Yesterday was National Farmers Day. On this day we are encouraged to thank farmers
for all their hard work saying, if you ate today, thank a farmer. While a day of honor is definitely deserved
to all of the hard working farmers, I would like to see more encouragement to
the general population to get involved in growing and harvesting their own meat
and vegetables.
Back in WWII families were encouraged to own chickens and to
plant vegetable gardens. These people
were seen as patriots as they were able to take the pressure off the public
food supply by growing their own.
Unfortunately, these days, the government doesn’t seem supportive in
such endeavors.
Not only has raising your own back yard chicken flock become
illegal in many municipalities, so have gardens. I could not believe it when I heard it. Gardens are illegal? Why you ask?
Because a vegetable garden is not what people in the neighborhood want
to see. Some city codes state that yards
have suitable live plant material. Suitable
meaning, grass, trees, shrubs, etc…not vegetables. Some cities are regulating the amount of
garden space people may have in their yard.
With all the government regulations, the future of backyard gardening
and farming is in danger.
Chickens, beehives and goats are no longer tolerated in
urban and suburban communities. In a
world of lobbyists pushing for the desires of the rich, I believe this is
because large producers don’t want individuals to be able to provide for
themselves so they will be dependent on mass producers.
With the movement to self-sustainability and people wanting
to know what is in their food and how their food is grown and harvested, the
government seems grossly out of touch with today’s Americans.
