Well, here in this densely populated city, it was either grass or,
(tomatoes and squash, thank God
Posted on 12/12/2017 1:45:22 PM PST by Red Badger
Hermine Ricketts and her husband Tom Carroll may grow fruit trees and flowers in the front yard of their Miami Shores house. They may park a boat or jet ski in their driveway. They may place statues, fountains, gnomes, pink flamingoes or Santa in a Speedo on their property.
Vegetables, however, are not allowed.
Ricketts and Carroll thought they were gardeners when they grew tomatoes, beets, scallions, spinach, kale and multiple varieties of Asian cabbage. But according to a village ordinance that restricts edible plants to backyards only, they were actually criminals. They didn’t think they were engaged in a Swiss chard conspiracy or eggplant vice, yet they were breaking the law.
Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld Miami Shores’ ban on front-yard vegetable gardens in a recent decision, so the couple will take their case to the Florida Supreme Court. They argue, on behalf of gardeners everywhere, that the village’s restriction is unconstitutional and an infringement on their property rights.
Hermine Ricketts and her husband Tom Carroll may grow fruit trees and flowers in the front yard of their Miami Shores house. They may park a boat or jet ski in their driveway. They may place statues, fountains, gnomes, pink flamingoes or Santa in a Speedo on their property.
Vegetables, however, are not allowed.
Ricketts and Carroll thought they were gardeners when they grew tomatoes, beets, scallions, spinach, kale and multiple varieties of Asian cabbage. But according to a village ordinance that restricts edible plants to backyards only, they were actually criminals. They didn’t think they were engaged in a Swiss chard conspiracy or eggplant vice, yet they were breaking the law.
Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld Miami Shores’ ban on front-yard vegetable gardens in a recent decision, so the couple will take their case to the Florida Supreme Court. They argue, on behalf of gardeners everywhere, that the village’s restriction is unconstitutional and an infringement on their property rights. Never miss a local story.
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“That’s what government does – interferes in people’s lives,” Ricketts said. “We had that garden for 17 years. We ate fresh meals every day from that garden. Since the village stepped its big foot in it, they have ruined our garden and my health.”
Ricketts and Carroll did not face jail time for brandishing green thumbs, but they did face $50 daily fines after the village amended its ordinance in 2013. They had to dig up their garden – which won’t grow in their north-facing backyard because of a lack of sun. But they have continued to fight Miami Shores in court with help from the Institute for Justice, a national non-profit libertarian law firm.
“This decision gives local governments tremendous leeway to regulate harmless activities in the name of aesthetics,” said Institute lawyer Ari Bargil. “It gives government the power to prohibit homeowners from growing plants in their front yards simply because they intend to eat them.”
The court ruled that Miami Shores has the right under its code to control design and landscaping standards to protect the appearance of the village and preserve “property values and the enjoyment of property rights by minimizing and reducing conflicts among various land uses.”
Village Attorney Richard Sarafan argued that while it’s popular to blame big, bad government for being intrusive, municipalities must safeguard their zoning authority lest they open a Pandora’s box of unsightly exceptions. Without any arbiter of taste, residents could get stuck living next to a polka-dot house with pigs taking mud baths by the garage and an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on the swale. The couple’s front yard was filled with pots and cluttered with stakes that belonged in the backyard where they chose to have a swimming pool instead, the village said.
“It’s all about conformity. Miami Shores wants to be a mini Coral Gables,” Ricketts said of another tidy, upscale South Florida city known for strict zoning regulations that at one time included a ban on pickup trucks in driveways at night. “What is the definition of edible? I can go into any front yard and find something edible because every plant has an edible part.
“Miami Shores claims to promote green living. What could be more green than walking out your front door and picking what you’ve grown rather than driving to the store and buying what has been trucked in, in quantities that contribute to food waste?”
Bargil also objected to the court’s conclusion that “it is rational for government to ban the cultivation of plants to be eaten as part of a meal, as opposed to the cultivation of plants for ornamental reasons.”
Ricketts called the village short-sighted for encouraging the cultivation of “useless grass.”
“By killing gardens we are also killing bees and butterflies, the pollinators of our food supply,” she said.
The court said that residents who don’t like the village ordinance can petition the Village Council to change it or vote for council members who will change it.
But in the meantime, the village has uprooted a source of sustenance and joy for Ricketts, 62, and Carroll, 59.
Their case is part of the Institute for Justice’s National Food Freedom Initiative, which includes litigation on behalf of home bakers in Minnesota,Wisconsin and New Jersey, a skim milk producer in northern Florida, raw milk farmers in Oregon and craft brewers in Texas.
When home associations go bad
Homes associations are meant to keep neighborhoods from turning shabby and to maintain property values. But when homeowners don’t follow their strictly enforced regulations, they may be fined, end up in court or even lose their homes. Here are their horror stories. Neil Nakahodo & Kris Knowles Kansas City Star
Tom Carroll and Hermine Ricketts stand in their front yard in Miami Shores on Nov. 19, 2013. They had maintained a vegetable garden in their front yard for 17 years but had to dig it up as they faced code enforcement fines. The Village’s zoning code was revised in May 2013, and the code regarding front-yard vegetable gardens was changed from “vegetable gardens are permitted in rear yards” to “vegetable gardens are permitted in rear yards only.” The couple sued the Village. Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal recently upheld the Village decision, so the couple said they will take their case to the Florida Supreme Court.
But they are not given that authority. The principles are found in guidelines from such authorities as IFAS or the Urban Forester. Now the city can probably request that the vegetables be planted in a more traditional design setting instead of just rows. But an outright ban on veggies that met the intentions of the Florida friendly landscape law would probably be shot down by a judge who knew the Statute.
*PING*
“Know of any other ‘flowers’ that are edible?”
I’ve grown and eaten the following:
Nasturtium
Calendula
Bachelor Button
Roses (not sprayed, of course!)
Borage (Tastes like cucumber!)
Violets (Makes a great liquor!)
Bean Blossoms (don’t eat them all; no beans, then!)
Allium (chive blossoms)
Bee Balm (makes a great tea)
Elderberry (also, tea)
Cilantro (gets a white flower; most people eat the leaves)
Dill
Dandelion (makes a great wine!)
Lavender
Squash Blossoms (usually from Zucchini)
“...so the couple said they will take their case to the Florida Supreme Court.”
Personally? I think front yard veggie gardens, unless you are expert at designing and maintaining them, look sloppy to me. I don’t like the look of various pots plopped here and there, or growing stuff in tubs or old stacks of tires, LOL!
That said, I have a Kitchen Garden which is to the West of my farmhouse...and if for SOME reason I was told I couldn’t have it, I’d be packin’ shells on my front porch!
Or if for some UNKNOWN reason, like I went INSANE and lived in a suburb against my will, I might feel differently.
But, even if you have many hundreds of acres around you (as we do) and no neighbors, save for milk cows and buffalo for miles in any direction, Mother Government could easily screw with me too, if she feels like it.
*SPIT*
And did you also know that all of the little tiny seeds in a strawberry are the ‘fruit’ of that plant, and NOT the berry?
Nature Is Weird. But, she always, always wins! :)
Yeah, the problem is I don’t want to live in Texas.
In Madison Wisconsin I grew a beautiful green pepper in my front yard in my flower garden. It tasted like exhaust. What a disappointment.
Sign your name and buy into HOA, you deserve whatever happens next.
This wasn’t an HOA but a village ORDINANCE!......................But you are correct in the second part..............
The Florida Supreme Court isn’t much better..................
Tastes like wild hickory nuts?......Euell Gibbons, izzat you?????.............
Must have had a lot of oil in the soil..................
Hooo, boy...what an ugly yard! < /sarc >
But seriesly, you can tell by looking at the loving couple that it is just a racist regime, picking on them!
Dandelions are edible - flower and leaves.
Maybe I should drill;>)
Well, here in this densely populated city, it was either grass or,
(tomatoes and squash, thank God
Sorry. I would NOT want that as my front/side yard - and I don’t have any neighbors for many miles in any direction. Glad you’re growing food, and I hope you enjoy the process and the result, but I STILL wouldn’t want my neighbor’s property lowering my property value if, again, I went INSANE and had to live in Suburbia. ;)
As for lowering my property value, believe me when i tell you that this is hardly a factor in around here, demand being what it is. This 100-year old (with one outlet per bedroom, and 5 on one breaker) 3 decker with no parking is estimated at almost 700,000, as is the one across the street (with a driveway) while the 100-year old smaller 3 decker with no parking and no real front yard (and trash barrels in the alley btwn the buildings) went for over 500,000, up from about 340,000 3 years ago. And who pay 1,900 rent for each 3 bedroom apt., even though this city has one the lowest income levels.
An old abandoned (family squabble i heard) 3 decker down the street that was so dilapidated that you could see the sky thru the roof, and with about 8 feet of land in the front and sides and maybe 15 in the back and no parking, was sold at auction for 349,000, and gutted, renovated and sold as condos for 350,000 for each of the 3. Yuppies bought them (who usually do not try to interact with the working class Latino neighborhood).
There, a front yard garden would actually look inconsistent with the new building, whereas having a front yard garden in this culture and class of buildings can be seen as positive thing. But this is not a bunch of pots laid around, nor is it some unkempt mass of weeds or plants which just sit there. It produces food for us and the neighbors, who overall have been very amiable and easy to get along with, thank God, while i read about some people in the suburbs having fights over grass clippings and leaf blowers!
To each his own. :)
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