Smashing Pumpkins

Of course, all my pumpkins look really great, but that's not what this post is about. Last week, vandals cut off the lock on the community garden gate and had a "field day" with lots of melons, pumpkins and other local food and property.
When I first got to the garden, I found the container for the food bank turned over, and several watermelons strewn about in various pieces. It wasn't until I found a row of ripe beefsteak tomatoes ceremoniously gored on a row of rebar fencing that I realized it wasn't just the work of rats.
This is disappointing because after all our challenges with weather, fires, bugs, rodents and disease, for some gardeners, it all came down to some bored neighbors standing between them and some really great local food.
Luckily, most of my pumpkins have already been harvested.