Florida Lifts Front Yard Food Ban

I have a special connection to this story because I too am a front yard gardener in Florida (and I feel personally attacked by some of its content).

Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll had been growing vegetables in the front yard of the Miami Shores, Florida home for 17 years. It wasn't until the city informed them they had passed a law that prevented such gardens to remain, that Tom and Hermine began to get cited and fined for their front yard food.

When Hermine and Tom began getting cited and fined by the city they decided to fight and take their case all the way to the Supreme Court, who surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) sided with the city. The Supreme court ruled the city somehow had the authority to tell Tom and Hermine where on the property they owned they could grow the food they would consume. As absurd as that sounds, this is real life. And, just like that front yard gardens were pretty much permanently banned.

That is until the garden ban seemed to touch the nerves of a few Senators ( and MANY front yard gardeners!) Given how hard it can be for many families to access fresh and affordable organic food, such bans are absolutely absurd! The Miami Herald cites https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article228219329.html Republican Senator Rob Bradley, who sponsored the bill and described it as a "vast overreach."

Bradley said,

"The world is changing when it comes to food. There’s a big interest when it comes to locally sourced food or organic products. It is our role, our duty to review decisions that are made in the courts that uphold local government actions that violate property rights in the State of Florida ... When you own a piece of property, you should be able to grow food on that property for your family’s consumption."

Not everyone supported it. The ironically-named Democrat senator Gary Farmer voted no because he is afraid front-yard gardens will attract iguanas and rats. Something that won't be a problem with gardens in the back of houses?

Not too logical if you ask me.

You can review the recent Bill that passed mid march here. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/00082

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This is dedicated to Lori, someone I know who is adamantly against food being grown in front yards and ended our friendship partially for my stance on this.

Grow food, not laws.