This harvest season, thefts at Terra Nova community garden have been more than just a few beans, a flower or a strawberry plant.
Urban Bounty, which manages the community gardens throughout Richmond, received reports of garden equipment and entire plots of produce stolen overnight this year, according to Cheney Creamer, executive director of Urban Bounty.
Twenty-eight tomato cages, and plots of potatoes, squash and dahlia plants to be exact we're taken.
Creamer described this year's theft cases as "calculated" and "brazen."
She explained the garden's high foot traffic during the day and isolated location at night make it "easier for people to scope out the garden without raising suspicion."
"Clearly someone can't just bundle up 28 tomato cages under their arm and walk away with it. That probably means someone knew where the cages were, pulled up with a vehicle and took them," she said.
"It's becoming a bit more brazen, a little bit larger than it usually is."
Creamer told the Richmond News Urban Bounty can only do so much to prevent theft, but is working with the City of Richmond to find a solution.
This may include hiring an evening security team, increasing signage, awareness campaigns and being more stringent with their procedures to chain the parking lot.
However, there is a "fine balance" between keeping thieves out and maintaining Urban Bounty's goal of creating a safe and inclusive space in the garden for everyone, she added.
"It's a balancing act between making sure gardeners feel like their plots are their own space while welcoming the public to learn about gardening and looking at all the beautiful work the gardeners are doing," said Creamer.
"We can't assume why these people are stealing from the plots, but we want to open all avenues of help if that is what they need."
Urban Bounty is encouraging anyone in need of fresh produce to reach out to the organization. This could mean volunteering their time weeding the gardens, harvesting extra produce, getting involved with Urban Bounty and through their volunteer work receiving fruits and vegetables in exchange for their work.
"We want people to feel like they are part of the community."
Sensitive ecological system
For the past several years, gardeners have suggested security cameras and motion-sensor lights for the Terra Nova Community Garden.
Aside from privacy concerns when it comes to cameras, motion-sensor lights are not recommended due to the sensitive ecological system in the Terra Nova neighbourhood.
The area is home to many owls, coyotes and different birds of prey that come out at night to hunt rodents in the area, explained Creamer.
"We have the right ecosystem at play here that is keeping a balance and making sure there is no rodent activity in the garden," she said.
"If motion-sensitive lights go on and off suddenly at night, these animals are going to be disturbed and won't want to be here and the area is not going to be a protected space anymore."
In the meantime, Urban Bounty is looking to help gardeners change their expectations of crop loss in the garden.
Creamer wants to divert feelings of anger from people to understanding and how to overcome loss.
"If it was a squirrel or a mole, or even a fallen tree, we wouldn't get angry with them because we know we can't do much. What we can do is be sad, grieve over the unfortunate event, fix the plot and work to plant again."
She added almost all farmers plant and intend for at least 30 to 40 per cent loss, which is a "high percentage of loss."
"We want to help people understand that loss is actually a normal part of gardening."
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