How to deal with garden thieves

[rhines81]

I just spent the past 90 minutes searching my area for food banks and food pantries. There is an organization that I never knew about that is centered only 2 miles from my house. They are affiliated with many of the local churches around here. Unfortuantely, they only distribute food once a month and it seems that they also are only looking for canned/boxed food. If I have extras a few days before one of their drives, I'll call and see if they are interested. The next closest one, about 20 miles away, has a request out for SpaghettiO's and soup only. They only distribute once a month as well.
The next closest one is 35 miles away and they only accept commercially packaged foods. Another 40 miles away has a 42 acre community garden (for underprivileged people), so I guess they're good on fresh produce.

[Sue_CT]

While the need for fresh produce by those with limited ability to afford it is great, I assume they also are concerned about storage, enough cold storage space, spoilage, and sanitation. One episode of someone getting an e. coli related disease from produce could shut them down. I am glad a lot of food banks do take it but I understand the issues for those that can't. If it were feasable for you, you could also set up a table on your property for free "help yourself" produce. Or maybe see if the churches will ask people to let them know they would like fresh produce boxes delivered if you are willing to do that or if the church will maybe once a week let people stop and pick up boxes of fresh produce. There might be several local garders willing to donate to something like that and they only need an announcement and use of the church parking lot to distribute the boxes.

[worth1]

I posted this video on my Worth's video collection too.
It's a great eye opening video for just how much food is being tossed.

[Nan6b]

At my church, one need only bring in produce on Sunday and leave it in the narthex (the vestibule in the back). People help themselves. I have also brought in tomato seedlings at plant-out time.

[rhines81]

I had a discussion with several friends at the local watering hole tonight about needy people in our area... the results were good. We usually have fund-raiser on President's Day, via our local Polar Bear Plunge event that has not happened in the past few years due to various circumstances. The proceeds from the event were always given to our local needy families. From tonight's discussions, I was able to identify 4 different families (who I don't know because they do not come out and socialize, because they can't afford to). I started an official list and hope to directly help out at least 10 local families this year by growing more and delivering whenever I harvest (up to them to use it before it expires). I'm thinking this is a much better approach for my area.

[rhines81]

With the above said, what would be a good generic WEEKLY produce "care package" for a family of 4?? A dozen ears of corn, a dozen tomatoes, 1# of pole, italian or other beans or pea pods, 4 onions, 3 bell peppers, a head of lettuce, 1# carrots? I guess it ultimately depends what the family likes, but just looking for a general go-to guide for a grow list. I'll be starting seeds next week.
We personally love to stock up on tomatoes and peppers to process and we also parboil a lot of beans and peas to store. I haven't really had any excess corn, but now I have the land to grow a lot of it. I've only grown lettuce and other thing as a grow, cut, eat situation, but I have the space for much more.

[rhines81]

I think it is best if I take my situation to a new thread and not steal this one further, I apoligize. I realize I am going away from this thread's initial intent. I do remain steady at 'garden thieves' will not be tolerated, especially if they steal whole plants! It seems that our local outreach places for the under-privileged only provide very limited resources which do not include fresh foods (I understand that, due to proper storage issues and timing of volunteers and logistics). I'll probably start a new thread for this (my situation) next week once I figure out what I can do to help.

[Nan6b]

You've made my week, month & year with these posts! Definitely we need a thread to discuss how we can give to the less fortunate.

[rhines81]

I've just reserved a thread for this topic in Area 51. I didn't think that it belonged in General Discussion, but if a Moderator wants to move it, I am fine with that.

[Donnyboy]

I give almost all of my garden produce away simply because we can not eat all of it and I detest waste. It is sometimes difficult to find people or groups who want produce straight from a garden instead of a grocery store. I sometimes drive around with my back seat full of Walmart bags full of fresh veggies looking for people who are hungry for fresh veggies. I'm not being generous. I'm justifying my efforts in growing my garden. I find it interesting that it can be difficult to give food away, but many people are happy to steal it.

I am associated with a huge non profit community garden with individual plots and ten acres of farm style production which provides fresh food daily for groups providing meals to the hungry and fresh produce to the needy. The first few years of operation, the garden was kept wide open at all times. Now the garden is behind strong steel gates with sturdy chains and padlocks when an attendant is not on duty. We were not only losing vegetables, but it was difficult to keep garden tractors and implements needed to work the garden.

[Labradors]

What about an automatic sprinkler? Maybe a siren? Maybe grow some thistles there in future......

[Donnyboy]

Plant a few rubber snakes in your garden. It works with squirrels and birds and possibly thieves. You may need to dispose of some soiled underwear you find in your garden. Remember where you placed the snakes or the underwear may be yours instead of the thieves.

[MissS]

Our gardens name was changed from Community Gardens to Rental Gardens in hopes that people won't think that the food is for free and come help themselves. I have changed plots. Last year I had the very first plot when you drove in, this year I have one towards the back and not on an end. I am nicely snuggled in between a couple of others. Hopefully the thieves will 1) Realize that the food is not free and 2) If they are still intent on stealing, they will find easier plots easier to access before finding mine. Of course my plot is the only one that is packed with 90% tomatoes, so if that's what they are looking for then they will come.

If I only get one cucumber out of 5 plants, 10 lbs of tomatoes from 32 plants, no beets, one harvest of beans, a bunch of hot peppers, eggplant and cole crops then this will be the last year at the Gardens.

Fortunately, the DNR has taken notice that the deer are out of control in my neighborhood and have started to cull the herd. They took 53 deer out in just 3 days and are planning another cull this fall. This cull was truly needed. I saw 32 deer in an hour during the day and they were eating the Spruce trees because everything else is gone. Every single evergreen in the area is now growing on a popsicle stick. Sigh... Anyway, hopefully in 2-3 years the herd will be in check and down to manageable numbers so that I can grow my veggies at home.

[Donnyboy]

We have a freeze/frost forecast for North Texas on Wednesday of this week. If my garden survives, I'm not sure how I will dispose of my excess produce. My SIL took bags of tomatoes and peppers to his employees each summer, but he retired last week so that avenue is closed. I am thinking about sitting a table near the gate into our property with a sign saying free garden veggies, help yourself. I will probably expand deliveries to fire houses. My wife volunteers at a food bank, but most homeless or needy people prefer canned vegetables over fresh vegetables. Fresh veggies often rot and are tossed in the trash because the homeless have no way to prepare them and the needy simply prefer to open a can.

[MissS]

Our Food Pantry no longer accepts fresh produce. Not because of Covid but because nobody wants it.