'It feels very violating': Thieves steal couple's 'honor system' farm cart

WELLS, Maine — Anna Ingendahl said her husband, Eli, got home from work late on Saturday night and asked her where their antique cart was.

Good question. Anna had seen the cart in its usual spot at the foot of their driveway on Hiltons Lane when she went out to get the mail that evening at around 8:15 p.m. Now, a little more than two hours later, here was Eli, telling her that it was not there.

Indeed, it was not. Someone had stolen the cart at some point during that two-hour window.

“It feels very violating,” Anna said during an interview on Monday.

Anna and Eli used the cart – a dark wood antique, with wagon-type wheels – as a decorative touch to go alongside the cooler from which they sell the eggs produced on their farm, Ingendahl Acres. The couple goes by the honor system to sell the eggs. Passersby can pull over, pop open the cooler, and leave $6 for 18 eggs, $4 for a dozen, or $2 for half a dozen.

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That’s the arrangement they had before Saturday, anyway. Whoever stole the cart also stole the cooler – as well as two propane tanks that the Ingendahls had painted to look like animals and add to the festiveness of their makeshift farm stand.

Anna had seen the cart advertised for sale on social media and kept her eye on it for months. She saved the $2,500 for the asking price and finally was able to purchase it several weeks ago.

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Anna said she had no concerns when she put the cart at the foot of their driveway to catch people’s eyes and draw them to their egg-selling enterprise – after all, she and Eli chose to move to Wells because he grew up here and both knew the town’s reputation of being a safe place to live.

“It’s definitely something I thought wouldn’t be a problem,” Anna said of their decision to keep the cart outside, 24 hours a day.

She added that she wished she and Eli had installed security cameras on their property sooner.

“But it stinks that it’s even something we have to do,” Anna said. “Wells is changing. Maine is changing.”

Anna said her neighbor claims to have seen two people loading the cart into a pickup truck at around 9 p.m.

A friend, Sandy Gnidziejko, has set up a GoFundMe account online to raise $3,000 to help the Ingendahls recoup their loss. As of Monday, the fund had raised $1,070.

"I had the privilege of meeting them earlier this past year during lambing season," Gnidziejko said on the GoFundMe page. "Anna and Eli were so very endearing as they welcomed me to their farm."

On Monday, Wells Police Captain Gerald Congdon said the case remains under investigation, which so far has not produced any leads. He said he believed the theft was a “crime of opportunity,” committed in a “moment of stupidity.”

“It’s sad that people can’t leave something like that out without worrying about it being stolen,” he said. “But those are the times we live in.”

Congdon said the main goal is to get the cart back to the Ingendahls. He urged anyone with any helpful information to contact the police department by either calling (207) 646-9354 or by filling out a form that the department offers online.

While the cart, cooler and propane tanks were stolen, one thing was not: the lockbox into which customers can put their money when purchasing eggs. Anna said she brought the box in with the mail on Saturday night.

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The Ingendahls have all kinds of animals on their farm and offer free tours to the public by appointment. The couple also sells merchandise – water bottles, bumper stickers, and posters of Debbie the Pig, for example – and makes their land available as a venue for birthday and corporate parties.

And, despite the recent thefts, Anna and Eli will continue to sell eggs through the honor system at the foot of their driveway. Anna said that if they do not get their beloved cart back, then they likely will find something else to put out there to attract customers. Perhaps a shed.

“Something that somebody couldn’t move,” Anna said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Ingendahl Acres 'honor system' farm cart stolen in Wells, Maine