CRESTVIEW — Eric Strindholm’s Ponkan orange tree would have been a gift to his neighbors, a source of fresh citrus that could provide nourishment.
But someone destroyed it between 12 and 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.
“It’s really upsetting,” the Savage Street resident said. “It is the work of a malicious person who’s just destroying other people's property.”
The vandal may also have slashed two new cars' tires and fired BB guns at nearby residents’ windows, according to Crestview police.
Strindholm, who grew up in the Miami Beach area, hopes to recreate such citrus grove ambience on the property around his 70-year-old clapboard cottage.
And share the fruit to help others.
“I want it to look like those vintage postcards, with citrus trees full of fruit,” he said. “I thought I could make the whole yard an orchard and donate the fruit.”
Strindholm, who used a wheelchair after a car accident three years ago, temporarily depended on food from Sharing and Caring until he was well enough to return to his sales job. Sharing his orchard's bounty with the local food bank and soup kitchens will be a way to pay forward the generosity he received, he said.
Currently, Strindholm has lemon trees, a Valencia orange tree, a Thompson pink grapefruit, apple trees, a honeybell tangelo, and a honey Murcott tangerine that produces “the sweetest orange in the world,” Strindholm said. “You have to cut it with Valencia juice.”
The destroyed tree, worth $40, was to be one of a pair. The Ponkan orange — actually a large Mandarin tangerine — is very cold hardy; trees planted from its seeds bear fruit without pollinators, he said.
“If people planted those seeds, there’d be no food shortage,” Strindholm said. “If everybody grew at least one fruit tree and donated some to the soup kitchens, nobody would go hungry.”
Strindholm said he’s “over the anger” and won’t let a vandal deter him from raising fruit that will help feed neighbors in need.
Money is tight; he relies on bartering to help renovate his cottage, and he refurbishes and sells equipment to raise cash to buy fruit trees and maintain his orchard.
“As soon as I save enough money I run down to Lowe’s and buy another fruit tree,” he said.
He said he plans to replace the destroyed Ponkan orange tree when he can.
“I’m going to get another one as soon as I get the money,” he said. “You have to do whatever you can do to help each other.”
WANT TO HELP?
Call the Crestview Police Department, 682-2055, to report information about recent vandalism in neighborhoods behind Thrifty Foods
Call Eric Strindholm, 225-1768, to donate toward trees that will bear fruit for Sharing and Caring's food bank
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Undeterred by vandal, Crestview man vows to plant more citrus trees to feed the needy (VIDEO)