There is a story that came out about a woman in Tulsa who grew plants for medicinal purposes as well as food. The city came in and told her the plants were too tall and in the end cut them all down and trashed them without listening to her. She had over 100 varieties of the medicinal plants and were using them to treat diabetes and such and the food was the only food she had. She was low income. The court found her in the right and yet the city still demolished her gardens. City destroying woman's garden There were complaints from ghost neighbors on it etc and so far she has not been compensated for her loss. This is where you can sign a petition for her at Change.org sign petition They are finding more and more people are going through similar situations at a time when they really should be promoting home gardening and I'd say small farms. Self sufficiency.
We ran into a semi similar situation. Definitely not as bad as hers but I've been finding more like them. Ours was a gripe about our chickens. Which we could understand the rooster and we got rid of him willingly. Had been thinking about it anyway because he was too rough on our hens. (they are still growing feathers back and I had to buy chicken saddles to protect them when we had him) I was told one such complaint was from a city council member (if I understood right) and to me...shouldn't said council member have known they were allowed in town since they had only recently in the last year or two made the changes that allowed them? I had to have them go double check and they found that they are in fact allowed. (I don't blame the code person by the way. Don't shoot the messenger they are just doing their job) We did move their run to fit within the rules of the ordinance. We did have a pool up and had to take it down because of lack of fencing and when we inquired about fencing were told it has to be 40 I think feet back from the road and if you live on a corner lot as we do you can't fence in the front yard. I'll have to pull out the paper we have to make sure I am stating that right but there are parts they told us that were not in the copy of the paper they gave us when I asked for one. Now that is where this next story comes in. We asked about building a wood pallet fence that would basically be the equivilant of a privacy fence. They looked a bit unsure about that one. There was a man whose story I found when looking up wood pallet fences (and how to build them) His dog had gotten out and was told to put a fence up to remedy the problem. He did by putting up a pallet fence. His story The neighbors complained before he was even finished saying it looked tacky. (There is a photo on the page and you can see on the half he has in front of the house that it really doesn't) He hadn't sanded or painted it yet. He was a low income person and didn't have the money for a more expensive fence and was trying to fix the problem using the only means he had and as well he pointed out that the wood is the same as you might find in a lumber yard. It is treated etc. (I have to attest some pallets do have some really good wood on them if you get the right ones) and it is free AND it is recycling. I think this nation needs to really look at their way of thinking of disposability and consumerism. We just toss shit out and replace it too quickly. We don't recycle in most places. I really had my eyes opened in Germany when you could see where the American bases and housing editions were by the shear amount of trash that was laying around the bins. The Germans had recycling bins set up and their actual trash that was hauled away was placed into a can the size of a kitchen trash can. They also had days set up where you set out your furniture or what not that was in decent shape and people would make a day of going around and picking up what they needed. (I think the beginning of freecycle and craigslist or their version of it) People here still kind of look down on that though it is gaining acceptance it is still seen as a bit low. What is wrong with building a pallet fence? What is wrong with having a garden and providing for yourself? What is wrong with self sufficiency? We need to rethink our way of life and I think they need to work on the acceptability of things like that. Of course if we were self sufficient we wouldn't be as dependent on the government for as much.... what a shame that would be wouldn't it? I am continuing to keep an eye on stories like these. I will also continue to be working on our own garden and self sufficiency as much as I can within the limits and wishing for land that was not in town. Town is not a self sufficient friendly place. Would love to have a community of friends who could all put in time with gardening and such. That would be awesome.
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