STOKE COMMUNITY GARDEN AT WAR OVER KALE — HALF RECKON IT'S A PRANK
Three raised beds in, no one will admit to planting it, and Beryl's threatening to pull the lot.
A community garden plot in Stoke has descended into civil war. A row of kale appeared in the shared bed last Sunday. Four members insist they didn't plant it. One reckons the others are having a lend.
The garden runs off Main Road Stoke on a roster and a clipboard. That's already two strikes against it. The kale turned up in the bed earmarked for silverbeet. One member described it as "smug".
Beryl Chamberlain, 71, has been on the committee since the garden opened. She's had a bloody gutsful. "Nobody eats it. Nobody asked for it. Someone's put it in to wind me up and I've got a fair idea who." Pressed on who, Beryl said she wasn't naming names. But "he drives a Subaru and he knows what he's done."
A second member, Patrick Yee, said the kale was "obviously a joke that's gone on too long". A third member said the kale was hers and would everyone please calm down. She'd planted half the bed. She didn't want a bar of the meeting.
The committee chair said the matter would be tabled at the next monthly. That's in three weeks. By then, she conceded, the kale would be ready to harvest. Which "doesn't really help anyone".
Beryl has started her own bed near the compost. She's planted, out of spite, more silverbeet.
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Reader Letters
couchgremlin
Beryl needs a hobby.
Garry (Halswell)
Back when I lived in Stoke, no one gave a hoot about what people planted! We all just got on with it. It was about the spirit of community, mate. Not some vegetable vendetta. This whole kerfuffle over a handful of kale just highlights how precious folk have gotten these days. It's just a bloody green leafy plant, not a nuclear waste site!
GreenThumbTom
Beryl should start a spray-and-walk-away technique with her extra silverbeet. Let her actions, not her words, make the point!
SarahGardenLover
So what if no one eats kale? Can't it just be left alone to grow? It's great for the soil!
relaxing_rita
Exactly, it’s just kale, not the end of the world. Chill out, everyone.
NelsonRanter
Beryl’s committee needs to sort this shit out! It's munted letting it drag to next month!
Trev_Hornby
It's Patrick. Clearly. The bloke drives a Subaru, and you know what they say about those drivers!
ropeable_dave
Mate, Patrick said it was a joke. Don't be a knob.