Front Yard Vegetable Garden Illegal in Oak Park, Michigan?

Oak Park Michigan officials really need to take a look at Vegetable Gardening For Dummies and GET A CLUE about the importance of home vegetable gardens!  Officials have said that a nicely constructed raised bed in the front yard is not for 'vegetables' but  for "suitable plants" but does not list the exact plants you are supposed to grow. 
With the dangerous chemicals leaching into our food, the great recession we are in,  the lack of low-cost organic produce, and the fact that most kids don't understand where our food comes from.....I am worried that our 'leaders' just don't 'get it.'  Sign a petition CLICK HERE to tell the folks running Oak Park that they should actually be fining and jailing the people who vandalize property not those who grow food!

Oak Park isn't the only city that has had an issue with gardens.  Even in the environmentally rich city of Seattle, gardening anything other than a well manicured lawn in the public green space between the road and the sidewalk was illegal until last year when Seattle declared 2010 the year of Urban Farming and allowed land owners to garden the green space with vegetable patches.

We need to be able to grow our own food.  We need to be able to create gardens. We've cemented over too much of this Earth. 

WE NEED GARDENS EVERYWHERE!

Unpaving Paradise! --Community Garden Art! Capitol Hill-Seattle

Summit and John, the most heavily populated corner in Seattle now has a community garden.  Nick-named "Unpaving Paradise" this garden gem is located behind the Starbucks on Olive Street.  This park-p-patch garden combo used to be a parking lot.  Now it  has a dedicated garden artist.  He/She is unknown, but they have brought the sun to the patch.  Corn in yoga poses, sleeping peas, and ripe, plump, tomatoes come alive on this January day!

 
I LOVE MY P-PATCH !

Organic Seed Dreamin'--Cucumbers!

I got my Seed Saver's catalog in the mail.  Gotta' love Seed Savers!  Based in Iowa they have made it their mission to collect heirloom varieties of vegetable seeds.  I'm looking at a Japanese climbing cucumber for my apartment garden.  Garden UP! 

I'm going to try two varieties of cucumbers this year.....Japanese Climber and Russian Pickling--being a gardener in Seattle, I've found that Russian varieties of vegetables tend to do well here (shorter growing season).  I'm hoping that between the two of them I'll be set for pickles and sliced cucumber all summer long this year!

Oh what I would give for a fresh, sun-warmed cucumber from the garden.  Seed Saver's has 20 varieties of cukes to choose from! So, now I've figured out what I'm going to get with regards to cukes.......next time?  Tomatoes!

p-patch trust!

Ok. Just wanted to talk a bit about an advocacy group here in Seattle which buys land to preserve -forever- as urban garden space. This group is called the P-patch Trust. This awesome organization started from the grassroots up. It is an amazing story of how a group of dedicated individuals can come together under a common cause and make a huge difference to the communities around them.
Rock on P-Patch Trust. Separate from the city community garden program also called 'P-patch', the trust's mission is to "acquire, build, preserve, and protect gardens in Seattle's neighboorhoods."

You know, as I learn more about what people can do and do do to protect this planet and all its inhabitants and I am humbled by their/our committment to leave this earth better than when we found it.

My thoughts for a rainy day here in Seattle, Washington.

New Gardening Links!

I've updated my links.
Check them out! The University of Washington has a FARM! , and the students have created their own community garden so that students living in the dorms can grow fresh food! Also, I linked the p-patch trust, an advocacy group for community gardens here in Seattle.
Some other things that are new on the link list:
Sustainable Seattle
Scallops (Sustainable Communities ALL over Puget Sound)
Slow Food (just like it sounds the OPPOSITE of Fast food...)