Front-yard vegetable gardens may end in one Florida community

Back in 2013 we introduced Tom Carroll and Hermine Ricketts of Miami Shores, a small burg of 10,500 Floridians that was originally a neighborhood within the city of Miami until it was incorporated as its own village in 1932.  Their story began as so many other tales of individuals who wanted to grow their own food, in place of water wasting lawns.  They had been growing vegetables in their front yard for well over 17 years until the village ordered by town officials to do away with the vegetable garden.

In the land of pink flamingos and salamander wall sculptures, one Florida couple is embroiled in a lengthy legal battle over the right to grow vegetables in their front yard. (Video screenshot: Miami Herald/YouTube)  

We had hoped back then that this would go the way of several other cases nation wide and individual property rights would be upheld and not be dragged out in the courts, but in Tom and Hermine's case this was not the out come.  Three years have passed and we are awaiting a judges ruling, some time in the next few weeks, but the damage as been done.  Faced with $50 per day fines for disobeying a new village ordinance, Tom and Hermine were forced to remove their organic garden, which, contained over 75 different types of vegetables including kale, onions, Swiss chard, spinach and Asian cabbage.

The zoning ordinance that called for front-yard conformity and dictated what residents could plant on their property. Vegetable gardens weren’t outlawed outright but they were relegated to backyards. As reported by the Miami Herald, the crackdown was prompted by a complaint issued by a single neighbor. Whether or not said neighbor was new to the area or had simply been harboring ill-will toward Tom and Hermine and their garden for over a decade is not known at this time.

Richard Sarafan, attorney for the village argued to the judge that the village is within its right to dictate what is grown — or isn’t grown — in the front yards of homeowners while making it abundantly clear that vegetables are great, so long as they are kept out of sight in backyards. There certainly is not fundamental right to grow vegetables in your front yard,” Sarafan claimed. “Aesthetics and uniformity are legitimate government purposes. Not every property can lawfully be used for every purpose.”  Sarafan also mentions grass, sod and “living ground cover” as acceptable forms of front-yard vegetation within village limits.

Final thought -

Jack boot local governments continue on as they exert their position of doing what is best for everyone, with out regard for individual rights and liberties.  We have seen numerous cases of the federal, state and local governments restricting water rights or attempting to when attempting to collect rain water, instituting solar taxes as well as taxes on geothermal, to prop up their personal pursuits or that of their lobbyist.  We have local officials who attempt to get into office under the pretense of green initiatives and a move for more sustainable communities, when they themselves have little regard for any of that except it was a positive campaign tool.  Although the judge may decide in favor of Tom and Hermine's case they have already been forced to end their pursuit of providing for themselves as they have done for 17 years, or they could decide on the side of the village, providing another stepping stone for other municipalities to follow suit and ban whatever a few council members feel is unacceptable in accordance to their personal have and have not beliefs.  I say this, plant away, then plant some more.  If they say remove it plant some edible wilds, then plant even more.  Plant, plant and plant, find vacant lots and plant, plant on the porch, in the windows and on the fence, stick that cabbage among the marigolds, stick garlic in with the coreopsis and mix in pole beans with the morning glories!