BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad

Subject: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: gnu
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 01:43 PM

Posted this on another thread.

*****
Minds me of the time I got a load of rocksalt in the ass. Old man Brown was nice about it... he hollered, "You little bastards!" from inside the house and let us get out of the tree and about 20 yards away before he fired. Well, the other kids were about 30 yards away... I was a tad pudgy. But, nice to have some padding on yer ass when ya get hit.

Breakfast wasn't fun.
*****

Brought back memories. Like the time I was wearing a long sleeved shirt in August heat and my old man asked me why and then told me to roll up my sleeves. He saw the hives and rash and I got a kick in the arse for raiding gardens. To this day, when I see small cucumbers, I remember that kick in the arse.

So, anyone else care to share tales of there life in crime?

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 01:57 PM

The one and only time in my life that I ever took anything that wasn't mine was when I pinched a hand full of peas from a neighbor's garden. I still remember the shame.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: gnu
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 02:09 PM

I didn't feel any shame about the cukes until I got caught. It was my job to shovel and mix the FRESH horseshit into the next door neighbour's garden. Never seen so many green horse flies before nor since.

I bought his house about ten years ago... the lawn near the back still grows faster and thicker! So, now I gotta mow the lawn more often due to my labours.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 04:56 PM

A neighbor had a large apple tree (climbable) which had a large-yellow-green apple. They were delicious, as I remember them.
Not the same as the golden delicious apple in the stores now, not sure what the type was.
The neighbor complained to our parents about our climbing the tree, but not about the apples. He would let them drop and sweep them up, I think for compost.
I never saw an apple tree that large again- no idea what it was.

We also ruined his honeysuckle flowers. We would bite off the tips of the flowers and sip the tiny bit of nectar. Now that did get retribution (swatted with a broom).

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 14 Aug 10 - 02:18 PM

I used to knick the cherry tomatoes out of our garden and ears of corn and cantaloupe from neighbours garden.   My brother used to steal turnips, though I don't know why.

And I loved sucking the nectar out of honeysuckle blossoms. Can anyone explain why honeysuckle in the UK has little or no fragrance compared to Virginia honeysuckle?

Also there were these tiny purple flowers with broad leaf (weeds Mom called them) growing on our lawn which had a sweet drop of nectar you could suck out. Anybody know what they are?

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Aug 10 - 03:59 PM

Henbit, I think VT. We did it too!

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Newport Boy
Date: 14 Aug 10 - 05:22 PM

I'm ashamed to admit that I did this when I was a bit more than a lad:-(

On a survey course at the college sports ground (way out in Essex), we had a last night feast after an evening at the pub. I pulled a sleeping chicken off its perch by its legs, and my mate quickly broke its neck. We needed something to go with it, so we crept into the registrar's vegetable garden and carefully extracted potatoes without disturbing the plant above.

Chicken plucked and drawn and roasted in butter in a biscuit tin on the stove, potatoes added after a while, and we managed a sort of meal about 3am. The chicken was tough.

I still have the photographic evidence - and we didn't get caught:-)

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Ed T
Date: 14 Aug 10 - 10:06 PM

Only corn, from a large field with a bunch of teen guys and girls. We did it more as a prank, as for the food value.

But, we did often pile into a car trunk to get into a drive in movie. There are only a few of those left.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Aug 10 - 10:38 PM

Virginia Tam, off the top it sounds like that was sweet clover in your lawn.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: gnu
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 07:32 AM

I agree, froggy. I used to do the same as VT.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 08:08 AM

image search on henbit and sweet clover. henbit is the exact plant.

still want to know why UK honesuckle does not have the fragrance the Virginia honeysuckle does.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Bettynh
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 09:05 AM

This sems to say that it's not UK vs Va honeysuckle, VT, it's garden behavior. The really fragrant one is invasive, hard to control in a garden. It looks like Hall's is the fragrant one, but comes with those cautions.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Beer
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 09:32 AM

Between 10 ans 11,I formed the first club of many that would follow through life. There were three members. My brother Norman, one other and myself. The name of the club was called (T.N.R.) "The Night Raiders". We would rob cucumber gardens. This was the "in thing" back then and most gardens were hit by these vandals. There was a fair amount of damage being done to gardens to the point that the priest gave a sermon on this terrible thing. No shit, it was a problem as older boys "and girls" would go out on an evening of fun and tare up a garden. However, I never considered my club as part of this problem because even at this young age I had a rule that no damage to the garden was to be made. Just take the cukes. Oh! I never went out on the raid. It was my responsibility to sit in my office (club house) and wait for the rewards.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 10:15 AM

You're all under arrest...

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Beer
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 10:29 AM

Ha!hahahaha!!!!!
love it Will Fly.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 10:47 AM

Thanks Betty. Yes it is the wild stuff that grew in the woods next to our house that smelled so lovely.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 02:18 PM

Never, ever would I have done such things! Good heavens, my youth was spent in church, on my knees, praying*!





















"Not to get caught, not to let my mother/teacher find out, to pass this test, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 03:03 PM

Actually, all these childhood crimes have been recorded in a national database that is managed by Homeland Security. Sometime in the next 5 years you will hear a knock on your door...

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: gnu
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 03:26 PM

Who's there?

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 03:27 PM

Boo.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: gnu
Date: 15 Aug 10 - 05:47 PM

Booboo? Is that you? Did you get a pic-a-nic basket?

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: GUEST,Bubblyrat
Date: 16 Aug 10 - 10:09 AM

Strawberries.....Raspberries......Peas.....Apples.....Plums.....Cherries...No "Allotment" or cottage garden ,including my Dad's,was safe from the boys of Easebourne Primary School in West Sussex circa 1956 !!

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 07:44 AM

When I was young where I lived there was still a bit of green farmland and countryside before housing developments went up, on the outskirts of Bristol and it wasn't so much raiding gardens it was more like raiding orchards scrumping we called it. In this particular field there was a rumour that the farmer used to come out brandishing a 12 bore shot gun. My heart used to thump to think we could get shot in the butt and then having to explain it to my mother, I am not sure which was worse!

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Becca72
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 08:42 AM

I never did anything like this as a kid (painfully well-behaved) but I didn't need to - we had a pear tree in our back yard. If you could get to them before the birds did they were absolutely wonderful!

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: paula t
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 12:28 PM

Nowadays , any young people caught "scrumping" as we used to call it , would be arrested. There would be headlines about thugs "terrorising" people and stealing ...........followed by demands to "lock 'em all up."

How times have changed eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 12:42 PM

Yes, the world has descended into draconian bureaucratic idiocy. It's a form of fascism. The next logical step would be mind control, all for the "safety and happiness" of the people, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: olddude
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 12:48 PM

as a kid after the first frost and everyone got all the tomatoes they wanted, those that were left over and on the ground we would have rotten tomato battles .. throw them at each other ... man when they hit ya ..big splat on your T-shirt and bluejeans .. boy did the mom's all get mad . That was garden raiding that no one minded .. I still remember getting pelted in the head with a big half rotten tomato.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Beer
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 01:17 PM

Wow!! I think I'm going to do this with my grand son and his buddy. Lots of tomatoes that will be rotting.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: gnu
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 02:20 PM

The green ones that remain on the vine get reeeeal soft before they rot. They were the prize schmuckers. Many of them ended up on Old Man Murphy's windows. Of course, I never did anything like that. Although I know a lad woh used to put crab apples in his car tail pipe.

Regarding any vandalism. No way. That was taboo. With us, it was a few baby cukes and a few small carrots at most. There were so many gardens; taking a few from each never got us in trouble. We never took any berries of any type.

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: MikeL2
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 02:44 PM

hi

Guilty. Used to go scrumping too. One day there were four of us pinching a few apples that we knew the owners didn't use. We had got a few each and I climbed up a large pear tree.
Village bobby came silently on his old bike and caught us...that is the other three. I hid in the tree and the others didn't give me away.

Another time we were playing round the back of the village shop and we found it open. We looked in pinched a few sweets and biscuits and went home. Next day policeman at our house claiming that I was one of the bys that stole the stuff. Policeman said that one of the boys had written his name with his finger in the large slab of butter that they used to have in those days.

We weren't very professional thieves...lol

cheers

MikeL2 -Barefoot days when we were just a kid.....etc

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: olddude
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 04:49 PM

Put some really old cloths on and have a go at the rotten tomato fight. A riot for sure .. it is warm enough that you can always hose off before going into the house but the boys will have a ball ... watch the head shots however .. juice in the eyes stings

Subject: RE: BS: Raiding gardens when I was a lad
From: Raggytash
Date: 17 Aug 10 - 05:26 PM

Waste not want not, green tomatoes make wonderful Chutney, me I never ever pinched anything except apples from here, tomatoes from there, any vegetable that grew on the edge of the fields (so I could reach and run like hell if anyone saw me) or any other thing else(edible) I could find, including the odd rabbit or hen now and again. At the time we didn't really consider it as stealing but as a game, however some lads did it to make sure they were fed.