Freedom to Grow

Over the past 10 years or so, there has been a big boom in the number of people who want to grown their own food. It makes sense, too. In these rough economic times, people will do anything to save a buck. But it's not just the economy!

My family and I follow a diet that is more or less in line with the primal blueprint. For those who aren't familiar with it, and don't want to click the handy dandy link, it is a diet that requires eating healthy (big surprise, right). And a lot of people are eating this way now. Not this exact plan, but healthy eating, organic foods, local foods, are gaining in popularity. More and more people are realizing that fad diets, are just that, fads. What really counts is eating real food. Unprocessed food. Food that grows in the ground. From the ground to your plate, without a factory in between or man made chemicals getting mixed in. The best part about that? You can grow your own. 

If you have a house, you have the land. It doesn't take much land to grow some fruits and veggies. A tomato plant here, a berry bush there, some carrots over there...

And while you're at it, you might as well make it look better than grass, right?

Here's where the problem comes in. Here's where the government comes in.

Like this poor lady who decided to turn her front yard into an edible garden. She was threatened with jail time and hefty fines. For growing food on her own land? That can't be right... What the hell does the government have against people growing their own food? Nothing she grew was illegal, but apparently the city has gardening laws... Yes, you heard right, gardening laws, to prevent someone from making full use of the land they live on.

Now, this actually happened some time ago, and has since blown over, sort of. The city dropped the charges against her, and she was allowed to keep her garden without further threat of fines and/or imprisonment for now. However, the law that was causing all of this trouble has not been changed. 

The law is an issue, of course. But so is the person who reported her. Somebody decided they didn't like that she had a garden in her front yard and reported her. They couldn't leave her alone. That person is a problem.  Just as much as the ridiculous law is the problem. That person just couldn't mind their own business. 

Now when I start growing food, I'm going to need protection.

And that is just someone trying to grow food. Think about what happens when someone tries to grow hemp.

You know what hemp is, right? It's this plant that is easier to grow than cotton, better for the environment than cotton, better for making clothing than cotton, great for making rope, and a better source of vegan protein than soy could ever hope to be. It's also useful for some other stuff like fuel, medicine, recreation etc... In fact, it's been called "a gift to humankind", and is considered by many to be the most versatile plant on the planet. 

When the US was still young, there were actually laws in place requiring that some land owners grow a certain portion of this plant, for the sake of the economy. There are some states that have tried legalizing industrial hemp, but they don't succeed thanks to the federal government.  

So why would we have laws that keep people from growing these plants in their yard? What harm could come of it? We have laws about what kind of plants you can grow and where you can grow them. It seems to me this is just another one of those crazy laws that the state likes to use to call innocent people criminals. How can we allow crimes with no victims? 

The government has laws against nature. 

"Doesn't the idea of making nature against the law seem to you a bit... unnatural?" - Bill Hicks

Keep in mind that it is perfectly legal for you to purchase processed hemp that was grown in China (they grow more than anyone else), and bring it back here to manufacture products with it. You just can't grow it yourself. 

We need freedom to grow. (there's a double meaning there)

That's the way I see it.