Thieves stripped entire field of Brussels sprouts from nun’s farm

A group of thieves broke into a convent garden in Wicklow, Ireland to strip an entire field of Brussels sprouts. The thieves stole the sprouts, which would have been worth around €300, from the Dominican Farm and Ecology Center on Wednesday night.

Sister Julie Newman from the farm said she is ‘very upset’ over the thieves’ cull, which she said is a huge setback for the staff who have tended to the sprout plants over the last two years. The theft was deliberate, according to the nun, and she believes the sprouts will now be sold as high-end organic produce for the Xmas market.
“We went up this morning, and they were all gone - completely stripped - the stalks and everything,” she said. “We had just been saying that we’d start harvesting this weekend for the farm shop and then continue harvesting right up until Xmas. It’s not just the monetary value. It’s when you think of the effort that people went to in caring for them.” The vegetables are biennial, so it takes two years to bring Brussels sprouts to full maturity.

While some produce at the farm has been stolen before, Sister Newman says the thievery was never on this scale. “I feel sorry for our staff. They have minded them and cared for them all along, and someone came in the dead of the night and stole all of them. We would have the odd bit of pilfering of potatoes and onions, but this was deliberate. It wasn’t just someone looking for a few vegetables for their dinner.”