When we married, we purchased our first home together. There was a long patch of ground by the side of the garage in the front yard. My husband put in some raised flower beds and in between and around the area, he planted squash and tomatoes. It helped with our budget and we never once had a thought enter our heads that somewhere, some time, this might be considered an illegal activity.
A family in Michigan found out it was against their city ordinance and the mother was served a notice and could have faced up to 93 days in jail . . . for daring to raise vegetables in the front yard. Like us, she had raised beds and you could see it was a work in progress and well-kept up. Fortunately, the uproar reached the ears of the city and the charges were eventually dropped against this one family. The ordinance still stands, however.
You have to wonder about the mind set of elected officials that find a need to invade every single aspect of our personal lives and demand their imprint of how we should conduct our homes and activities. With all this talk about being eco-friendly, and green this and green that, you'd think the ordinance would state that everyone should grow a percentage of their yard in vegetables. I wonder what their stand is on fruit trees?
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