Ever since 1995, Mary Lee has been spending Saturday mornings at the Brother Jim Mcsheffrey community garden, tending her crops or picking vegetables.
But last Saturday morning, to Lee’s surprise, all her beets, turnips and onions were missing.
“I didn’t even notice that anything was missing right away,” said Lee. “It wasn’t until my grandson wanted to pick some of the vegetables that he helped plant that we noticed.”
She brought her grandson Charlie along with her, who had helped sow some of the seeds almost six months before.
“That was the part that upset me the most,” said Lee. “He was so disappointed after all the months of hard work.”
Lee told The Telegram that growing crops is harder work than people might think.
“It all starts in May,” said Lee. “You’ve got to get your soil, seeds, plant the seeds, weed everything. Months of work go into those vegetables.”
Jim Crockwell, executive director of the MacMorran Community Centre, says this isn’t the first time there’s been a theft in the garden.
“We had equipment stolen a few years ago,” said Crockwell. “But it’s strange to see people stealing the vegetables.”
Lee told The Telegram she’s seen vegetables go missing before, but nothing like the extent of this haul.
“I’ve dealt with a few similar situations over the years,” said Lee. “But they would always leave at least some of my vegetables for me.”
Lee says the crops were taken between 3:30 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday.
