A community garden in southeast Calgary has been hit repeatedly by vandals this summer, frustrating people trying to grow flowers and vegetables.
The Chaparral Green Thumbs community garden is more than just a place to grow lettuce. Over the past 10 years, it’s been a sanctuary for neighbours to gather and get to know each other. But this year some of the people coming to the garden aren’t there to water the kale.
“Gardens like mine have been completely cut off — not just pulling a few things out but cutting things off and stomping on things,” said Jolene Ottosen who is a committee member and has a plot in the garden.
She said there have been small acts of vandalism in the the past but this year it’s far worse.
“This year it has been repeated and seems to be targeted. Our shed has been kicked in four times this year — last week it was two days in a row,” Ottosen said.
“It’s frustrating because in the past it always seemed somewhat random but now it’s been the same repeated thing happening and just the level of destruction is so much worse than what we’ve seen before.
“It’s disheartening especially for the new gardeners who don’t know that our garden is so much more than just that.”
Volunteers tried installing trial cameras but they were destroyed. Ottosen said police have told her that a fence would help but she’s concerned about excluding people.
“We don’t really like that in the sense that this is for the community. We put in benches so that people can come in,” Ottosen said.
Over in Inglewood, a locked fence surrounds the Inglewood Community Garden and a sign warns that cameras are watching 24 hours a day, but those measures haven’t stopped determined thieves and vandals in the past.
“We found that any issues we’ve had with theft have been adults and they’ve taken not vegetables — they’ve taken tools and things like that,” said Julia Hinman, chair of the Inglewood Community Garden. “We don’t leave anything of value here any longer.”
Hinman said their approach now involves the whole community — reaching out to schools and talking about the work that goes into sustainable food production.
“We think education is the answer. When they see their vegetables grown in their neighbourhood they realize how important it is. It doesn’t all come from Safeway,” she said.
“It comes from gardens like this. For those kids, they have an understanding that they have to be stewards.”
The garden welcomes people to take what they need from the free produce box. Hinman justifies the fence saying they need to protect the place that people pay to use and that everyone is invited to come inside the garden when it’s not locked.
“We have to take that extra step to make sure that we are protecting the land so we can continue to garden on it. If you want to come and see it, we will entertain you anytime but really we are here Tuesday evenings and on Saturdays,” Hinman said.
As for Ottosen, she doesn’t care if the culprits are caught — she just wants the gardeners hard work not to be wasted.
“It’s one thing if someone stole my ripe tomato and just took it. Maybe they needed it more than I did, but the carrots are just thrown around. It’s destruction just to be destructive,” Ottosen said.