ok, so this is a topic i have been thinking about putting on here for a while, but i just had a conversation that sort of brought it to the forefront.
someone very sweet and kind just called me about being interviewed on a radio show. when i got off the phone with her, my family had a nice time joking with me about our new “celebrity” status. i am so happy that people are interested in our issue, and so flattered that anyone would think we could be spokespeople for any cause- but i want to set things straight. this is probably out in left field, but here goes:
we never set out to be a lightening rod for any movement. i was talking to an old friend today and i told her that i always thought that if i would be well known, it would be for doing something. maybe one day i would do something so special that people would be like, “wow- isn’t it great that she __________________”. fill in the blank with whatever you want, but i always assumed it would be earned. this just kind of fell into our laps.
i understand that you can be in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place- or in your jammies when the news truck shows up… yikes!).
but this was so accidental, so unintentional. we just did our little thing on our little lawn in our little city- and here we are. we never decided to “take a stand” or fight injustice or be held up as an example. i feel like what we did is so little in comparison to what really heroic people do that what we did is almost silly.
i think i am a good person. i am a loyal friend and a caring mom and hopefully a decent wife. but i’m so……….regular. there are so many truly wow people in the world- i don’t want to pose as one of them when i’m so not.
i am touched beyond words when people say nice things here and in other places about our family. i am awestruck at the outpouring of support and kindness from people who don’t even know us. i don’t want to downplay that one bit.
but at the end of the day, i am soooooo not wow. i am so astoundingly regular. i think our garden is great, but even the garden is pretty unimpressive in the greater scheme of things. i think people should have a right to grow food. i think people need to take more responsibility for the choices they make. i think more people need to think before they act. i think governments, large or small, should not be allowed to ride roughshod over their citizens. i think power should never trump truth. but there are so many people out there who are really fighting and really suffering and being truly heroic- they are living these principles when i am just sitting here in my air-conditioned den and blogging about them.
i just want to be clear: i am not rosa parks or gandhi or mother theresa. not even close. i am just me.
oakparkhatesveggies 
Jul 04, 2011 @ 18:47:15
Your city would be better served if they went after the weed choked, dog poop festooned, broken down car yards. Plus a couple of community gardens would help them to stop being considered a laughing stock by the rest of the country. I feel sorry that you have to go through this mess after making a vlovely garden out of your yard
Jul 04, 2011 @ 19:10:23
Don’t underestimate yourself. Rosa Parks sat where she did because she was tired. It was just the right place at the right time to make a difference.
Jul 04, 2011 @ 19:17:44
And that’s exactly why you are so special!
Jul 04, 2011 @ 19:19:11
The world is made up of billions of “just me” and even if you only make a difference in one little community on this goofy planet you’ve made a difference. Heck, when your kids grow up if they’re smart (and I’m sure they will be) they’ll be proud to call you their parents for it. That’s a pretty decent achievement. Sure, your fight isn’t on par with what Ms. Parks faced and she didn’t choose it either. But you are sticking by your choice that _doesn’t harm anyone_ and I wish you all the success you’re going to have in the end. If nothing else, you’ve found dozens (?) or hundreds (?) of people out here in the aether who would welcome you as a neighbor!
Jul 04, 2011 @ 21:28:21
I don’t think I can say anything that the other two replies have not said already. It is a testament to your humility that you are skeptical of assuming the mantle of Fabulous that people want to dress you in. HOWEVER, it can be useful to step sideways and look at the situation from a different viewpoint.
Most people wouldn’t do what you’re doing. (Your neighbors aren’t lawn gardening, are they?) Most people wouldn’t take the issue to court. Using those two examples, J., you are not “Most people”.
You are admirable in a time when there is precious little to admire.
Jul 04, 2011 @ 21:37:08
Rosa Parks started out the same way. She wasn’t doing what she did to prove a point. She was tired after work and sat down on the bus.
None of the people you mentioned started out to become a hero or an icon. If you become a hero, it’s because you deserve it.
Jul 04, 2011 @ 21:48:28
1. Rosa Parks was groomed for years to take her place in history, though she didn’t always know exactly what the event would be.
2. Some of the most astonishing advances in human social evolution (or at least enlightenment) have started because someone said, “hey wait a minute — that’s not fair.” And the credibility of an “average” person doing that, becoming the unintentional lightning rod, is so much greater than if that same person had been chomping at the bit to change the world somehow.
3. So there. 🙂
Jul 05, 2011 @ 09:33:52
Pure Grace and humility is what you are and it is beautiful. Rights are rights, these are following you. Those followed Rosa. Keep doing what you do!!
Thank You
Jul 05, 2011 @ 12:39:07
wow- thanks for that!
Jul 06, 2011 @ 20:16:18
see mom. I always said that you are amazing. now everyone else knows it too.
Jul 06, 2011 @ 21:55:22
Sorry if it seems a burden to bear, but I have to agree with everyone here. You are wow, and you are not regular.
And your wow didn’t start with a vegetable garden. This blog is about your garden, so I won’t elaborate about your history of wow (here), but you have the strength to stand behind your convictions. If that turns you into a celebrity, it seems entirely right fitting.
A friend of mine (@3ravens, you may recognize this) has a magnet on her refrigerator that says “women who behave rarely make history”. I guess you’re one of the rare ones.
Jul 06, 2011 @ 22:19:36
🙂
Jul 06, 2011 @ 23:19:29
I can so relate with what you’re saying here! I started the Take Back Urban Home-steading(s) facebook page some months back, because like you I stood up and said, “Hey, that’s not fair!” I had absolutely no intention of the page growing to nearly 8000, none whatsoever. Then people started saying similar things to me, and like you I said that I didn’t plan it, it just happened, it just fell into my lap! That’s the way it happens my friend, and I find myself realizing more and more that “normal” people do extraordinary things not because they’re better than everyone else, but because they’re willing to take a risk and stand up for what they believe in. You’re at the right place at the right time and that’s an amazing place to be. Hang onto faith and don’t back down from your beliefs because as you’ve already experienced people will attempt to wear you down, criticize you, etc. – even people who have seemingly been allies. Just stay true to yourself and you will continue to blaze a trail.
Jul 07, 2011 @ 02:03:30
The revolution in Egypt began because *one guy* was fed up, and decided he wasn’t going to take it anymore. Granted, it’s an extreme example, and I don’t recommend setting yourself on fire, but it was the actions of a lowly street vendor that set off a shock wave that toppled more than one government. I heard someone on the radio say the other day that heroes are not extraordinary people, they are ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Don’t underestimate yourself, and don’t underestimate the power of taking a stand.
Jul 08, 2011 @ 19:10:27
If my city ever took a stand like this and told me no tomatoes in the front yard it would be total war! Don’t let the bastards get you down… you are an inspiration to myself and others for fighting the good fight
Jul 09, 2011 @ 01:44:10
It’s a myth about Rosa Parks just being tired, FYI. She was an activist and doesn’t get enough credit in our mythology. In fact, she was “tired of giving in.” Which I think applies to you as well.
Kudos to you for your stance. You could be living in the house of my best friend of my teenage years. We visited the neighborhood together last winter. If anything, you are upgrading it.
Jul 09, 2011 @ 09:47:27
“I’m no Rosa Parks”
YES YOU ARE!
Stay Strong.
Jul 09, 2011 @ 14:05:57
I bet Rosa Parks didn’t feel like a hero that day. Probably just finally fed up.
Jul 10, 2011 @ 18:13:06
Rosa Parks didn’t start out to set an example or be a leader of anything either. She was just tired.
I just heard about your predicament with Oak Park and I want to wish you luck. I would love it if my neighbors had gardens in their yards — front or back. Maybe I could bum a tomato from them once in a while. I’d do it myself but I tried and I can’t grow anything that doesn’t just look after itself in this Texas heat and dry weather.
Good Luck — I hope you knock their socks off.
Jul 10, 2011 @ 20:08:56
I appreciate and perceive your mindset and motives. I can tell your not an attention seeker, neither are you going to allow this rogue city planner (or whatever he is) intimidate you into submission. The thing that really strikes me is that this is happening in my home state of Michigan…you know we’re pretty agriculturally friendly, or so i thought. when i first spotted your story i thought “oh, California or New Jersey probably”
you are doing the RIGHT thing for the RIGHT reasons, and all of us gardeners, agrarians, farmers, homesteaders and most of humanity got yer back.
i hope that if i am ever in a similar situation that i can conduct my self with such level-headedness and humility
Jul 10, 2011 @ 22:56:56
She was NOT just tired. She was tired of giving in! Please don’t perpetuate the wrongful mythology about her. She was a respected civil rights activist before the bus incident.
Kudos to Julie for not giving in!
Jul 11, 2011 @ 09:47:21
And… as was mentioned earlier, she wasn’t “just tired.” There were others before her who didn’t push things because they wouldn’t look good in the press.
Jul 11, 2011 @ 15:43:53
You are not simply regular. You are doing something that is not the norm and that is wonderful! Everyone (city officials and all) should see your actions as inspiring…not criminal.
Jul 11, 2011 @ 20:13:34
You are probably pretty regular, but you and your husband are pretty courageous as well. You had the wherewithal to know your city’s ordinances, and not back down when city official tried to push in a direction you knew you had a right to be facing in. This is definitely raising the bar for regular. You are standing firm for your rights. This is all any civic hero has ever done.
Jul 11, 2011 @ 22:24:12
wow- thank you. really- thank you.
Jul 11, 2011 @ 22:52:50
I would like to point out that before their great moments, Rosa Parks, Gandhi and Mother Theresa were regular “normal” people too. Not every cause can be championed by a celebrity or a saint, because there aren’t enough celebrities and saints for all the causes in the world. Some causes need the little people so that the rest of us pay attention to the people “just like us” who are wronged. I wouldn’t pay attention if this were Angelina Jolie leading the charge, but since it is you (and could just as well be me or my friends), I’m mad as anything.
Jul 12, 2011 @ 00:52:48
I think you will earn it through your battles to get what’s right. Part of what makes someone great, is not believing they are better than other people, or even equals sometimes. Those people that do are the ones causing this silly mess in the first place. Keep going!
Regards from Canada
and an Environmental science student… This is an exellent idea. I am glad you chose to grow some food. I for one hate boring “normal” lawns anyways and would never want one.
Jul 12, 2011 @ 21:52:40
You are doing something… you are standing up for your truth and what you feel is right! I read this post to my husband and I think he said it best- that your situation is a perfect snapshot of what’s going on right now with food in many countries. People are having an awakening and starting to really think about their food not just consume it. Reconnecting with our food makes sense. Knowing what’s in it, where it comes from, and how much work goes into is important and I hope you win this battle, not just for yourselves but for others that might want to follow in your footsteps.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 07:39:47
More often than not, it’s the ordinary people who do extraordinary things. “Some people are born great, some people become great, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” A lot of times, people achieve success because they have it in them, and others just step into it accidentally. Gandhi and Rosa Parks were just people. Ordinary people who didn’t back down. They inspired change on a massive scale, but that doesn’t diminish the value of standing up for what’s right when it inspires a smaller change (like being able to grow vegetables in your yard in peace). People look up to heroes as being something so beyond them, something so unachievable. But really, it’s isn’t so hard. Just do the right thing. In your situation, you have obviously realized that there are worse things than being hassled by the government (such as losing one of our basic rights, the right to feed ourselves.) Your story is indicative of what is happening to that right in our country today. So by doing the right thing, you are proving that you have the courage to do what many do not. I guess what I’m trying to say is that people marvel at the courage of ordinary people doing things that really should be normal. But because it isn’t, we really need those people that have that courage to show us that it can be done. That’s why this is important.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 09:44:08
thank you, laura. so well said.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 17:47:40
Julie, you being yourself and sticking to your guns IS extraordinary. The world is full of people who will back down – because it is EASIER not to make waves! The fact that you are going the distance with this is admirable, because we all benefit from it. It isn’t fair that you were the one who was put in the position of having to defend our rights to plant food in our front yards, but you ARE doing it – with grace.
Edible front yards may not be common, but they are more beautiful and more responsible than ubiquitous lawn. There are several important issues that are wrapped up in your situation, and I thank you for standing up for all of them! There are lots of us behind you!
Jul 13, 2011 @ 17:58:25
i can honestly say i’m impressed! not sure if this your first international reply, but i’m a brit living in São Paulo, Brazil, and i truely believe that heros are made, not born. “ordinary people under extrordinary circumstances”, may not feel like ti applies to YOU, but even if you say only a little “no” to a big bully, it should be newsworthy…
in your case it’s now become inspiration for thousands of others
i hope you humble the stupid mayor and win the case.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 18:35:02
Hi there, Julie. I only just found out about your case and mentioned it in an article I wrote about sustainable lifestyle choices as a form of disobedience. One of the commenters on the post linked to your blog, mentioning that you’d written a post just last week about how you are “no Rosa Parks” – which made me laugh! I was using the comparison rather tongue-in-cheek in the article (when someone’s insisting “I have nothing against vegetables, as long as they’re in the back of the yard,” it’s hard to resist an irreverent analogy or two!), but it seems to have upset some people. But then… I guess that’s always how it is on the internet. Can’t please everyone.
Anyway, I wanted to wish you good luck on your case! You have my support and best wishes (and envy! – we have only a tiny backyard and no front yard at all, so I’m so jealous of your gorgeous garden 🙂 ).
–Ali
Jul 13, 2011 @ 18:56:20
thank you, ali- and don’t be jealous. we want chickens. everybody wants something… thanks for the great post! -julie
Jul 13, 2011 @ 21:32:30
Yep, in an interview Rosa Parks was quoted as saying she did not get on the bus to make a statement. She was just dog tired from doing hard housecleaning work all day long and was not willing to move that particular day. The rest as they say; is history.
I’m willing to wager that the city agent went out looking for yards to cite to drum up some revenue and presumed you’d cough up the fine when pressed. Just like the driver on Rosa’s historic bus assumed she’d follow the letter of the law and stand.
Jul 13, 2011 @ 22:03:21
You are special wanting to grow food for your family, friends, and neighbors and everyone of them are appreciative that you are willing to take a stand against a city government that would restrict the right to provide that food. A woman who lives around here decided to mow her lawn topless, of course it caused an uproar, but when taken to court there was nothing legal anyone could do about it – I am not suggesting that you garden topless – only that you should be allowed to use the land you paid for however you wish as long as it causes no harm. Seriously a garden is a wonderful thing. Ours is large – my husband believes in quantity not quality! But anyone is welcome to come and pick as much as they would like. It’s hard to get people to come get it all and we have driven around town before giving vegetables to the elderly. There is nothing better than fresh produce! Keep fighting for your right to provide that to your family! This is America, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the form of vegetables!
Dawn
Jul 18, 2011 @ 09:46:31
Rosa Parks stood up to (sat down to?) the fascism of her day. The heroes of tomorrow will stand up to the fascism of tomorrow, and you are one of the uncommon heroes standing up to the fascism of today. Bottom line, very few people are willing to do that, it has always been thus. I hope your act of heroism inspires many more like it, together we can roll back fascism and make a difference.
You may think what you are doing is “small”, but consider the absurdity here: Something as ordinary as planting a vegetable garden in your own yard has literally become a subversive act in modern America, land of the free. That this doesn’t ring as outright absurd to virtually everyone, that we even sit and look up words in dictionaries as if there is a legitimate “debate” to be “entertained” here — that is the most worrying part of it all, for it shows how far our mental benchmark of normality has shifted into the domain of evil, like frogs in boiling water we can no longer even see how bad it is, for this world of arbitrary codes and petty dictators and extreme control and limited freedom is now merely to us the ordinary background of life as we know it.
The vegetable garden of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with ‘humble’ efforts just like this, ordinary Americans taking a stand and saying ‘no more’. If planting a vegetable garden is a subversive act then those on the side of good must plant vegetable gardens in defiance of those on the side of evil.
Jul 18, 2011 @ 13:05:33
amen to that!
Jul 23, 2011 @ 16:07:46
i guess we will have to call you an “accidental hero/heroin”
Aug 04, 2011 @ 20:39:21
This was a lovely acknowledgement of your humility. However, remember Rosa Parks did not set off to start a movement either. She was tired, the bus was full. She simply sat and became an icon.
You are doing something important, how you got there really doesn’t matter as much as noticing the injustice and responding to it.
Keep it up.
Aug 19, 2011 @ 00:13:35
Julie, Just read this page and I think you left out that you are also humble and for good reason because it is also so true. Notwithstanding, consider that in the eyes of many if you were to be standing in the presence of Rosa Parks or Gandhi or Mother Theresa, it would likely be because you offered to give up your seat on the bus to any one of them.
Your riding the “magic bus” Julie because your character has you traveling in the same direction.
Dec 06, 2011 @ 14:22:25
This is an important historic event especially when we have Monsanto’s power in our government and look at what New Zealand is facing for it’s future of being able to grow food and share it with neighbors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83HgeaOJgWg&feature=share