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10 amazing comments from renegade gardener Ron Finley

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Ron Finley, the self-described renegade gardener, gave a hit talk at TED2013 on his gardening efforts all over South Central LA. Finley is an object of my fascination for more than one reason: In the 35 days since Finley’s talk went live, he’s left 178 comments on the site, making him the 3rd most prolific speaker commenter. (Trivia: the 1st and 2nd are Curator Chris Anderson and TED2011 speaker Janet Echelman.) To put it in context, as someone who receives speaker comments in a daily digest sent to me by email: Of the 1,250 speakers on the site, only 211 have left comments, and the average number of comments they’ve left is 19.

Here are my 10 favorite comments left by Ron Finley on TED.com — with just a touch of context, since that’s how I receive them in my inbox. Click on the link to see the full discussion going on in the thread:

Mar 7 2013, on his own TED Talk:

“THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I’M SITTING HERE CRYING READ YOUR PASSIONATE COMMENTS. MAN THIS IS A BIG TASK!!! WHAT THE HELL DID I GET INTO!?!?LOL CAN’TSTOPWON’TSTOP!!”

Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with lions Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with lions

Mar 31 2013, on Richard Turere’s talk about defending his land from lions:

“Im so Proud Of my ‘LiL Brother Richard!!! Seeing him here brings me to tears. So happy for him. He deserves it all. Someone offered to sponsor him at MIT this summer, as soon has he walked off stage!! That is what TED is About!! . . .That’s me barking in the back ground!!!”

Mar 7 2013, on his own talk:

“EACHONEREACHONEEACHONETEACHONE”

Mar 7 2013, on his talk:

Thank you A! Start NOW. No Wait!!

Apr 2 2013, also on his own talk:

“Thank You Leslie!! Find The Train! ~r”

Stephen Ritz: A teacher growing green in the South Bronx Stephen Ritz: A teacher growing green in the South Bronx
Apr 4 2013, on Stephen Ritz’s talk on gardening in the South Bronx:

“STEPHEN YOU ARE THE TRUTH! A REAL LIFE GAMECHANGER, A REAL LIVE, LIFE CHANGER!!! TED PRIZE!!!!!! AllGoodThings! ~r0n”

Mar 20 2013, on his own talk:

“Im working on IT!!!. . .Give me Thyme”

Mar 13 2013, also on his talk:

“Plants SunFlower First.”

Mar 14 2013, you guessed it, on his own talk:

“Hi Helena, Waiting for you & your Big Ass Shovel!!”

Mar 20 2013, by far my  favorite comment of his ever, on his talk:

“We have an agreement, They don’t pee in my garden I don’t Eat TheM!”