Grow Food Not Lawns: Families Are Fined For Growing Food On Their Front Lawn
The majority of the comments made by others in response to that post were from extremely passionate individuals who called it “sensationalism” and it became more of about politics than about the situation. One person said, “this isn’t happening (in Tucson) so why worry?” In truth they are right, but who is to say that this couldn’t just as easily take place in Tucson or anywhere else for that matter? It’s unfortunate that the simple act of gardening, having a greenhouse, hydroponics, aquaponics systems or even keeping animals are being permeated by politics and regulations. In response to this story I decided to conduct a bit of research to determine whether or not this story in Florida was an isolated incident or something that was at least somewhat regularly occurring. While researching Urban Agriculture Ordinances in other cities I found that unfortunately, it isn’t isolated at all. I was also truly surprised by the various restrictions and outright bans on Urban Farm Animals. Here’s a random sampling of what I found:*5 It wasn’t long ago that the US Government was urging its citizens to plant gardens on their home property to help support food production and the war effort. Well, though not declared, we are waging wars against poverty, food dependency and our environmental impacts on this planet. What could be more beneficial in those areas than for people to grow their own healthy, non-GMO food or farmed fresh animals at home? Or has big agriculture and politics gotten so big that they are trying to invade every aspect of our lives? SOURCES *1 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/garden/gardeners-fight-with-neighbors-and-city-hall-over-their-lawns.html?pagewanted=all_r=0 *2 http://abcnews.go.com/US/vegetable-garden-brings-criminal-charges-oak-park-michigan/story?id=14047214 *3 http://www.ij.org/support-front-yard-vegetable-gardens *4 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/08/planting-vegetable-gardens.aspx *5 http://thecitychicken.com/chickenlaws.html .
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References:
- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/garden/gardeners-fight-with-neighbors-and-city-hall-over-their-lawns.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
- http://abcnews.go.com/US/vegetable-garden-brings-criminal-charges-oak-park-michigan/story?id=14047214
- http://www.ij.org/support-front-yard-vegetable-gardens
- http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/08/planting-vegetable-gardens.aspx
- http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fthecitychicken.com%2Fchickenlaws.html&h=FAQGoMu-a&s=1