last year when the deer left me with one lonely Black Cherry tomato for the season. I know that it is quite late in the season but I will pull the largest greenies and hope that they ripen for me. I am going to pull my plants and fence this week and contemplate what will be next year.

The homeless discussion would be a great topic for Area 51's Controversial forum. I think that it is a very big problem and I find it interesting on how it is being dealt with in various places.

If I were to steal tomatoes and thete was a motion detector light I would just take it out.

Had to go over to my neighbors house and move hers down so it wouldn't blind me at my house.
Told her first though and got permission.
Many security devices are easily disabled if you know what you are doing.
Or they are installed improperly.

worth1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 12:34 pm If I were to steal tomatoes and thete was a motion detector light I would just take it out.

Had to go over to my neighbors house and move hers down so it wouldn't blind me at my house.
Told her first though and got permission.
Many security devices are easily disabled if you know what you are doing.
Or they are installed improperly.

I agree with you Worth that yes they are extremely easy to disable or just take. They are very bright too. When I installed mine, I did check with the neighbors to make sure that their placement wouldn't bother them. So I am good there.

I just never knew that it could be such a problem to grow a few tomato plants.

"This was far more than what they could haul off. I still don't understand it and especially to come onto the jails property in order to perform the theft. The only way in is to drive in from the entrance to the jail. This just boggles my mind."

From reading this it seems as if someone who works at the jail might know something about this theft.

So sorry to hear this Patti, and sad to say I can empathize. Same situation, but for me I had my niece's two little boys each had a raised bed and the 8-year old had his largest watermelon and largest sunflower stolen. I was hurt and angry about it for weeks. And We weren't the only ones hit. There were several others too. I'm completely disgusted with the garden manager. There are no security cameras out there and the gate lock combination has never been changed, and still wouldn't change it! All he did was put up a sign saying the person that did it better bring them back. Ridiculous! Property is so expensive here, but I continue to look and consider what it would take to run a private "community" garden. For myself, I'm trying to find an empty lot in a neighborhood that would be more private that I can do my own gardening on. They are very hard to find though. I hope you find a better opportunity for next year.

At Home Depot they sell these fake cameras that look like home security cameras that come with stickers that say something like Under Surveillance. The cameras are maybe $10. We got several and mounted them in places by side gates etc where real cameras are not installed just to deter theft. They look very real. That may be something to look into-no power required-they could mount on the shed or surrounding trees?

Of course, if it really is an inside job, no deterrent will work for someone with no moral compass...

Ah, it happened to me.... I came out to check on the garden this morning as we got our first frost and about half my kale plants disappeared. Not cut off or anything, just nice, neat, little empty holes left behind where the plants used to be. So someone is trying to replant them for themselves or something. Last year, the same thing happened to another gardener's plot. I would have been less upset if they just harvested leaves, but WHO TAKES A WHOLE PLANT?!? That leaves nothing for anyone else, let alone the gardener who had been putting in the work to grow them.

I understand people might be on hard times but how hard is it to just ask, leave a note, ANYTHING, rather than leaving me with a sour thought of somebody in the neighborhood is a thief.

It is interesting that they carefully dug the kale up and left my one rogue mustard that accidentally got planted in the kale row.. They knew what they wanted, and it wasn't mustard!

I feel for ya, FG! This isn't some homeless person. It's a low down dirty thief. Evidently they had somewhere to plant them and are just too lazy to grow their own. Some cultures cut off the hand of a thief.........

Some major things bring out the best in people but also bring out the worst in others. And then the worst behaviour just brings it down another notch too, likewise and vice verci with good deeds. Devastating that feeling that someone has done that to you, and know that feeling well. The metaphor of eye for an eye has been around since the dawn of civilisation, it's a shame that even as a metaphor it holds no sway with some people's conscience.

Sorry to hear about this. I think I would spray anything else out there, that may tempt the lowlifes, with some hot oil. Helps keep some varmints off, and it would be a minor consolation thinking that if someone did this again, they would get it on their hands, and probably not wash it off
well.

Someone digging up kale? Kale is quite cheap here. And it isn't nearly as tasty as other garden plants. And the first frost is a weird time for someone to start a garden. I'd bet something like a deer pulled them up by the roots to eat them.

GoDawgs wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 9:59 am I feel for ya, FG! This isn't some homeless person. It's a low down dirty thief. Evidently they had somewhere to plant them and are just too lazy to grow their own. Some cultures cut off the hand of a thief.........

Well maybe so but one culture also forgives stealing for food.

Or at least it is supposed to.

worth1 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 6:10 am Well maybe so but one culture also forgives stealing for food.
Or at least it is supposed to.

This action isn't about food. It's theft of plants. If they wanted food they would have cut the leaves so they could take more later unless they're stupid as a box of rocks. They're not stupid as evidenced by the careful digging. Hello, Area 51....

worth1 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 6:10 am Well maybe so but one culture also forgives stealing for food.

Or at least it is supposed to.

I used to have a neighbour who grew up in Brazil. He told me about what he called 'Apache Law' regarding taking food from a field; that it could only be the amount one could eat - not theft, not how much could be taken and carried away which would be considered as theft.
Of course I, not being Apache, can't say it's true. It sure is a nice idea though.
Are you refering to something like that?

[mention]Growing Coastal[/mention]
No I was referring to the three religions of Abraham.
Christianity Judaism and Islam.
They even talk about not harvesting everything ftom the field so to poor can have some.
Lots of stuff about treatment of the poor when it comes to food and taking care of widows.
None of this has to do with the stealing of said plants.
It was about the comment on chopping off hands.
So much is taken out of context and then passed on as the complete story when in fact it isn't.

lots of this comes from even older civilisations. Code of hammurabi. Although it is quite brutal, there is the most wonderous thing which is now enshrined in our modern laws - that is the presumption of innocence!

Amateurinawe wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:53 pm lots of this comes from even older civilisations. Code of hammurabi. Although it is quite brutal, there is the most wonderous thing which is now enshrined in our modern laws - that is the presumption of innocence!

I don't see much of that presumption in the news anymore but this is not the place for that discussion.

If my garden produce had gone missing I would be looking suspiciously at anyone who dared to cast an eye on my patch!

Many of us grow more seedlings than we can use & give away the rest. If someone stole food out of my garden, I'd assume they needed it more than me, and I'd say they were welcome to it.

Well I grew and gave away well over 200 tomato plants. I don't mind sharing my veggies or my freezer food with someone who needs it. However when someone comes and picks all of the tomatoes off of 32 plants, pulls every beet, takes every cucumber, bean and squash as well as ones wheelbarrow as well as taking from other plots too, I would say that they were not taking this to fill their tummies, they were there to make a profit at others expense. I guess that I ought to be thankful that they left me all of the peppers and cauliflower. It was quite kind of them.

I wonder if they took your veggies home to eat or sold them.
A neighbour used to put free plants at the end of her driveway until she learned that a man was repeatedly taking them all and selling them at a farmer's market.