Produce stolen from senior at community garden
Only a ‘dirt bag’ would stoop so low: town official
There’s never a beet cop around when you need one.
Puns aside, having her produce stolen is far from a laughing matter for Olga McCabe-Cain.
She’s one of 55 residents – primarily seniors – who have plots in Truro’s community garden on King Street. Having tilled the soil, planted the seeds, carried the water and carefully pulled out stubborn weeds, her pride is obvious as she inspects her remaining crop of peas and beans.
She looked forward to a good feed of fresh beets until Wednesday evening when she found all but one small bunch had been stolen.
“See, I had this whole beautiful row,” she said, pointing to the empty stretch.
When she checked her garden at 1 p.m. that day, everything was fine; when she returned in the evening they were gone.
“It’s made me feel sad, disappointed because I love beets, that’s why I planted a whole bunch of them,” she said.
“I hope they enjoy them,” she said, with obvious sarcasm. “And it was nice of them to leave me one bunch for me to try them. This is mostly seniors planting these gardens and there’s a lot of work goes into it. And then you feel disappointed when you take care of it and it’s ready to eat and someone else comes along and takes it and eats it.”
Andrew MacKinnon, Urban Forestry coordinator with the Town of Truro, says two other gardeners have also reported having some of their crops stolen.
“To me, that’s the lowest of the low,” he said, describing those responsible as “dirt bags.”
“Don’t steal from the people who put in the work,” he said.
MacKinnon encourages others to keep a lookout for non-gardeners who may be in the gated garden plot. He added the town is also looking into installing video surveillance cameras to help curb further thefts.