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I'm sat sitting here watching the Telly, and there is an article on the news about how Faaaarmers are coping with Britains cold weather just now. But rather than discuss the ins and outs of modern farming, I was wondering how many Dakkaites are partial to a bit of scrumping?

Traditionally, Scrumping is pinching apples out your neighbours tree/orchard, but for this, I use it as a term to describe any light fingered feeding techniques, i.e. nipping into a field when driving home, and liberating a few carrots and maybe some Corn On The Cob for your dinner that night?

Personally, I love doing it. I know it's ultimately theft and it's not a terribly nice thing to do, but I can't resist. There is something distinctly 'naughty school boy' about jumping the fence and helping ones self. Besides, size of the fields I doubt a handful of spuds is going to really bankrupt Mr Farmer!

I'm quite lucky where I am, in that although a confirmed Towny, Kent has a lot of Farmland and it's never more than a 5 minute drive away, so all year round I have the opportunity to liberate some vegetables...

Anyone else get up to such shenanigans?

It's about two minutes' walk to a massive apple orchard from my front door, and they don't notice a couple of those juicy delights disappearing every now and then.

I gew up with an apple tree and a peach tree in my back yard, and nobody I knew grew anything that they didn't defend with firearms, because it wasn't as innocent as ordinary produce. However, I did become adept at pinching candy bars from several local stores, at least until the age of surveillance cameras. I believe that was when I began to hate technology.

Much as I've love to say 'but scrumping is different from shop lifting' I can't, because of course it's not. They are just the same

And yeah, I think most people went through the Five Finger Discount phase in their youth!

Our neighbour has a lemon tree that hangs over our wall, I often grab one or two of them. TBH, it's not all that bad, they pay no attention to the tree apart from watering it and oft times just let the lemons drop off and rot.

I grew out of scrumping when i was ten years old. Nowadays we do waranty fraud and tax evasion.

Also I don't know why I would bother raiding a field when A. pretty much every crop is out of season. and B. the price of an entire bag of tatis/carrots etc. is hardly going to make me bankrupt.


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In fact, I would cease this now if I were you. You're on a sure fire path towards this and ulitmately this.

I'm far too scared of hobos to go dumpster diving.

I have pretty much always lived in the Home counties and scrumping has always been on the agenda. I disagree with the scrumping = theft. Scrumping = childish tradition, you try and get the police to nab someone for it, they will laugh in your face, not so shoplifting. They might prosecut someone for a Health and Safety violation pertaining to climbing a tree without a Method Statement or risk assessment but not scrumping!

Personally I can't remember willingly eating an apple or pear that me mum would trust in front of me, but during those long [seemed like years at a time!] summer holidays snaffling an apple whilst out an about on the bmx was par for the course. [as was building bridges over smelly pond, making camps in the wood, failing to make a bow and arrow and setting small in offensive fires!].

I'm older now and more portly so running into fields for coxes orange pippen is not a common experience anymore but like any one that live in the countryside I still often partake in a little foraging. Blackcurrants and Raspberrys being plentiful in the heath behind our house, not brave enough to mess around with the fungi [could be orcs?], free firewood as well, I try to grow everything else in my little garden.

MDG re your stopping the car to loot fields, can't say I do that myself. The only person I know that does things like this [parks on the M25 jumps fences and "borrows" a Christmas tree] is known as Pikey Power. You have been warned least your secret shame gets out!

We do the same thing here. 'Cept it involves sheep.

Have you been in Farmer Maggot's crops MDG?

Emperors Faithful wrote:We do the same thing here. 'Cept it involves sheep.

Do you steal the sheep, or just "use" them and leave without so much as a promise to call?

That's for us to know and the tourists to come and find out.

Lets all go scrump some blister packs from GW!! Its just a harmless bit o fun, I mean, if you're taking someone else's harvest, no harm in taking someone else's figures.


Right?




Other than that bit of devil's advocating, I grew up in a small Cornish village with farms on all sides bar the sea. We used to scrump corn from the field in the summer and make campfires in the woods to eat em. There was a bit garden up the road that I used to jump the wall to eat raspberries in early autumn as well.

notprop wrote:Personally I can't remember willingly eating an apple or pear that me mum would trust in front of me, but during those long [seemed like years at a time!] summer holidays snaffling an apple whilst out an about on the bmx was par for the course. [as was building bridges over smelly pond, making camps in the wood, failing to make a bow and arrow and setting small in offensive fires!].

This was my childhood, AND STILL my adult life (being the eldest of a large family means you have an excuse to muck about). With my love of the countryside and the fact that the missus was raised in russia i love collecting wild foods:
rosehips
blackberries
nettles
the list goes on

as for scrumping, we never had to, due to the fact that every garden in our village had a fruit tree so we were told to take as much as we wanted so there wasn't rotting fruit left to attract the wasps

"scrimpers" are committing theft and should be shot on sight or at least have body parts removed.
WWTMD? (What Would Tony Montana Do? ) Its only fair.

It happens alot around here as well, but mostly after the fields have been farmed.

It is quite scary what they leave behind, with no intention to come back for when they collect from each field.

Not really sure why they seem to leave so much behind, (probably just a fraction of what they ship, but it looks like blinkin loads) and local farmers here have told us when they've been in the shop, that once its done, the rest is left to rot.

A couple even go so far as nipping into the fields and filling a couple bags before bringing them in for the staff here, just as a thank you for the hours we open. Think we have Potatoes, Carrots, Onions and parsnips within walking distance of the village.

I wouldn't steal from a field before a harvest, but after a harvest it's probably fair game. A few of the farmers down home had told me that they didn't mind me taking the odd few potatoes or something though.

I do scrounge berries and other proper wild food like reed tubers and shellfish when I'm camping.

(My dad was a very strict policeman, so the "five finger discount" thing never crossed my mind either- I'd rather pay the money than suffer the hiding I'd have gotten if I was caught!)

looks like mdg's been stopped at the border

Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:It happens alot around here as well, but mostly after the fields have been farmed.

It is quite scary what they leave behind, with no intention to come back for when they collect from each field.

Not really sure why they seem to leave so much behind, (probably just a fraction of what they ship, but it looks like blinkin loads) and local farmers here have told us when they've been in the shop, that once its done, the rest is left to rot.

Probably get paid by the tonnage, so to hire someone to pick that stuff up wouldn't
be worth what they make back.

Running an orchard (or any type of farm for that matter) can be extremely complicated to turn a profit from. The amount of waste involved in say, an apple orchard, would absolutely blow your mind. There is no way around this, trees are not machines, and do not follow a strict pattern of production.

There really is no harm in taking the leftover fruit, when the crop has been harvested. Large scale farms have no economic incentive to gather what in all senses, would literally be considered scraps. I am sure that many farmers would take offense, mainly due to trespassing.

I have lived most of my life in cities, so any 'scrumping' I have been involved in, has always been from practically abandoned trees. There are several lemon trees, that put out massive amounts of fruit, and were visited on many occasions by the entire neighborhood.

Anyone who has a tree, that goes onto/over your/community property, has forfeited the ability to deny you access to that tree. That is my sentiment; hate people taking your 'hard earned fruits'? Cut the tree back, problem solved.

malfred wrote:Probably get paid by the tonnage, so to hire someone to pick that stuff up wouldn't
be worth what they make back.

Labor is in all likelihood, the main cost associated with any farm, aside machinery involved with that labor.

There is very obvious reasons for farms to use cheap labor, mainly because of the relatively slim profit margin of any perishable goods. It is interesting to note, how massive the carbon footprint from farmers markets actually is. In other words, there is no benefit to the system, aside warm, fuzzy-wuzzy feelings, people get when they eat organic foods. Safeway and the like, provide an admirable service overall, especially when considering how inefficient/ expensive, farmers markets actually are.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I grew up in a small Cornish village.

Oh God, say no more....this explains everything about you. The Great Boar of Cornwall is not to be taken lightly gentlemen!

JEB_Stuart wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I grew up in a small Cornish village.

Oh God, say no more....this explains everything about you. The Great Boar of Cornwall is not to be taken lightly gentlemen!

You are familiar with the Prophecies of Merlin then...

"that the race that is oppressed shall prevail in the end, for it will resist the savagery of the invaders. The Boar of Cornwall shall bring relief from these invaders, for it will trample the necks beneath its feet."

Scrumping was good when i was 13, we used to do it regular around here when i was growing up, but i have to say i think its odd anyone doing it past the age of about 16 though.

Apples suck anyway right!? I mean.. they are alright i suppose, not worth a trip over a fence though. I dont think i worry about the police, its just, the thought of a farmer in his forties or something seeing me, a 30 year old bloke leaping his fence for an apple.. well.. its just.. embarrassing? I dont know why the thought of it makes me cringe, but it does for some reason.

Ah.. sucks to be getting old.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:You are familiar with the Prophecies of Merlin then...

Familiar with them? I studied them in English, and their original Welsh, at Oxford!

Wrexasaur wrote:Labor is in all likelihood, the main cost associated with any farm, aside machinery involved with that labor.

Machinery costs far outweigh labor costs in farming, by an absolute mile.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:There is something distinctly 'naughty school boy' about jumping the fence and helping ones self.

Emperors Faithful wrote:We do the same thing here. 'Cept it involves sheep.

0.o

I do most of my scrumping in Tesco these days...

Manchu wrote:

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:There is something distinctly 'naughty school boy' about jumping the fence and helping ones self.

Emperors Faithful wrote:We do the same thing here. 'Cept it involves sheep.

0.o

Yeah. A modern combine/hay bailer costs as much as a 4 bedroom home in my part of the world (typically around $100K for a new bailer).