I'm sure my fine organic-guru-niece will have a comment about this topic. I heard on NPR this morning that because of high food prices many families are opting to grow their own produce this year. It is a new trend in the suburbs...the backyard veggie garden! It is also a reaction to more people wanting to eat organic-grown produce, and to try to buy foods grown in their local area.
Here's the negative twist to the story. Turns out that lots of HOA's are balking against backyard gardens. Seems they present a "threat" to the quality of the neighborhoods, and "bring property values down." I kid you not. A small patch of tomatoes, lettuce and beans makes people feel less affluent, apparently.
I don't live in a subdivision with an HOA. There are times where I think such an organization would come in handy in our particular subdivision, but overall I'm glad we don't have one. I wonder how many people living in such neighborhoods have actually ever SEEN a small vegetable garden. I can't think of anything I would personally rather see in our neighbor's backyard than a well-tended garden, with the colors of cabbages, stalks of corn, tomatoes (both red and green) and perhaps some sunflowers stuck in there for fun. How is that worse than looking at someone's hot tub, or bbq grill?
My standard for such a garden is my grandfather's. He had a perfect flat spot in his backyard to grow rows and rows of the best tomatoes I've ever eaten; watermelon, corn, and I don't remember what else. What a joy it was as a child to sit in a lawn chair near the garden and crack open a freshly picked watermelon and attempt to spit the seeds across his lawn. The sweetness of those melons cannot be described.
Here's another thought. Backyard gardens create conversation. How nice it would be to share gardening tips with your neighbors...exchange fresh beans for radishes, or just visit while you water or tend your garden.
People are hellbent on holing up in their McMansions, watching their big-screen tvs and don't know what they are missing. Eat your drab, overpriced lettuce from Honduras; and your cardboard-like tomatoes from Florida...you are really missing something.
1 comment:
hoorah for backyard gardens! I can't imagine what this threat to the quality of neighborhoods is. I read something recently about how clotheslines are banned in many HOAs because they "bespeak poverty" (only a poor person would chose to dry their clothes in this method, apparently, and one poor person in the neighborhood makes everyone else look poor.)
out in colorado there is issue with people planting native grasses in their front yards. these varieties are meant to grow tall and luscious before being hacked away because that method requires MUCH less water, a very important resource in our high desert. but in contrast to carefully manicured, water-loving lawns, it looks like neglect. some people even go as far as tearing up their front yards to plant vegetables! unsightly!
the bottom line, i think, is that anything unconventional- clotheslines, staked tomatoes, vining melon plants, compost bins- is considered dangerous to the homogeneity of the community. these communities end up being safe-havens against poverty and other discomforting realities in america.
indeed, the idea behind building community gardens in impoverished areas is to build community. people gather together with a common cause, share stories about their lives (and their vegetables), increase time spent with their families, and (maybe) learn the value in eating fresh fruits and vegetables at the dinner table instead of munching on taco bell gorditas in the car.
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