In the latest example of government gone amok, Jill Bass of Oak Park, Michigan faces up to 93 days in jail for planting a beautifully maintained vegetable garden in her front yard. Ms. Bass has already been issued a ticket and now faces misdemeanor charges for her industriousness.
The cash strapped Oak Park, which should arguably spend its dwindling financial resources and efforts on more serious municipal matters, contends that Ms. Bass’ garden violates city code which requires front yards to consist of “suitable live plant material”.
Huh?
Last time I checked, vegetables growing in a garden are indeed alive! With regards to “suitable”, a plant that can be consumed by the people tending it does seem to qualify, don’t you think?
It seems the City of Oak Park considers pesticide and chemically fertilized grass to be more “suitable” front yard greenery than a humble vegetable garden.
Such foolishness reminds me of the stories I used to hear back in my Cold War school days when our Civics teacher would tell a roomful of wide-eyed and incredulous children about Russian peasants being hauled off to jail for growing their own food!  In Communist societies, no one “owns” anything .. any vegetables that were grown had to be commissioned and approved by the State.
Nothing like that could ever happen in the good ‘ole US of A, right?
One can only hope that Ms. Bass’ neighbors and the community of Oak Park will flood the city phone lines with complaints about such over the top harassment. Imagine that tax dollars are actually being used to pay for this outrage.
Take a look at a picture of Ms. Bass’ vegetable garden and how beautifully it is maintained by clicking here.
She can come and plant a garden in my front yard anytime! Fortunately, my community allows it!
What? A woman gets fined for growing her own food in the land of the supposed free? Why isn’t there a huge crowd outside of the White House demanding our rights for real food? What happened to America? The old America would have never put up with this nonsense!The old America would have walked for 100s of miles making sure that their government was working for them! Are we just going to sit back until even more raids continue to wipe out a large portion of our small farmers, and our ability to grow our own food? I think we have been sitting back for far too long!
In truth, we don’t live in a free country anymore! My local, pastured egg farmer even told me that a man got fined for collecting rain water… Yay, rain water!!! The government officials in a certain state assessed that the rain water wasn’t his property… Insane, isn’t it? People wake up!!! How can they say that rain water is their own property, and not ours too? This is the same situation as the strict regulations in the S. 510 Senate Bill that our federal government tried to pass last year to forbid us from growing our own food and saving seed. Well, they passed it; however, it is less strict. We are still able to grow our own food, at least some of us, and save seed FOR NOW. God only knows what will happen in the near future.
People, it is time for a new revolution to stop BIG government from controlling what foods and drinks we consume. Better yet, it is time for us to fight for our constitutional rights that have been so badly manipulated by some of the people in congress. The question is, when shall we begin?
“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Every generation needs a new revolution. God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government,” Thomas Jefferson.
I just signed – the number is now over 16,000 !!! Awesome !! I hope she gets to keep her garden – it’s beautiful!
@brookebcnn Bizarre news >> Jail for planting a vegetable garden (via @HealthyHomeEcon) http://t.co/naYm0M1
I just signed the petition. I wish I could plant a vegetable garden like that. I applaud her for making use of a piece of land to produce healthy food for her family. With all this talk about getting back to fresh food and avoiding diseases like obesity, diabetes, etc, we punish people for taking action like she is. I am praying that there will be a victorious outcome in her favor. Let’s all plant our own gardens if we can and save money and our health.