Lettuce “Leaves” with the Broccoli Burglar

There is a local produce stand that has THE BEST prices in town. Seriously, if you can scrounge up some change in your couch cushions,  or from under you car mat, you can have a bountiful meal.

Monster sized squash at 4 for a buck. C’mon, you can’t beat that! Cukes at 3 for $1.00, tomatoes at 3 for $1.oo. It’s a vegetarian college student’s dream of a produce stand. And there are copious amounts.

Couple that with their acceptance of cash and checks and that you can stop by at any time of the night or day to do your shopping, it’s fantastic. Hubby and I have eaten most of our produce from this stand while we’ve been home this summer.

So, last week I went to pick up my squash for the week and I noticed a woman standing in front of the price list with a bag on her arm. I never saw her reach towards the lock box, though she may have before I walked across the road to the stand. She began filling her bag with assorted veggies. Eggplants, tomatoes, cukes… the bag was groaning. She took it across the street to her car and got another bag and proceeded to fill that to overflowing and then got a third bag and filled it as well. Curious to see if she’d go back and make payment after calculating in the car, I got into my vehicle and waited.

Nope! Nuthin’! Not even a plugged nickel. (does anyone even know what a plugged nickel is anymore?)

This behavior engendered a few thoughts:

1. THIEF!!
2. HOW DARE YOU STEAL SUCH CHEAP VEGGIES!

and then:

3.  I wonder if she just lost her job.

4.  Maybe this is the only way she can feed her kids and still keep a roof over their head.

and finally, the thing that soothed my righteous indignation at such blatant (to me) thievery:

5. She just turned in towards the homeless shelter. Maybe there is an agreement with the farm stand and the church.

Benefit of the doubt. :0)

This week someone was tending the stand when I stopped by. I told her about the woman and she said that she gets told that more times than she would like to admit. Yet, there the stand is. Still abundant, still overflowing with goodies and still at more than reasonable prices. So, I thanked her profusely for all the work that goes into such a venture and told her how much I appreciated the stand and the produce and reiterated what a wonderful thing to have locally.

Always leave ’em with a high note!