Has anyone ever stole fruit from your vegetable garden or fruit tree. (grass, Lilacs)

[Hemlock140]

Not humans, my vegetable garden and fruit trees are in the fenced yard, only squirrels steal the apples.

My neighbor across the street has two apple trees, a cherry and a plum on the side of his corner house, with no windows on that side. We often see people walking by, often with their dogs snatch off fruit. He never picked anyway, and one year even put out a bucket-on-a-stick thing to make it easier for people to pick high up.

[Bob12]

I thought some body was taking my tomatoes and it turned out it was my dog. He loved them.

[HB2HSV]

A few years ago I noticed my Asian pears kept disappearing from the tree. I told my coworker that I suspect neighbor kids might be stealing my fruits. He laughed and say it was the deer who came and "stole" them.

I had an unfenced backyard.

[Hemlock140]

I remembered a story from my late father in law, who lived in Oakland, CA at the time and planted strawberries along the side of the house near the front. Every so often he would see a neighbor kid plucking a berry and eating it, so one day when the kid was walking by he said to him "if you know anyone stealing my strawberries, tell them that's where the dog pees every morning."

No one ever stole them again.

[Sassybluesy]

Originally Posted by Caladium

My sister in law owns a cabin in the Berkshires. They mostly go to it on the weekend but do spend time there throughout the year. This spring we went up to visit and when we arrived at the cabin two people were harvesting all her leeks! They had the audacity to act like they were doing her a favor, because she was "just a weekend visitor" and "the earth needed me to take these, who knows if a weekend visitor will be here to harvest these."

My SIL decided to be a good sport about it for the sake of "we're the new neighbors" and "they might need it for food."

The next day we went into town and to our amazement we saw the two "leek stealers" again. They are hardly starving and weren't eating what they stole. They own a gourmet cheese shop and were selling leek cheese for a ridiculously high price. I think it was $16/pound. Big sign in the window reminding people to "buy local." Yah, buy local and buy stuff stolen from someone else's property.

My sister in law decided to confront them, and walked into the shop. She said "Hi, remember me?" And the shop owner smiled and made a joke about "being your trespassers yesterday" but he didn't even offer to give her some free cheese.

At that point she backed down. Why is a mystery to me, but she said she didn't want to make a scene because it might lead to people retaliating against their cabin when they're out of town.

Her choice, so I respected her wishes, but am I the only one who thinks that cheese shop owner was extremely unethical? I found it especially annoying that he acted like he was doing her a favor by stealing from her. Like he has some moral right to do this because she isn't a full time resident.

This kind of reminds me...I belong to a Facebook group that's all about foraging. You might (or might not) be surprised how many people wonder what the proper protocol is, for foraging on other people's private property! Like seriously...they wonder if they should ask first, or is it OK to just take. Thankfully, there's usually a few people who will inform them that they must ALWAYS ask first.

[2Q&Lrn&Hlp]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Yes. Apples and watermelons (that happened when we were away).

. . . squirrels get most of the apples. In fact, I have less than a dozen left on the tree as of an hour ago and it was so loaded after fruit set in June I thought I might have to thin them. There are dozens of half eaten apples all over the yard.

Many people don't realize that the only reason apples are large like they are nowadays

is because of hybridization.



The original fruits were just the right size as individual servings for small critters!

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by HB2HSV

A few years ago I noticed my Asian pears kept disappearing from the tree. I told my coworker that I suspect neighbor kids might be stealing my fruits. He laughed and say it was the deer who came and "stole" them.

I had an unfenced backyard.

Oh yes, deer love pears. Back when I had my tree I'd have as many as a dozen deer in my backyard at one time.

[Angry-Koala]

Originally Posted by Bob12

I thought some body was taking my tomatoes and it turned out it was my dog. He loved them.

I love this!

[NoMansLands]

Morels.
A woman was actually giving a tour and lesson on how to collect them on my parent's property. My mother was out taking a walk and stumbled upon them and listened in before letting the guide know that she was on private property. Who the heck goes foraging without even considering a map as to public lands?

[GreenSoylent]

When I was growing up, we lived on 32 acres that was partially forested. There was a stretch of 4 or 5 years where some one would trespass at the rear of the property and harvest a small tree a week or so before Christmas. Well, one year they did it in the snow and left foot prints. So I hopped the fence and followed their foot prints back to their house (it was about a 1/2 mile trek). When I told my dad, he said it was no big deal as it was for Christmas. What pissed me off was why couldn't they get a tree off their own goddamn property.