This story involves a woman named Julie Bass, whose front yard was dug up during sewer line construction. After the construction project was completed, instead of planting grass, she thought it would be far more practical to plant a vegetable garden. Watch the brief news reports on this at:
http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=1D577A9747A66FE9316E584F7E781867
http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=09F5170370D594E931B4423BAB17634A
Vegetable gardens not only provide organic, high-nutrient live foods to those who grow them, studies have also linked gardening to enormous health benefits such as sharp reductions in the risk of breast cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/025280_cancer_breast_women.htm) and even lung cancer. They also create an environment of food security while promoting eco-friendly practices. There’s no food that’s more “local” than the food grown in your own front yard, right? It’s good for public health, great for the environment, and fantastic for teaching children useful skills that get them out of the house and away from the X-Box.
Thou shalt not grow food in Oak Park
None of this seems to matter to Kevin Rulkowski, the city planner for the city of Oak Park, Michigan. With a nasty arrogance that seems to be increasingly common among ignorant bureaucrats, he complains in a video news report that Julie Bass’s garden is in violation of city code and Julie has to dig up her entire garden or face punitive enforcement actions by the city (which could include jail time).
City code says, “All unpaved portions of the site shall be planted with grass, shrubbery or other suitable live plant material.”
But city planner Kevin Rulkowski, who really just comes off as an arrogant bully in his attacks on Julie Bass, proclaims, “If you look in Webster’s dictionary, suitable means common. And you can look all throughout the entire city and you’ll never find a vegetable garden that consumes the entire front yard.” (http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=1D577A9747A66FE9316E584F7E781867).
Hold on a minute, Mr. Rulkowski. Suitable does not mean “common.” Suitable means appropriate within the context in which it is being used. Check any dictionary and you’ll see the definition of “suitable” being either “appropriate” or “proper.”
Even the Webster’s dictionary Mr. Rulkowski quotes in his news report doesn’t define “suitable” as “common.” It defines “suitable” as “proper, able, or qualified” and gives examples such as “The dress was a SUITABLE choice.”
Well what could be more suitable to a family with a yard than teaching children how to grow some of their own food right at home? That’s suitable! It’s the most suitable (and natural) thing in the world, in fact. What’s weird is to grow nothing but grass and then spray your lawn with toxic chemicals to kill all the weeds, and then mow the lawn every week burning up fossil fuels and polluting the air just to keep your lawn manicured. That’s bizarre (and terrible for city air quality, by the way).
Gardening, on the other hands, is eco-friendly, health-friendly and great for the air quality of the city! What could be more suitable to a city than people growing more of their own food right at home, right on their front lawns?
Read the Rest Here: Natural News