A woman has been left in tears after salt was poured over her allotment patch which ruined the land she used to feed over a thousand people during the cost-of-living crisis.
Carly Burd, 43, has fed the community of Harlow, Essex with her hand-grown crops since July 2022.
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After growing seasonal vegetables in her back garden, the green-fingered mum-of-three expanded to a nearby allotment.
Burd’s good deeds came to a tragic and surprising end on Saturday when she visited the allotment on Saturday morning (8 April) and found ‘five kilograms of salt’ had been poured over her land.
The salt destroyed enough potatoes and onions to feed more than 300 people and Burd said she feels like she’s been ‘kicked in the face’ after discovering the vandalism.
She said: “I came down on Saturday morning and I just tasted and saw [the salt].
"Five kilograms plus of salt has been poured over my garden. It wasn't a kid grabbing it - it was an adult who knew what they were doing.
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"What's heart-wrenching is that those onions were planted by children and they really put their effort in to put something back into the community.
"I felt like I'd been kicked in the face. I have no other explanation for it.
"Who would do that? It's just the most repulsive act I've ever known."
Not only is Burd concerned about the destroyed crops, she’s also sad about losing the land to vandalism and the wildlife that called the soil home.
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"All of the nature that's in the ground, all the worms, they're all dead. It has a massive impact,” she said.
Despite the destruction, Carly is determined to keep feeding her community and has plans to report the incident to the police.
Carly, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and lupus , now has plans to convert the damaged land into an outdoor space, where the community can enjoy teas, coffees and meals together. She is also planning to carry on feeding the local people in Harlow by growing crops in another location.
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Carly said: "Going forward, we carry on going. We're moving the other way, and trying to dig up as much as we can to get as much veg in the ground as we can.
"But affecting 300 people - that's a lot of veg in the ground I've just lost.
"On that land, we can't plant at all. Nothing will grow, so we're going to have an outdoor space with a tea and coffee area.
"We're going to invite the community over and have meal nights instead.
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"All I can do at the moment is keep cracking on, I can't do anything else."
Carly has set up a GoFundMe page to help her efforts, which has raised a staggering £62,000 so far, at the time of writing.
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media/@carlyburd43/TikTokTopics: Food And Drink, News, UK News