For the past couple of Autumns, I have been working on a story about a young farmer who defends her crop of pumpkins from a mysterious bandit.
My own crop of pumpkins fell victim to a bandit this past Summer. Some out-of-control yahoo driver crashed through our fence and ran right over our garden beds. The driver proceeded to creep backward and forward, backward and forward, almost as if targeting each blooming plant, before smashing back through and tearing away into the street and out through the neighbourhood full of children. The culprit has yet to be located
We lost tomatoes, peppers, a few planters, a trellis, and some timbers, among other garden items.
I feared our pumpkins plants were ruined. (One early-developing fruit--which was growing quite nicely and promising to be a beauty--was horribly squashed!)
Nevertheless, the vines survived. The plants endured, stressed and stunted as they were, going on to yield a decent little crop of small to medium-sized pumpkins.
We are so proud of those strong, resilient pumpkin plants.
When I start back on my story this weekend, I will be sure to incorporate the harrowing episode in its pages.
(I still have to fix the fence.)
