A story about how front yard gardens are being mowed down by cities precisely following their zoning rules make me think:
Nothing is simple.
Many things have more than one accurate point of view.
And when you begin to create change, nothing is real until you can show its impact and it’s worth to the larger community.
And that for decades, food growing has been relegated to the rural communities, so much so that when urban and suburban citizens join or rejoin the good food revolution, they will often suffer from outrage from neighboring lawn champions or from outdated zoning requirements.
And yet, something troubles even me when I see a farm with dozens of different tools rusting along the back wall or when I see immaculate gardens with nary a weed. I think of what Gary Snyder said in an interview in the 1970s (and I’m paraphrasing from memory):
farming isn’t backbreaking if it’s done right. The problem is that we bought entirely into the 19th century well-ordered industrial European agricultural model which doesn’t necessarily fit everywhere.
So we can all learn and change. Farmers can simplify and share their plans, both to gradually bring those neighbors to a deeper understanding of what natural gardening is and to reduce the backbreaking nature of their dawn to dusk life and the amount of tools that it takes to keep that farm looking unnatural.
But it takes time.
http://pulse.me/s/axDYi
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about.me
Darlene Wolnik
Community activist, public market consultant and writer
Working since the 1980s on social change issues while encouraging civic activity across North America. I live in the Gumbo Nation (New Orleans) and raised here some but mostly in Buckeye Nation (Cleveland). I provide support and consulting for localized food systems, especially farmers markets. Bicycling, clean water, pocketbook issues, true wealth generation, reanimating public spaces and direct action democracy are also within my focus. Have blogged for a decade, have published essays and non-fiction since 2001.
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Click here to read about sailing alone and anchoring together….
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[...] Outlaw gardens | Helping Public Markets Grow Written on June 25, 2012 by sanjay in Food Policy & Advocacy, News, NOLA City Farms Welcome to the NOFFN webpage. Sign up for our monthly newsletter, become a member, or subscribe to the NOFFN RSS feed for updates to our page. If you have a project idea and want assistance, please fill out our Potential Project Form. To check out produce, soil, services available in NOLA, please see the Food & Farm Exchange. We want to build community food security and the local food economy in New Orleans and that means we need you to be involved. Thanks for visiting!http://darlenewolnik.com/2012/06/25/outlaw-gardens/ [...]