Since the pandemic, growing your own vegetables at home has become more desirable than ever. The ongoing shelter-in-place directives, the fragility of the food system — and the fact that no one knows what is going to happen from one day to the next — has caused a recent surge in gardening. But you could be banned from doing this by your city government, as is the case in Elmhurst.
My family started gardening back in 2013. After my husband and I had children and learned about the great costs of industrial farming in the 2008 documentary “Food, Inc.,” we put in one small raised bed. It didn’t take long before we added five more beds, filling all the space in our small backyard. It became a thing of beauty, with sun shining through the silk on the tall stalks of corn, tomatoes reddening on the vine and basil, parsley and rosemary available on demand. We felt a calm satisfaction in producing our own food. I rejoiced to see my kids snacking on cherry tomatoes and sugar snap peas in between pulling weeds. They quickly learned how different really fresh vegetables taste compared with what you find at the grocery store.
In 2015, we decided to cover two of our raised beds with a temporary greenhouse, known as a hoop house, so we could extend the growing season and grow potatoes, carrots, kale and other cold-weather crops through the winter. Here, where the ground freezes in the winter, hoop houses are a critical, and therefore common, tool for growing food.
Having seen party tents, gazebos, temporary ice rinks and all manner of makeshift structures all over town, we never imagined our backyard hoop house, barely visible from the street, would ever be a problem. But a neighbor complained about it, and the city decided to selectively enforce its prohibition against all temporary structures against our specific hoop house. Meanwhile, it has turned a blind eye to other very prominent examples.
In our discussions with them, my city officials have tried to rationalize their decision by citing aesthetic standards. But these standards are based on a historic model that connects lawns with wealth and suburban life, and denigrates food production as lowbrow. I’ve been told more than once that since the city council has given me Whole Foods, I don’t need to grow my own food.
Gardening gives us self-reliance and not only allows us to care for our own needs, but also puts us in the position to assist our neighbors and community when needed. By privileging one neighbor’s opinion of our hoop house, the city is essentially institutionalizing a form of socioeconomic prejudice. It is time for my neighbors to look closely at their aesthetic ideals — which are inextricably linked to class and race — and consider whether they should outweigh the utility and wisdom of preparedness and self-sufficiency.
While we’ve been battling petty tyranny and painfully tortured legal reasoning, ours is not the only municipal government on a power trip. There are many cases across the country where residents have been blocked from their right to garden by their local government. As recently as this past May, the Falcon Heights, Minnesota City Council prohibited a resident from planting a community garden in his front yard. Our city does allow vegetable gardening in front yards, but prohibits winter gardening structures.
Fortunately, other cities have taken a more progressive stance. Chicago has a USDA-approved program for residential covered gardens that has been in place for years, is working well, and provides a perfect template for best practices and standards. Last year, a Miami Shores, Florida, couple succeeded in getting the Florida legislature to pass a bill that overrides their city’s ban on front yard vegetable gardens.
We are working with the Illinois state legislature to pass a Right to Garden bill that would allow everyone in the state to grow vegetables at home — in their front or backyards — without government interference. The pandemic has highlighted both the need for the bill, as well as slowed down the legislative process, but we’ll be back at it in the next legislative session. It’s time for the state to protect everyone’s right to garden.
Nicole Virgil is a gardening activist in Elmhurst.
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