I enjoyed this piece, as it was well written. But columnist Susie Crowther should keep in mind that gardening in California is a year-round activity, unlike gardening in the Northwest or the Northeast.
Just because Crowther saw no one picking ripe veggies in California gardens at the instant you happened to pass by does not mean the food was going to waste. I'm not sure how she jumped to that conclusion, and she did not explain.
And many herbal plants grow like wild weeds and are used for landscaping. Their purpose is not for culinary uses alone.
I thought the column was biased as thou-are-holier-than-thou. Not very nice, but typical of a person who calls herself a Yankee, like it distinguishes you and your community as something special above and beyond other U.S. residents.
Maybe, since I am from the Northwest, I am more open to equality and acceptance of others and feel the need to reach out to others to remind them to accept and tolerate others as well. I briefly lived in your Northeast corner, and was not impressed at all by the people's lack of hospitality and treating me like an outsider who needed to move on.
Which I gladly did.