do you think this would or will happen?

[shagerman]

since things are getting so bad in this world do you think people might come to the farms and start stealing out of gardens and animals just to eat? in my neck of the woods i have heard of one that got arrested for breaking in a house and stealing everything out of a freezer and cupboards, do ya think it could get worse?

[michiganfarmer]

This has been discussed many times here.
I dotn know how to search for a link for the previous discussions.


I think it will happen.

[chickenista]

There have been a few posts lately about folks stealing livestock..a piglet and some chickens right off the top of my head.
I KNOW it will get worse! As vegetables begin to appear in people's gardens I think that deer and raccoons are going to be the only veggies thieves.
I know awile back some folks were saying that they had feed stolen out of their vehicles while they were out running errands too.
Sigh.

[MelissaW]

I read once that when people were planting victory gardens during war rationing times, they often planted high flowers around the perimeter to hide the veggies inside. All I know is, in a few months people will be leaving big bags of zuchinnis on each others doorsteps, ringing the bell, and running just to get rid of them! Most years I can't give away enough tomatoes, and lots of people have turned down my offer of free eggs because they find the orange (free range) yolks "weird". Maybe this year will mark a turnaround in my food sharing efforts.

[Rita]

When I was a child in Connecticut we had a Victory Garden plot shared with a lot of other people. The plot was not even near our home but nobody ever bothered it. Times were different then.

[homedad]

Yep! Its a scary world out there. My neighbor who deals in the metal salvage buisness just had all his copper stolen from the back of his property, and there have been reports of diesel being stolen from different equipment. Just yesterday a kid(19 or so) knocked on my door to offer me money for a subaru wagon sitting in my yard. He wanted it for parts or to scrap it. Yeah, it has not been moved in a year or so but it runs and last got 30mpg. I LOL when he said he would give me 100$ for it. I asked him if just randomly goes up to peoples property and offers to buy what they have, and he said "yeah." Crazy eh? Stay safe in this crazy world and protect your property and life.

[seedspreader]

Well, I don't know. Is anyone in America feeling the pinch that tight right now? Or are thieves just thieves?

I can't imagine as long as there are food stamps and grocery stores, raving mobs of folks attacking farms and stealing your goodies.

Surely we are no where NEAR a TEOTWAWKI situation, and CHTF is in the eye of the beholder.

This is simply what we call "hard times" and I think many people's true character will shine through during it.

[stranger]

Originally Posted by Rita

When I was a child in Connecticut we had a Victory Garden plot shared with a lot of other people. The plot was not even near our home but nobody ever bothered it. Times were different then.

times and people. it was before America turned into the melting pot and we all took care of and respected each other. now if you offer some people a helping hand, they think there is strings attached and you want something.
thanks to the almighty dollar, the world has changed.

[HockeyFan]

Part of the reason that people look for alterior motives is because there have been people who have hurt other people because they had alterior motives. So it's only natural that we've become jaded. It's not just the all-mighty dollar, but the criminal element that have jaded us to where we are now.

[Use Less]

I hope not, but desperate people can lose much in the way of civilizing factors. And who among us really would adhere to good manners and social mores such as leaving other folks' stuff alone, if they, or especially their children, are starving? Time to encourage everyone to learn how to grow food?? Sue

[RVcook]

I ABSOLUTELY think it is a real possibility! While not the only factor, it did play heavily into purchasing property where we did - about one hour in all directions from a major city. We're not completely isolated, but live in an area with "like-minded" rural folks who don't have to worry about traffic, urban sprawl or major crime.

I just think that living and working in congested cities makes people susceptible to becoming victims of "mob-mentality". And where there is a mob, there is usually a problem....shudder...

Donna H.

[bumpus]

.
Yes they will be steeling anything in the house, outside of the house, in the fields, gardens, and livestock as things get worse people get desperate.

Some areas already having this problem. Listen to the neighbors and the feed stores.
And the talk at the livestock markets.

There was a family not to long ago that was working in the back yard in their garden and a truck backed up to the front door, and loaded all of there furniture.

Out in the country there are no police, and plenty of back roads.


bumpus
.

[wy_white_wolf]

They sang about this back in the sixties so it's nothing new:

Me and you and a dog named Boo
Lobo

1. I remember to this day the bright red Georgia clay,
How it stuck to the tires after the summer rain.
Will power made that old car go; a woman's mind told me that it's so.
Oh, how I wish we were back on the road again.

chorus:
Me and you and a dog named Boo,
Travellin' and livin' off the land.
[ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/fUg ]
Me and you and a dog named Boo,
How I love bein' a free man.

2. I can still recall the wheat fields of Saint Paul,
And the mornin' we got caught robbin' from an old hen.
Old MacDonald made us work, but then he paid us for what it was worth,
Another tank of gas and back on the road again.

I'll never forget that day we motored stately into big L.A.
The lights of the city put settlin' down in my brain.
Though it's only been a month or so, that old car's buggin' us to go.
You gotta get away and get back on the road again.

Back in HS when I was working for my uncle I remember having to count the piglets every morning. Someone in the area would sneak in at night a steal one about every 2 weeks. Stayed up a few nights but never was able to catch them.

[Lilandra]

the things that make this country great are going to be the ones that tear it apart.
I hate to point fingers BUT when you have people who come from war torn countries that never knew peace, they bring that savageness with them unfortunately. its contagious, people with nothing have nothing to loose and feel that folks who bust their hump to get by in this world owe them. if they don't give it to them - they steal it and scream "discrimination" and "racism" "the man is keeping us down"


I plan on taking care of business, share the surplus and the firsts (first tomato, radishes, cucumbers etc...) the apple trees are doing great - I'll keep a few, and offer -you pick, you keep to who ever wants the rest....same with the eggs - a person can only eat so many

life happens, besides - its not what you have, its who and what you leave behind when you leave this world that is a measure of your success

[BlueHeronFarm]

Originally Posted by stranger

times and people. it was before America turned into the melting pot and we all took care of and respected each other.

...Huh?

[shagerman]

i guess i am not so much afraid of the stealing as i am of somebody hurting me or my animals. i do own a few guns around here but if im not near them then i guess a good old 2x4 might work, i have 2 dogs not mean but scary looking. i just really hope it don't come to that. a friend called this morning and said some one had stolen some hay out of someones barn. and that is way to close to my area, this just makes me wonder . i would help anyone but when it comes to having to protect what i have and myself i think it comes to a whole different matter,

[texican]

It happens now, sporadically, With all of the welfare support systems in place... imagine what will occur if millions of people on the dole, who have an entitlement mentality, are suddenly cut off. Add in a hundred million that raise or harvest zero food.... where do you think they'll go for grub? The grocery store of course!!! Bwahahahaha And after that, they'll think deep down into their genetic past, and realize food is raised in the countryside, not in the concrete jungle... and then...

If people start getting truly hungry... I'd advise folks to not have their gardens or fields viewable from any road.

[rbart]

you should not have chickens on the top of your head, they might muss it up.

[Pelenaka]

In years past I have lost the occassional tomato picked by the hands of a senior reaching over the fence who assumed that since I would be giving her some anyways in the next few days ...
Not sure how reactive the Food Stamp Program is now. If there is a delay in the program raising the amounts to cover the raising cost of food, or if there is a delay in accepting new eligible households then stealing will become an issue.
A few coworkers have expressed ideas of putting in a garden but they aren't very serious about it. Add to the fact the almost no one's garden is a great producer the 1st year & the amount of effort that is needed to start up a plot. Truthfully I can't see the majority of these people putting forth the effort.

My front yard which is semi surrounded by a ornamental iron frence has about 100 people pass by it each day, 25% via shoe leather express. Tucked in amoung the taller flowers was eggplants and strawberries. Picking was a matter of waiting until dark.
Frightening the neighboorhood children so they would not pick the pretty flowers was more of an issue.

Couldn't imagine trying to police a farm.

~~ pelenaka ~~

[ChristyACB]

I do live in an urban area, though a little piece of paradise that few know exist in it, and I can attest to some of the increase in stealing what used to be considered of little value. I don't actually think it is related to increasing prices on normal stuff like food and gas though. It really appears to be more related to the normal sources of money for drugs drying up. People carry less cash, shop at malls less and go out and party less and they are the main targets for the theives around here.

So they have expanded their enterprises. We have had more instances than I can count of cell towers being robbed of the copper wire, a very dangerous enterprise but one that yields some cash when sold. Just a few blocks away the a/c unit was stolen...I mean the big one..not a window one..right off it's platform to be sold for the wire. The people were actually in the house at the time.

Construction sites are stolen from constantly here and there was a house finished just this month nearby that had to have 24 hour security because everything got stolen every night.

People are breaking into cars for change and any partial packs of cigs here. Yes, busting the windows to get change or your pack of cigs! Just a week ago, a woman coming out of a discount store was held up for her cart of stuff! She was only about 10 cars down the aisle when it happened.

I don't think it is a SHTF situation, but rather the normal effects of a tightening economy making slight changes in regular people and having a massive impact on our predators.

In effect, thieves who never work and prey on those who do are the top of the food chain. Disgusting but true. We gather the resources, they do no work and take it. But it is good that the top of the food chain always suffers first when the chain is upset.

I'm just hoping they start killing each other. That may be heartless, but I don't feel sorry for a tapeworm and they are just as parasitic.