War on home gardens - Canada town outlaws food self-sufficiency

 

Monday, August 06, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036709_home_gardens_attacks_self-sufficiency.html#ixzz22l17QcIy

 

(NaturalNews) A Canadian couple that has been growing a beautiful, meticulously-maintained front yard vegetable and herb garden has been ordered by city officials to uproot most of it by September 1 or else face lofty fines. CBC News and others are reporting that the town of Drummondville in Quebec is actually planning to ban all front yard gardens in the municipality beginning this fall; a move the spells the end of food self-sufficiency for many Canadians living in the area.
Michel Beauchamp and Josee Landry love to grow their own food. But the back yard of their well kept, Saint-Charles area home does not get enough natural sunlight throughout the day to grow the many varieties of fresh fare they have long enjoyed. So they asked their town's Environmental Services Inspector if it was permissible to grow food in their front yard, and they were given a verbal affirmative that this was not a problem.
"They used to have flowers growing, but Beauchamp has high blood pressure and wanted to eat healthier. So they planted cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchinis, beets, onions, and Brussels sprouts, among other vegetables," said CBC News about the garden. According to the same report, Beauchamp has lost an astounding 75 pounds since first planting the garden, and much of this is due to his having been able to grow and eat his own healthy food at home.

Drummondville changes its mind, betrays Beauchamp and his wife

But after the couple invested roughly $2,500 to install the garden, which is among the most tasteful and orderly front yard gardens that you will likely ever see, by the way (http://grist.org/list/city-officials-are-waging-a-war-on-gardens/), Drummondville officials turned on the couple and told them that they would have to remove most of their garden or else face a daily fine of up to $300 -- and the couple was given just seven days to comply with this demand.
According to city officials, every front yard garden in Drummondville has to contain at least 30 percent grass, a requirement that Beauchamp and his wife did not comply with when they installed the garden. It does not appear that the couple was ever even told about the requirement; as they had previously received approval to plant the garden as it currently is.
When Beauchamp and his wife challenged the city on the order, officials did not relent, but instead gave the couple a compliance extension, telling them that they had until September 1 to rip up part of their garden. The two are still fighting the city over the issue, though, and continue to try to convince officials to do away with the silly ordinance.
"It must be a right to be able to grow our own vegetables on our land," said Beauchamp to CBC News. "It is nonsense to ban it."
Meanwhile, Drummondville officials are moving forward with a new ordinance that will completely restrict front yard gardens altogether, no matter their size, which puts Beauchamp and his wife and many others out of the food self-sufficiency business. Since many back yards in the area are too small or do not receive the proper amounts of natural sunlight, many areas' residents will essentially be restricted from ever growing their own food unless they move.

Food oppression also escalating in the U.S.

Similar jack-booted oppression by local officials is taking place in the U.S. as well, including in Tulsa, Okla., where a woman recently had her entire front yard garden illegally bulldozed by city officials (http://www.naturalnews.com). Similar cases of home-grown food destruction have taken place in Georgia, Michigan, and New Jersey.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.cbc.ca
http://www.sherbrookerecord.com
http://www.cbc.ca
http://grist.org/list/city-officials-are-waging-a-war-on-gardens/
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036709_home_gardens_attacks_self-sufficiency.html#ixzz22l1M5OOe

I have shamelessly lifted this from a friend’s facebook page. This is too important to ignore and I hope that Australia does not follow in these footsteps!

Jan

Sick, Sick, Sick

Since M and I have returned from our holiday in Bali we have both been sick. Chest infections, coughs, snotty noses. aching muscles and no, I repeat, no energy or inclination to do much! I have known M for twelve years now and I have never seen him take to his bed before, ever.

We have had a few days here and there where we worked at maybe 80% of a functioning level but still the coughs continue.

It has been a hard winter down here in the far south of Tasmania and the nights have been very cold. A lot of the days have been too, and wet. I think a lot of our small country town has been hit with this dreaded flu as has the surrounding district. We have also had three deaths in a matter of weeks. We have another funeral to attend tomorrow. One of the deaths was possibly flu related but the others were bowel cancer in one and old age in the other. Friends have taken to their beds and I have become almost a hermit. I don’t want to infect anyone although I don’t think I am contagious any longer, but I also don’t want to mix with anyone who could be sick. I’m just so over feeling like crap I don’t want any more germs!

Now, having had my major whine I can report that I did have a wonderful three days with my friend Sue who turned 60 recently. She also wanted to avoid the ra-ra-ra that comes with a significant birthday here in our town, so we beat a hasty retreat to Cradle Mountain.

We stayed at the Lodge and what a fabulous place to stay. Within an hour of booking in there was a knock on our cabin door and one of the staff members stood with a bucket of ice containing a bottle of Tasmanian Sparkling Wine “for the birthday girl”. What a fabulous surprise. They knew it was Sue’s 60th birthday as I had ordered a surprise birthday cake for after our dinner that night.

We ate in the bistro and I made Sue wear the tiara that she had brought to Bali for me to wear on my 60th birthday. Payback is a wonderful thing! We had a wonderful meal and I had managed to have a quiet word with our waitress about when to bring out the cake. Well, not only did these two beautiful young, women bring out the cake, with candles lit, but they also sang Happy Birthday to Sue too.   

We finished in the bistro and asked that the remainder of the cake be put in the fridge as it was incredibly rich and neither of us could even finish the slice on our plates. Then into the guests’ lounge with big leather chairs and a roaring log fire.

We chatted on with a young couple and met another couple who had also received a bottle of sparkling on arrival – and an upgrade. Why the upgrade we asked. “Because we just got married” was the reply. Once again I was impressed with the service and thought that the Cradle Mountain Lodge had towards their guests.

We went back to the cabin before it got too late and off to bed. We were hoping for snow but knew that it was highly unlikely as the sun had been shining all day and was supposed to be repeated tomorrow. And it was. But first the car looked like this

                       and this                          

Boy it was cold first thing. We took great care walking to the lodge as we had been warned about possible black ice. The breakfast, which was included in the price, was A M A Z I N G! Just think of any food that you might possibly like to have for breakfast (or even eat anytime) and I think that it was in the buffet. We thought that we would try and be restrained so we started with some fresh fruit – and then greed and the thought that we wouldn’t be here for lunch took over. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and a baby croissant and four cups of coffee (small cups). But there was everything from sushi – porridge – baked beans – salamis and cheeses - pancakes and even bread and butter pudding! I noticed quite a few men taking full advantage of what was on offer, two or three times!

After breakfast we caught the bus to Dove Lake and walked as far as we could, first one way and then the other. We actually got too warm in the sun. It was a beautiful day.           

    When we returned to the Lodge we had a glass of mulled wine each and decided to explore the surrounds. There were a few “easy” walks and one of those was called “The Enchanted Walk” which took us past the Pencil Pine falls. The mosses, lichens and rocks certainly had the feel of a fairy forest. There was proof that wombats were in the area but we had to wait until much later in the day for our sighting of the wombat. We saw lots of pademelons, wallabies and a very tame and demanding possum.

                               

 

Another splendid meal and more mulled wine that evening followed by chatting by the log fire. We had to leave the next day as this was just a flying visit but I will definitely be going back. The drive home was as uneventful as the drive to the Mountain had been, although the weather was definitely changing. We tried to estimate the time from A to B and we think it was around six hours, allowing for a lunch break and stops along the way.  I dropped Sue home, along with the cake we had remembered to collect from the kitchen fridge, and made my weary way home. To be greeted by M – in bed – “Didn’t you get my message – I told you I had the flu and maybe you should think about staying away”.

That’ll teach me not to turn my phone on……….

Jan