IN PRAISE OF YE OLDE KITCHEN GARDEN.

Just watch out that it doesn’t land you in jail:

Julie Bass, of Oak Park, Michigan, wanted to grow her own food. She was a fan of organic vegetables, so she decided to convert her front yard from the grass-and-tree landscaping typical in her neighborhood into an edible garden. Because she had just torn up the front lawn to install a new sewer system, she had a perfect opportunity to start fresh. She planted cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs in raised wooden planters, and waited to reep her produce.

A neighbor didn’t like her choice of landscaping.

The neighbor called the city and complained that Bass’s yard disrupted the look of the neighborhood. The city agreed, and issued Bass a ticket.

Bass was offended. Organic produce is expensive. If she wants to grow her own, she reasoned, why shouldn’t she be allowed to? She refused to change her yard. The city insisted; she lawyered up.

Now, with neither party being willing to back down, the case is likely to go to a jury trial. If Bass loses, she faces up to 93 days in jail. All for following the example of the White House! Has news of Michelle Obama not yet made it to Michigan?

Tar. Feathers.

UPDATE: A reader emails that Bob Dylan was onto this decades ago:

I’m a long time reader who’s been reluctant to chime in because I work in a prestigious academic environment where people think The New Republic is a far-right rag.

Your post today about a woman getting ticketed for work on her own garden reminded me of a line from one of Bob Dylan’s best and most underrated songs of the 80s, Union Sundown:

“They used to grow food in Kansas /Now they want to grow it on the moon and eat it raw. /I can see the day coming when even your home garden /Is gonna be against the law.”

The song was way ahead of its time in excoriating the collapse of American manufacturing. Ironically, the song was panned upon its release because many of Bob’s liberal fans felt that he was being closed-minded, or nationalistic, or something. Now the song is more relevant than almost any of his more famous protest stuff from the 60s.

Good catch.