The Latest Government vs. Garden Controversy

In the last year there have been a couple high-profile incidents in which local governments have gone after front-yard gardeners and cited them for violating some ridiculous ordinances. 

I am not a political blogger by any stretch but I'm going to go out on a limb and state, in no uncertain terms, that telling people they can't grow vegetables in their own front yard is way past where I draw the line on government involvement in our lives.  If it's not an illegal crop, the government shouldn't have any right to tell people they can't grow it on their own property.

But in today's news I ran across a story that is slightly different but no less remarkable in its ability to make you shake your head and ask "what is this world coming to?"  In this case, the owner of an urban coffee shop in Philadelphia took it upon himself to clean up a city-owned vacant lot that had 40 tons - 80,000 pounds - of garbage at his own expense.  And then he went a step further and paid to have the lot landscaped with benches, fencing and cherry trees.  He did so after making 24 phone calls, 7 written requests and 4 in-office visits to the city's Redevelopment Authority to have them take care of it and all of those requests were ignored or refused.  What's worse, the city had actually cited him in 2011 for the litter on this lot even though the city now acknowledges that he doesn't own the lot. 

The city's unimproved lot filled with refuse.

And what thanks does he get from the city?  Do they sheepisly forgive him the citation they wrote?  Do they thank him and honor him as someone striving to make the city a better place?  How about a symbolic slap on the back and an 'atta boy?  Nope.  They'd rather slap him with a lawsuit.  Apparently the city sees this action as trespassing and unauthorized alteration of private property. 

After the clean-up and re-landscaping

Hopefully this story will have a happy ending.  Clearly, the coffee shop owner didn't have the right to alter property that didn't belong to him and the city flat out told him not to do go forward with his plans.  But I'm holding out hope that common sense will rule the day and the city will say "thanks, but please don't do this sort of thing again."  And maybe, just maybe, the city can use this example as bulletin board material to inspire a little more responsiveness next time a citizen wants to do something to make the city a better place.  Of course, that might also be part of the problem as it sounds like some of the residents in this neighborhood are worried about gentrification.  Still, it's hard to imagine a world in which 40 tons of garbage is more desirable than the shade of a cherry tree and a bench to sit on while you have a coffee. 

Drought Tolerant Plants Can Be Trouble

Photo Credit: kconnors on Morguefile

Looking for a drought tolerant plant that will stay green all summer?  How about growing Cannabis sativa then? 

Apparently, it's called "weed" for a reason.  According to the AP, police in Indiana have had an easy time spotting grow sites while flying over "browning forests and corn fields" this summer because the green plant sticks out like a sore thumb. 

If you are worried about the legality of planting your own crop, I suggest planting corn around it so you can feign ignorance.  Apparently that keeps most land owners from getting arrested. 

Click HERE for a link to the news report. 

All kidding aside, I thought I'd poke around the Internet and see if I could learn a few things about marijuana that weren't taught in Cheech and Chong movies.

The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation has some interesting facts on their web site.  For instance:

• Benjamin Franklin started a paper mill using cannabis which allowed them to have a colonial press free from English control. 
• Archaeologists believe that Cannabis was being cultivated by humans as long as 12,000 years ago.
• "Sativa" is the Latin word for "useful".   
• Apparently the US Government distributed 400,000 pounds of Cannabis seeds to farmers to aid in the war effort.  It doesn't say, but I'm guessing that was for the hemp and not for our soldier's glaucoma.

From other sites that may or may not be worth trusting turned up these tidbits:

• Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag using hemp. 
• The War of 1812 was fought over hemp because Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow's export of it to England.
• In 1916 the U.S. Government predicted that hemp would replace trees as the primary source for paper by the 1940s.  It was believed that 1 acre of marijuana could produce the same amount of paper as 4.1 acres of trees. 
• Three men (with ulterior motives?) are credited with making hemp production illegal: Henry J. Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics; Lammot DuPont, owner of the largest chemical company at the time; and William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper owner. 

And my favorite "fact" I will quote exactly as I found it on the Internet:

The pot plant is an ALIEN plant. There is physical evidence that cannabis is not like any other plant on this planet. One could conclude that it was brought here for the benefit of humanity. Hemp is the ONLY plant where the males appear one way and the females appear very different, physically! No one ever speaks of males and females in regard to the plant kingdom because plants do not show their sexes; except for cannabis. To determine what sex a certain, normal, Earthly plant is: You have to look internally, at its DNA. A male blade of grass (physically) looks exactly like a female blade of grass. The hemp plant has an intense sexuality. Growers know to kill the males before they fertilize the females. Yes, folks…the most potent pot comes from ‘horny females.

From what I gathered, hemp does seem like it could be a useful crop.  I hadn't realized how wide the range of hemp products is.  But I've read similar claims about bamboo, so while the legalization of marijuana remains a hot button issue in the U.S., we might as well promote the use of bamboo in the meantime.  Besides, Americans are already overweight, the last thing we need is to be growing Cannabis and getting the munchies later on.