Vegetable rustlers steal hundreds of growing plants from Newton farm; they had a particular preference for scallions

Newton Community Farm on Nahanton Street reports somebody spent some time Thursday night or Friday morning making off with hundreds of plants.

In e-mail to supporters, the farm's executive director, Sue Bottino, writes:

We came in this morning to discover many, many plants missing from the Farm. Someone, or multiple people, took basil, scallions, eggplant, and cucumbers planted in the field and trays of cucumber, tomato, kale, corn, and other seedlings from the new greenhouse. They stole hundreds of plants. Whomever took these plants knew what they were doing and targeted certain crops and even certain plants. They tried to find the scallions by first picking some leeks and then onions before they found what they were looking for. They took other plants by digging them out from the roots, presumably so they could be re-planted. They removed cloth that was over the eggplant and cucumber plants in the field and took them.

These plants were being grown for our community: for our CSA sharers, farm stand and farmers' market customers, and for donation to the Newton Food Pantry and Freedge. We are devastated and angered by what happened and the impact to our community.

We have notified the police and they have seen the footprints and knee-prints in the soil. There will be increased patrolling of the Farm area and we are installing security cameras.

Farming is a difficult, stressful job as it is. Dealing with drought, heat, flooding, animals, insects, and all the rest pose huge challenges. Our farm manager and his family live onsite and have had their safety and security violated. We have been here going on 18 years and have never before had theft like this. Please help us find the person or persons who did this and help make sure this does not happen again.

She adds:

Be on the lookout for anyone who suddenly has hundreds of plants going into gardens or is offering lots of plants for sale who hasn't done this before.

Call the police if you see vehicles parked near the Farm perimeter on Nahanton or Winchester Streets late at night or early in the morning. The Farm is closed from dusk to dawn.

Call us at 617-916-9655 to report suspicious activity. You can leave an anonymous tip or speak to me directly.