WASILLA, Alaska (KTUU) - Lavon Shearer Ihrig, and two of her friends, had big plans for the cute, little greenhouse that they were sharing near Wasilla. "We had hoped, if it did well this year, we were going to expand it and have more friends kind of, you know, have a co-cop garden here," Ihrig said. But last Friday, Ihrig noticed the greenhouse door wasn't closed all the way. When she investigated, she found that the plants were there, but all of the vegetables were gone. "All of them were gone," Ihrig said. "And by the time I got to the cumbers and the peppers, I was just in tears. I was just like, 'Wow... it's all gone.'" Ihrig knows other people have been victims of far more serious crimes. But even so, she sees the theft of their vegetables as a violation of their peace and privacy. "I was so mad," she said. "I was angry. I just couldn't fathom who would do that." When asked what she wanted to say to the thief, Ihrig replied, "You stole the fruits of our labor - a lot of labor. A lot of people put a lot of time putting together this greenhouse. We had plans for the future to expand it and have more friends start gardening, (but) we're at the point where if this keeps happening, is it worth it?" Ihrig says a security camera is not monitoring the property 24-hours a day. "You kinda don't think your vegetables would get robbed," she said. "But yeah, they were. And so apparently, even our greenhouses are no longer safe." Welcome to the new Alaska. My point? You can grow a nice garden - but you must have plans in place to keep the fruits of your labor... This isn't new and not just Alaska Avocado theft has long been a problem in Ventura County In sophisticated shell game, thieves hit Central Valley nut growers Felony Charges in Beehive Thefts | Growing Produce Arrest Made in Arroyo Grande Fruit and Vegetable Stand Thefts many more to be found.....
I didn't realise that Sarah was that desperate. Sorry about your loss DKR. I hate to think what things will be like when hard times do come to your community. Your anecdote raises the question of security for gardening outbuildings and infrastructure. As likely the thieves were locals from your own community, unless perhaps there was a SERE exercise being held in your local area for some reason. Interesting that they only stole the fruit instead of trashing the plants as well...perhaps they don't want to discourage you from growing produce at all, which perhaps indicates that there may be follow up visits as plants are ready to produce again.
And.... The S*&t hasn't even hit the fan, yet! First, they'd raid the local shops and stores, then it would be the folks with small urban gardens, chickens, meat rabbits, or aqua-farming, then out to the close by farms, ranches and after that; anything that flies, walks crawls or swims would be eyed as food.
Chell - more than likely pot heads, crack heads or meth heads. The Mat-Su Valley is rife with drug abusers. I live in the calm environs of Los Anchorage, next to the ghetto....
Saddly this has happened to me once too. When I had the tower garden at my office on a high balcony growing lettuce and spinach to make salads for co-workers... One "middle manager" decided to treat their team to "free food". They hacked the entire 25 plants to bits and made a terrible mess. OFC I flipped out and confronted them...quite loudly and publicly but the damage was done. Had they asked...I'd have let them have 1/2 of it.... OFC HR got involved but I got in more trouble than the culprits for being so public and unapologetic aboot how harshly scolded them.
A local guy posted his property recently with new signs: No Trespassing! Property Patrolled Owner is heavily armed and has a backhoe. I GOTTA ask him where he purchased his signs..
That backhoe hole will probably be a good place to plant a fruit or nut tree....probably an effective way of getting a perennial crop from a food thief.
My dogs are big & need a lot of meat, & weve run out of JW's and door to door salesmen..... just saying....
Back when I worked in local gov, I arranged to get a community garden set up. The city got a few lots from the county that had been abandoned and taken on taxes years prior. We cleared the trashed out trailers and junked cars and 6' tall weeds. Put in water lines, fixed up an old garage to serve as a tool shed for the gardeners. I got donations from various seed companies and even 5k from Home Depot to fund the project. We set up beds using railroad ties, and filled them with dirt, compost, etc. It was intended to be free to any resident who wished to garden there, with the city covering the water bill. Next day I get a call from one of our utility guys that half the dirt was gone from all the beds. These beds were the size of singlewide trailers. Asked around, yep, the locals stole it. They'd seen a few different guys going down there in everything from a pickup to a riding mower pulling a cart, loading up dirt, and taking off. They stole the damn dirt. After closer inspection we found they'd also dug up and stolen the frost free yard hydrants we'd installed next to the beds. We scrapped the idea after that. If even the dirt wasn't safe from being swiped we knew veggies and fruit wouldn't last a minute.
That's not a backhoe "hole" - it's a "pond"... A memorial pond in fact...several canoes where lost there in tragic boating accidents
Misguided faith in humanity is awakened to reality , again. This misguided effort has been made all over the world ,building something with good intentions, ignoring the eventuality of the local people that lack discipline , and the moment supervision is absent, the natives take advantage. These are accustomed to getting help without work ,and plenty of programs to fall back on , and when some one shows the least benevolence they are attacked like misquotes to a blood bank. Some things are best done in secret not only the building but any benevolence . People that need to attract attention to them selves, attract trouble as well.
"Stole the dirt" Classic. OTOH, my son has a plot in P-fluger-ville, outside of Aus-in (the T is silent) TX. He has 'neighbors' that will water his plot if he misses for more than a few days. If can work, but only in places where everyone works....
