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Massachusetts

I was reading his diary and he mentioned some punk kids vandalized his patch..even though he said it was light its still very un called for...kids today are board and have nothing better ealse to do so they go and destroy..these kids have no idea how hard ccw worked to get to that point. No what this is telling me? They are just wishing they had a sweet pumpkin patch 2. I no this is crazy talk but people are going to have to start putting up a sighn next to a pumpkin and it should say "if your going to destroy this pumpkin you better destroy the camera watching you"

8/6/2007 3:11:32 PM

Minnesota([email protected])

I just read about this in CCW's dairy. How frustrating this must be!

8/6/2007 3:38:55 PM

Netherlands

Know how you feel. They did that to me a few years ago. Cut holes in a pumpkin and smashed another. This year they added ventilation to my greenhouse with 15 knife holes.

8/6/2007 3:46:42 PM

In The Patch (Cambridge, Ohio)

That makes me mad just thinking about. Hopefully they do not come back and if they do they get caught red handed before they can do anything else.

8/6/2007 4:28:07 PM

Lombard, IL

What jerks! Put up an electric fence rated for cows. Put the wires nice and low so they don't see them and trip.

8/6/2007 4:39:49 PM

Ft. Branch, IN ([email protected])

I read that too.....that sucks man. So sorry to hear it!

8/6/2007 4:51:28 PM

Greene County, Pa.

sorry to hear that CCW I hope you catch the little punks! How ignorent can someone be..

BuddyG

8/6/2007 5:23:13 PM

North Smithfield, RI USA

they are bringing city values to rural setting. And when you speak to the parents, they act dumfounded. I don't work saturdays anymore because standing gard on on my property is an every other week-end chore. That's when our new neighbor gets his five kids. Capt good luck with your problem !

8/6/2007 6:44:25 PM

Mt Vernon Ky

i know your pain the same happen to me last year hope you can find out who done it vic in ky

8/6/2007 9:56:20 PM

Pulaski Tn [email protected]

Yep, its really awful when crap like that happens, but you know, kids are no different now than they were 50 years ago, I sit around and listen to stories guys that work for me tell and I'm not sure if they were not worse then than the kids are these days.How many kids these days do you hear of waking out into a pasture at night and pulling the rosin string on one of those home made bull roarer's and stampeding a herd of cattle through a mans fence? One guy told me that some of his buddies actually snuck up to a old hermits one room house one night and pulled the bull roarer a few times and the old man ran out of the house wide open, the next day he was found dead where he ran into a barb wire fence and had broken his neck..I dont know if kids these days are as bad as its seems or not.. My patch is next to the raod and every morning I get up expecting the worse..

8/6/2007 10:07:57 PM

Littleton, Colo

Remember.."What goes around comes around". Too bad we can't always see it come around. Keep your head up CCW !! The Wiz and I are worried about it too !

8/6/2007 11:09:29 PM

Colorado

Capt- sorry to hear about your garden, and your 1250. Sounds like you lost more than just pumpkins, and I know how much effort you put into all of your stuff.

Stop by for a beer, and we can celebrate your grand champion.

8/7/2007 12:27:48 AM

Colo.Spgs.CO. Pikes Peak Chapter @ [email protected]

I had a fruit 2 years ago growing fast at 300 pounds early in the season that some punk vandalized, stabbed the fruit repeatedly into the cavity. It was at a satellite patch a half a block from my main patch. I am still nervous to this day about the punk that did this. We even called the cops to report criminal mischief trespassing, and vandalism, but they never even showed up either, as I guess pumpkins are not their top priority. Well now at my patch I have a big sign that came from a military base that says armed guard on duty with motion lights that illuminate it when bodies are present.....Seems to work, but there is always the bad apple that will cross the line and then things will get ugly....

8/7/2007 4:22:46 AM

Newcastle England

you know this is the most fearful time of year for me and my son.
the school holidays have started and you can guarantee the kids will be bored in a few weeks.so i always expect the worse on my 5 min walk to my plot on a morning.
ive been known to wake up in the early hours sweating after a nightmare about vandalism on my plot.
so its on with the clothes pick up my baseball bat and head straight round there,only to find all is well.
ive now installed several mine alarms activated by discreet trip wires.and i must say i'm sleeping a lot better these days.they also work well against badgers and rabbits.peter

8/7/2007 4:47:20 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Captn,

Very sorry to hear of your loss, you put lots of hard work into you garden. We worry all the time about the destruction the kids can cause, growing in open fields.... I hope you find them and have them answer for their deeds. Mak'em shovel manure for your patch. Last year at Hudson Gardens all the pumpkins were destroyed also, someone had a smashing contest....But come on down Saturday for the tour, I got a beer with your name on it.
Gary

8/7/2007 8:52:01 AM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

Thanks for your comments,
Its just sad, like all you growers, I put my heart and soul in the garden. Now the biggest pumpkin I have is the size of a softball. There is a chance i can still grow a 300 pounder. but just cant get excited.
And there were a lot of people I let down this yr. I was growing there seeds/pumpkins and Well no one gets excited when you say oh hey thanks for the seed, the seed grew a 200 pounder. 5 plants, would make a person think hmm i should be able to do something. I didnt cull 2 that i should have. Sorry

I told the people at the historic site and they were more concerned with the property than my garden. but a few of the volunteers felt bad.

3-5 min from the house, the patch is just far enough awaythat i cant be there all the time. I find myself still going around the 1250 kline and looking for it, then i remember.

Dad still has one, but its not that big, but bigger than mine.

I will be at the patch tour this sat. AndI wont give up, I was just hoping that this winter when some newbie asked hey capt how big was your pumpkin I could say oh well it was a _____ personal best. But who knows maybe some of my other giant veiges will pick it up and suprise me with somthing to goto the weigh offs with.

Thanks again with all your support.
Capt

8/7/2007 10:18:38 AM

Farmville, Virginia ([email protected])

I guess this means we are all going to have to invest in surveillance cameras and booby trapped patches. Having worked a few marijuana patch raids and seeing some of there innovative ideas I can suggest some good ones!

8/7/2007 11:46:56 AM

Washington

Capt, I think you should contact a local newspaper or TV reporter and do an interview. Let the jerk(s) know just what they destroyed. Unfortunately I have heard this before and in some cases it's not just kids. Some people have no respect for anything. So sorry, no one who gave you seeds will feel let down by you. They will be angry at the jerk.
Sherry

8/7/2007 12:10:07 PM

Washington

If the person is found, he should be made to do community service and help you in the patch. Maybe then he/she will have a better respect for what you do. I don't buy this bored excuse. I think that some parents just don't teach thier kids respect. Kids don't seem to have imaginations any more to find something constructive to do.

8/7/2007 12:12:29 PM

Mn

One of the growers in my area ended up catching some of those criminals rolling his pumpkin into the street. He made them roll all the way back to his poarch. I live in the sticks in the kind of area were everybody knows everybody and were vandals risk being shot on sight so wee don't have vary many problems out here. However I do regret hearing about the vandilism you encountered.

8/8/2007 2:56:05 PM

Littleton, Colo

I'm thinking make them spray the Agro K program all year with a squirt gun...think the judge will go along with it??

8/8/2007 11:52:32 PM

West Bridgewater /Brockton Ma. USA

I am sorry to hear of your loss , I have had a PB that I had set on my MIL' poarch for Halloween but some young thugs felt they should have the pumpkin and tried twice before they finally got it . The first time a nieghbor watched then at 2:00am try to load a 300lb pumpkin in to a Germlin... watching the three of them drop it and roll it drop it on one of their feet, and try to get it in the door . When that did not happen , would not fit they went for the hatchback and was about to get it in when the neighbor finally let them know they were being watched .... They dropped it in the street and left , only to come back two nights later and get it ...Neighbor still laughs about it to this day ....
I hope you get something this year , but if not that next year willl make up for this heartache ...
Bill G.

8/9/2007 10:14:46 PM