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Schools

Marin Families Mourn School Garden Plant Plunder

Earlier this month, someone stole dozens of plants, most of which had been grown from seed by students, teachers and parent volunteers, from the Marin Elementary School garden.

Sometime during the second weekend of June, a thief or thieves snuck into the and dug up dozens of plants from the raised and attached beds near Santa Fe Avenue. 

A parent who has worked as a volunteer in the garden, Cynthia Mah, let Albany Patch know about the loss. 

Fellow volunteer Stephanie Megibben said every tomato plant on campus was taken (about 20 total), along with seven to eight tomato cages, nearly all of the strawberries (about 12 plants), and Wilbur Obata's bed full of marigolds, perhaps three dozen in all. Various other vegetables, herbs and flowers are also missing.

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"They did a very thorough job of cleaning us out of anything that wasn't too overgrown to take. I thought taking the tomato cages, too, was an especially Grinchy move," she wrote. "I remember a Patch blurb earlier this spring from a neighbor on Santa Fe between Marin and Solano who had , along with the yards of some of his neighbors. A ... volunteer-run elementary school garden program just seems like a new low though."

Megibben said most of the seeds, plants, soil and other supplies for the garden come from local businesses that donate to the program, as well as parents who donate items directly. The school PTA also helps out. 

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She said she wasn't sure what would happen next, or whether the garden would be replanted this season. 

Most of the plants "had been started from seed (in the) late winter/early spring and transplanted into the beds when they were ready, so the kids (and volunteers!) were pretty invested in them," she wrote. "We are still trying to decide if it's a good idea to replant, since we've lost a lot of momentum (the tomatoes, squash and berries were starting to produce when stolen)."

Wrote Mah: "We had a team of 'summer farmer families' lined up to tend the garden during the summer in the hope of returning in the fall to a bountiful harvest. Unfortunately, we are now uncertain as to whether we should invest in replanting as we fear that new plants would also be stolen."

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