here is a message from jennifer and jason helvenston that i am passing on. please also use whatever platform(s) you feel appropriate to spread this message about the fight they continue to have over their right to grow food in a way that is sustainable and helps spread positive messages about front yard gardening. if you live near them, i urge you to make time to go in person and show your support for this very important cause. once again, there is a very real fear that once the media attention dies down, the city will trample over a citizen’s rights. let’s do our best not to let that happen on our watch…
*(ed. note: Here’s the contact info for the City Council- thanks to grant!-
http://www.cityoforlando.net/elected/council/index.htm)
Friends and Supporters –
We have attached the new Vegetable Garden Proposal that the city announced 01/08/2013. Most of our Patriot Garden must go and now they are regulating the back and side yards too.
We have until Tuesday 01/15/2013 at 8:30a to prepare a presentation for the Municipal Planning Board that is selected by Mayor Buddy Dyer. They have given us little chance for success but we are going to still try.
Here are our major points.
1. The government shouldn’t be telling us what we can or can’t do with the land we own as long as there are no quantifiable impacts.
2. The Proposal is a conviction against edible annuals while all other annuals are unrestricted.
3. The Proposal is a clear strategy against edible gardens by pushing them under the roof line of the building or in its shadow while at the same time requiring year round success.
4. The Proposal is an assault against the financially less fortunate that cannot afford expensive fences and raised bed structures by pushing their edible gardens even further into the shadows of the building.
5. The Proposal is discriminating against ALL edible plants by requiring higher standards and special definitions than any other plant in the City’s Landscape Code. By discriminating against the plants that we eat, you are discriminating against us.
6. The Proposal is a discredit against sustainability. The City’s code will allow max. 60% environment crushing grass but only max. 25% edible annuals with no impacts.
The best and fair solution for the City is the simplest. Edible plants meet the same standards and requirements as all other plants. An edible ground cover gets treated the same as any other ground cover, an edible annual gets treated the same as any other annual. Each yard in the City of Orlando must be “kept and maintained” to the same levels as any other yard. NO HIGHER STANDARDS FOR FOOD.
Therefore, we are creating a formal Landscape Proposal for the MPB from us which states just that.
We are asking all local supporters to attend the Municipal Planning Board meeting on Tuesday the 15th at 8:30a in the City Council Chambers, Orlando City Hall. Please gather in front of City Hall at 7:30am and wear a GREEN shirt.
Thank you so much for your continued support. God Bless.
Jason and Jennifer Helvenston
Jan 12, 2013 @ 22:27:43
There’s only one reason a city (municipal corporation) would ban front yard gardens: $$$$$$$
Actually there is a 2nd reason; the city may be run by powermongers. Same thing really. Power, ambition, money. and petty tyrants.
You failed to say this is in Florida.
Not everyone is up on these things.
Most of us can not go to Florida but we can darned sure overflow the city’s emil boxes. When they show up Monday they should face an avalanche of discontent from all over America. Where’s the news media on this? Julie, find a way to dispatch FOX or CNN to cover this. You have the juice to pull that off.
Jan 12, 2013 @ 22:41:15
Praying for strength for their fight and success for fairness!
Jan 12, 2013 @ 23:04:25
Here’s my letter which I am sending to every city council member of Orlando.
Hopefully I won’t get visited by the FBI
Dear City Councilperson
You are unreasonably using your Power to bother Jennifer and Jason Helvenston about growing veggies in their front yard. It’s making the National news.
Fortunately I can not afford to travel to Florida, but I was kind of wondering what would happen if 5,000 armed citizens surrounded their front yard when you send in the bulldozers….
Take Jennifer and Jason Helvenston to court? I don’t think the courtroom has seating for 5,000 so the rest of the Vigilant citizens would have to wait outside with their rifles. Do you have 5,000 cops?
If you are not careful you may find yourself thrown out and replaced by an elected representative who is more attuned to the Rights of Homeowners. You know, Private Property and all that….
Grant Gregerson
Cincinnati Ohio
(Here’s the contact info for the City Council
http://www.cityoforlando.net/elected/council/index.htm)
Jan 12, 2013 @ 23:26:10
Half the Council members don’t publish their email but have a “liaison Officer”. I’ll have to make some phone calls Monday.
Jan 12, 2013 @ 23:44:19
“Front and Street Side Yard Gardens. It is recommended that the front and street side yard areas (if present) be limited to 25% of the area between the principal façade of the principal structure and the right of way. This includes the entire front yard area, inclusive of driveway and all the area between neighboring properties. For a typical residential lot in Orlando, this allows approximately half of the front yard to be dedicated to vegetable gardens.
The remainder of the front yard will need to be planted with permanent plants, shrubs, trees and ground covers selected from the Landscaping Code’s approved plant list, which guides property owners to not plant invasive plants and those plants that can survive in the heat of Central Florida’s subtropical climate.”
Being able to plant 50% with veggies and you have to have paths anyway, what’s the problem?
I don’t know what’s on the “approved” tree list, but add some orange, grapefruit and lemon trees and it sounds like my dream garden.
What am I missing?
Christine
Jan 13, 2013 @ 10:54:21
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-federal-government-hands-out-money-to-128-million-americans-every-month.html
http://m.naturalnews.com/news/038646_home_gardens_fines_Orlando.html
Connect the dots!
Also, what about the Castle Doctrine? With the recent lunacy over gun ownership control, there is a definite connection with veggie control????? Logically the right to protect oneself with guns should apply to carrots, too.hardeharhar.
Jan 13, 2013 @ 14:28:47
ya- sad that the government seems to be into “everything control”- but hopefully this will be resolved on the side of right and won’t have to come down to anything down and dirty… (no pun intended…)
Jan 13, 2013 @ 14:37:59
i guess what you are missing is the concept that the city is trying to dictate what plants and shrubs are acceptable and unacceptable to them based on an arbitrary standard rather based on someone’s ideas of beauty or who-knows-what, rather than utility or practicality or sustainability. the helvenstons have planted a viable food garden which feeds them and shows their neighbors a way to feeds them also, at low cost and in a way that they feel is environmentally responsible, and the city- based on a complaint from someone who lives in another state (possibly another country? i would have to look it up, but the original complianant lives far away…)- is now hassling them to either put up expensive fencing (which, in addition to being cost-prohibitive for them, puts the garden out of sight and kills one of their objectives, which is to teach people about growing their own food), or to rip up part of their garden. really, the city has some right to be concerned about property that is derelict or a hazard in some way, but the helvenston’s garden is well-tended and well-maintained- in fact, it is cared for to a much HIGHER standard than most of the surrounding properties. so for the city to make some arbitrary standards about which plants are appropriate for which percentages of their land is just a way for the city to flex its muscle over them and try to make them capitulate to rules that have no basis in sense.
so, i guess that would be my answer. is that any clearer?
Jan 13, 2013 @ 14:39:12
good for you!
Jan 13, 2013 @ 14:39:53
ooooooooooooooh, be careful… thanks for putting up the contact info, though!
Jan 13, 2013 @ 14:40:23
yes! you should post that on their blog, too! (link on the right side of this one…)
Jan 13, 2013 @ 18:48:19
Somewhat, but I actually support the city’s prohibition of invasive species. People are not educated enough to know what not to plant or they simply couldn’t care less.
” Provide a fence or mature hedge (3-4 feet in height) along the right of way property line to screen the garden and provide permanent landscaping (chain link prohibited). Provide a 3-foot setback from the right of way for plantings, with the intervening area containing a landscaped swale or similar treatment to prevent erosion off the property.
Raised planter boxes constructed out of durable materials of up to two feet in height, setback a minimum of 3-feet from rights-of-ways.
If there is no screening or planter boxes, setback the vegetable garden a minimum of 10-feet from the right of way, with the intervening area landscaped”
I don’t know why one would NOT have a fence or preferably a hedge separating the garden from the street.
Who wants every neighborhood dog peeing on their veggies, not to mention the exhaust from the cars? If I were to have a food garden by the road I’d get as much separation between exhaust and veggies as possible and I would certainly plant shrubs and trees, preferably with edible fruit.
I think this is a typical example of why we NEED rules and these are people picking a fight to get their 3 minutes of fame over nothing.
Jan 13, 2013 @ 19:40:37
I don’t think that our government should control EVERYTHING, but I don’t see how they control people be giving them money.
I think every man, woman and child should get $300 in food stamps every month. That would result in HUGE long term savings in health care, wipe out all the crappy food that very few people would buy if they could afford higher quality food. Yes, the price of produce would INCREASE, but that’s a good thing because growing GOOD food is very hard work.
Imagine what would happen to those awful food animal factories if everybody could afford to pay $10 to $15/lb for meat from organic free range humanly raised cows and pigs?
How many people would by GMO corn syrup if they could afford organic sugar?
But I take it even further and in my opinion everybody should get another $1,000/month just to live on. NOBODY has to slave for minimum wage!
Alaska did the right thing when it established the dividend and considering the enormous resources America has, it would not at all be hard to have NO personal income taxes AND give everybody their monthly check. Why is it more important to give all that cash to oil companies, bankers and the military industrial complex?
Imagine what people could accomplish if they had the chance to travel, learn, explore, experiment …
My biggest fear is not the government, but nutcases with machine guns terrorizing my neighborhood. I don’t need the government spying on everybody, forced vaccinations, etc. But I sure would hate to live WITHOUT the government and thugs running the show.
The government is there to SERVE us and it doesn’t look very good right now, but having an arsenal of guns certainly doesn’t change that.
I want the government to take MUCH MORE CONTROL. For example, I want the government to not just label GMOs, I want the planting of GMOs BANNED and I don’t give a rat’s ass about the individual farmers’ rights.
I could make a LONG list of things I’d like the government to control, but I’m sure you get the idea
Jan 13, 2013 @ 20:08:59
I just made the soup recipe and am sitting here scarfing down a tasty cup!
) I decided to saute in real butter (organic) and add both black pepper *and* paprika. Adds some color as well as zing… but as you said,, basically a TASTY, SIMPLE and LOCOVORE meal- as yes, leeks and Yukons are very much in season here! Thanks for this recipe, Julie! .
(Well, the soup IN the cup, not that actual cup
Jan 13, 2013 @ 20:12:30
WHOOPS! Above post was supposed to be attached to your PREVIOUS post
“The Good, The Bad, The Joys of Being Simple”, not this one!
Sorry! Feel free to cut, delete, paste, whatever!
Jan 14, 2013 @ 11:03:10
Film at 11!!!!
Just got off the phone with District 3 Councilperson’s phone answerer and I am EXTREMELY impressed. Apparently SUSPECT Helvenston is being a jerk about it.
The City of Orlando is having a meeting tomorrow to refresh and rewrite the city ordinances about gardening. Might take a week or so.
The nice lady I spoke with (district 3)
http://www.cityoforlando.net/elected/council/stuart.htm
on the phone has provided me with confidence that they are all into sustainable urban agriculture, but it is a dense urban area so there have to be rules. And apparently Helvenston is not doing the gardening neatly, no raised beds and a lot of empty dirt for a year, so the neighbors complained. He is apparently a jerk, looking for trouble and being arrogant, looking for a fight.
The rep of District 3 Councilman Robert F Stuart said she would email me details. So far there has been no fine and no prosecution for Helvenston.
Sorry Julie but you are barking up the wrong tree here.
The City of Orlando is not being Tyrannical in this case.
Grant
Jan 15, 2013 @ 19:04:51
gardenrenegade, You are absolutely right!
@christineBaker, you are completely the opposite. Which is wrong. “I think this is a typical example of why we NEED rules and these are people picking a fight to get their 3 minutes of fame over nothing.”
In case you did not read about the situation, they live on a cul-de-sac, and were happily minding their own sustainable business for months until the next door slum lord decided to visit his rental. As soon he saw his neighbors not dumping tons of petrochemicals on a biologically dead lawn he flipped his stupid wig.
This was NOT about fame and a garden on a culdesac is not subject to the same pollutants that other straightaway roadside gardens are.
We need reasonable rules that protect people, not rules that force people to goose step to an old way of thinking. Laws were made for man, not man for the laws.
Forcing people to have fences or hedges is as unAmerican as it gets.
I would love to be able to afford a fence to keep unsustainable idiots and deer out of my garden, but my town forbids those kinds of fences unless I pay them lots of money in application fees and variance fees…..
It’s really all about money. Everyone has forgotten that we are living in changing times and the world we know is changing right beneath our noses and our feet. In a couple years the ones growing veggie gardens and raising chickens will be the ones teaching unsustainable idiots how to survive when the great famine hits… And you know it will…
Jennifer and Jason are growing a clean and sustainable garden, far more beautiful and safe and healthy than anyone growing a lawn could do. And it is their HUMAN RIGHT to grow and raise food on their own property. No matter what some idiot wrote in a law book fifty years ago or a few weeks ago.
I know that’s hard for some people to grasp with their puny brains still attached to the 1950′s… They need to get over it and join the rest of us who are “going native”.
Jan 22, 2013 @ 16:43:22
why not start a petition on the Whitehouse website that people should be allowed to grow their own food? https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/
Jan 23, 2013 @ 00:17:20
I… am just spiteful enough to pave my entire front yard and reply to any complaints that everything eats something in the yard, therefore I am following code and not planting edibles. Aside from that… what right does the government have to declare your personal lifestyle? Since that is what the entire issue seems to be. ‘You live in the city, therefore you must have a white picket fence, shrubbery, grass, and not use your land in a productive manner?’ I’m sorry, but right now I’m so glad I’m a county girl and no one’s ever commented on the dwarf fruit trees in the front yard, or the marigolds and decorative cabbage. Thank you for making me aware of this reprehensible behavior by a government. I will be contacting my own to see if they’d dare pull such foolishness.
Jan 23, 2013 @ 13:07:01
good for you!!!!!!
Jan 23, 2013 @ 13:20:19
would you like to volunteer?
seriously…
Jan 23, 2013 @ 15:46:19
OOOOHHH YES!! Let’s do it!! Lets start a petition on the WHite House website!! It’s our human right to grow and raise food!!!! It’s part of our “Pursuit of Happiness”, not to mention basic survival.
I’m having to file a variance in my town just to keep four (4) hens on my 1/3 acre property. Down county of me in Yonkers they were voting last night whether to permit hens in the city and part of the rule was that folks would have to pay a yearly license fee. WHICH I FEEL IS OUTRAGEOUS!!
Jan 23, 2013 @ 18:39:18
try contacting pat foreman, the author of city chicks (as well as other great books about raising chickens)- i don’t have her contact info offhand, but she has wonderful resources to offer, and has helped people through numerous fights with local towns over keeping chickens. good luck to you, and please let me know how things turn out!!
Jan 23, 2013 @ 19:24:26
I would start the petition, but I just stumbled across this website and I am not fully aware of all the problems that people are facing while trying to grow a front yard garden. I feel that someone who has had first hand experiences with the problems should start the petition and account the issues they have faced.
Jan 23, 2013 @ 21:45:53
ok- someone started a petition and it is up and running- hurray! see the latest post for details, and feel free to sign