RE: Vandalism!

Scott,
 
What a wonderfull initiative on  your part and what a constructive thing to do
for these boys.  Please let the group know about the outcome.
 
Good job!
 
Richard Plourde

--- On Mon, 9/29/08, Brian <brian8t@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Brian <brian8t@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Vandalism!
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Received: Monday, September 29, 2008, 10:48 AM

My goodness sir.  What wonderful thoughts on your part.  Thank you for
sharing this.  I believe that the clean up and then the growing of their own
will be very rewarding and they will thank you, probably in about 10 years
when it dawns on them what you have done for them.

Scott Manke for President!

Brian


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pumpkins@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf Of
Scott G. Manke
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 8:37 AM
To: pumpkins@hort.net
Subject: RE: Vandalism!

Thank you all for your kinds words and support with this.  You all truly
understand the impact this can have on a grower and were prepared to
rally around me.  This forum defines a support group, and for that I
thank you.

After reading many of your comments I took a deep breath and remembered
what I am growing these darlings for.  Then I delivered some of the
unharmed large pumpkins to my son's kindergarten class and watched most
of the school marvel at the display I hauled in.  That alone was enough
to rebalance me and let me focus on what is important.

I inspected my 501 Foss again to see how severe the damage was and it
appears that they only broke the skin and did not break through.  It
looks as though I may still be able to take this large lady to weigh
off!

As I was out harvesting again, this time for the Cub Scouts, the youth
minister from the church next door came over to greet me.  He thanked me
for allowing his parishioners to view the patch through the growing
process as many of them are a buzz every Sunday to walk out after
service and see the progress and welcome fall.

Then he informed me that he made a few phone calls to see if any of his
youth groups kids had heard anything about this.  It turns out that the
boys that he called, confessed to the vandalism and named 3 other boys
who were also involved.

All have been contacted by the Police and have been advised to make
restitution.  The parents have contacted me and made it clear that they
felt mortified about this behavior and are willing to make the boys pay
for their actions.

I see it this way, when the harvest is behind me, I will have 4,500
square feet of garden that needs vines removed, weeds pulled, and a few
more rocks picked.  I found in my youth that I learned a lesson more
dearly when I had to sweat for the consequences.  With that I think I
will ask the boys to do the fall labor on my patch.  I also want them to
understand that theses fiery skulls that glow with the trapped energy of
summer are more than just decoration, they are symbolic of the past
years hopes and efforts towards harvest, they are important, to
pumpkineers they are second only to their children.  I am debating on
how to get that through to them.  I have thought about having them read
and write me a small report on the book "Backyard Giants" so they can
read of the struggles and commitments that people make to this, but then
it dawned on me.  How better to let them experience it, than to infect
them with this bug directly.  I think I will donate seeds to them and
have them grow plants themselves next year on their property.  They can
then compete amongst each other for size and use this for a life
learning experience.

I have yet to bring the hammer down on my verdict of punishment, so I
welcome all of your input.  Thank you again, for your words and
thoughts....they help.

Scott

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