Civil Disobedience and the Right to Garden

[journey11]

Here's a story in the NY Times I thought you guys would find interesting about a family fighting to keep their front yard garden from being plowed under by municipal codes. The crux of it comes down to the other neighbors claiming that the garden depreciates their property values. It looks very nice and tidy to me. I fail to see how a cute, well-maintained little veggie garden is going to crash anyone else's property values. It looks nicer than the rest of the neighborhood, from what you can tell by the photo. City or rural...we all have our battles I guess. I could raise pigs in my front yard and no one would say anything about it.

 

[seedcorn]

Agree as a pepper plant is prettier than a lot of flowers to me. Love to hear the logic how green that you eat are different than grass. They are both green. I would understand if it was a weedy mess but it isn't.

 

[lesa]

One of the many reasons I hope my "someday farm" is far from civilization!

 

[baymule]

My garden is in my front yard too! I mix flowers in with it and for stupid, uh, er, UN-gardened people, they don't know the difference!

 

[vfem]

I just don't freakin' get this country. I will shoot whoever walks in my yard and takes my food. PERIOD!

I am so tired of this crap in this nation.... its one giant homeowners association. Last I checked, we own our land, work our land, are taxed as hell on our land I will do as I please ON MY LAND. If you don't want to look at it, build a fence around YOUR house and stare at that awhile and you'll probably change your mind about my tomatoes!

 

[Jared77]

Amazing how not so long ago it was V for Victory and everybody was encouraged to grow a garden to help the cause. With the cost of food going up, the economy lurching along and people trying to save a couple dollars others all the sudden quote policies and expect conformity.

 

[so lucky]

You know, I can kind of understand why there needs to be some type of general rules about what you can grow in your front yard if you have close neighbors. In most cases, just our herd mentality is enough to keep us in line. But if my neighbor wanted to grow a big crop of stinging nettle, or Canadian thistle, I think I would not like it. Stinging nettle has value, but not in my yard. Even a front yard full of wild field flowers and grasses, or bean teepees, is jarring to the eye after rows and rows of manicured bluegrass and fescue. There is a yard not too far from me where the owner has an extensive rock garden. Mostly rocks, few plants. Attractive only to him. We have a long way to go before it is perfectly acceptable to "rock" the (front lawn) boat. Maybe community gardens would be a solution for vegetables, anyway.

 

[897tgigvib]

Yep, the right to have a garden in your front yard could almost be like one of them there amendment things.

But ya know, like So Lucky says, if the yard is full of stinging nettle hanging over the sidewalk and every little kid and person walking by it gets an armfull of some serious ouch, or poison oak...so yep, safety needs to abridge the amendment there.

I've never seen VFem so upset. I do understand the view, and even more. I could go on about world history and land aquisition, how wrong it has always been.

But the real issues at the moment. Ya know, a person who has a garden in their front yard, nice, neat, pretty, could almost prove that the houses nearby with lawns are lowering the value of their house, and consider a countersuit.

But my thinking goes to deeper issues. What in the heck? Why do folks always want to buy a place to live in, and then want the value of their place to always go up? What kind of small thinking is that? Ya buy a place, work to keep it.

All this money increase stuff. That's the result of modern humans having some extra little nerves at the tip of their frontal lobes that work their greed among some of the other bad things like laziness and vanity.

Sometimes I really wish for Waheenee and Thoreau to come back, but they won't. It's up to us to do these philosophical thinkings, the best we can. It can be hard to philosophize when halfway through some long excellent reasoning that merges history and human sufferings, we have to go outside and get on the roof to remove all the twigs that fell on it.

 

[Mattemma]

What a shame.I would move.Might plant some stinging nettle along my properties lines too.It stings and smells like cat pee.I planted trees,shrubs,and tall ornamental grasses to block road view of my front garden. As long as I pay for my land I will only abide by laws not personal preferences.Restrictive laws would make me move.

 

[catjac1975]

I have 13 acres of land with a few neighbors with a 3/4 acre lot. The entire street is much the same. A few owners with small farms like mine a a few smaller lots. We cut down a lot of trees 3-4 years a go to increase our hay field and our veggie and daylily gardens. We removed trees that had outgrown the area and were shading our plantings. We still have at least 8 acres of forest with riding trails cut in. The neighbors are still complaining. We have lived our lives minding our own business not complaining when neighbors have done things we don't like. One neighbor complained that the noise pollution has increased with removal of our trees. She has 3/4 of an acre with 3 sides cleared to her border. Why does she think We owe her privacy on our land? I say plant a buffer of your own. It seems to always be the people with small lots who make all the noise. Another neighbor cleared her 3 acre lot for horse pasture and all of her neighbors went crazy calling every agency they could think of to report her. She was within her rights but it caused her a lot of personal stress. All of those neighbors cut down trees on their own property when it suits them. The worst offender has a lot of land and harvests trees to sell for lumber. People are selfish and crazy!