We just met with the trailer park manager and her supervisor as planned. Basically, they came out, took some pictures, and said they were going to leave the final decision to their higher-ups (bet ya have an idea where I'm going with this already, don't ya). The manager's supervisor said that his feeling on it was they were just going to go with it for this year and then ask for guidelines from the higher level people for future years. They also mentioned the possibility of asking me to run a community garden in the trailer park (toward the back, of course) next year. Basically, they admitted to never having seen anything like this before, so they weren't sure
what to do about it!
So here's what you can do: contact Sun Communities management on
their contact form and let them know how important growing one's own food can be and that they should offer full support to anyone that wants to, whether it be on their own lot or in a community garden or both. Remind them that lawns are costly to maintain and pointless, or talk about how edible landscaping is a growing trend and just as beautiful, if not more so, than purely decorative plantings. The purpose would be to educate, not alienate, so definitely keep these messages extremely positive.
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| Decorative or edible? A lot of people would never know, until the pumpkins appear! |
YAY!!! wonderful!!! so excited for you and the prospects of edumacating some people... :)
ReplyDeleteYay!!!!!!!!!! Good job.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I posted to their site:
ReplyDeleteI am an Urban farmer and believe in the importance of letting people develope what space they have to grown a garden. Over the last 40 years we have been taught that the green grass is the ideal front yard. unfortunatly it is terrible for the environment causes the use of chemicals, wastes water and adds nothing to the community. A garden in the front yard adds beauty reduces the use of weed and bug killers, gives children a place to learn about nature and encourages community envolvment. I hope that you will choose to allow your residents to participate in the growing urban garden movement. Thank you
A community garden would be great for everyone. I certainly hope they let you go that way. As for lawns. I am not a fan of the "sacred lawn". In my opinion it is a waste of time and money not to mention the toxic soup of chemicals used on. I am so glad I do not live where we have covenants on what I can do in my yard. I would be fined all the time with my front yard garden and clothes line.
ReplyDeletePosted to their comment page. Here's hoping they listen and understand. Glad to hear though that you have a reprieve for this year and a community garden would be great for your park!
ReplyDeleteI think its always ridiculous when "mainstream" people think they have to "do" something "about" this sort of stuff. As though is akin to selling crack out of your house to little kids or something.
ReplyDeletePosted a comment on their site. I copied what I sent them. Hope you win.. Having a community garden and allowing residents a productive garden of their own and not just grass is good PR for your business. The garden in Chris K's photos looks very nice. If the White House can have a vegetable garden, then so can your residents. You showcase families and children on your site, this could be a PR win for you. Sincerely, Michael Hobbs
ReplyDelete@Moonbear: crack, cucumbers, what's the difference? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI got an order to dig up my side-yard garden or extend the fence back in May from my HOA. I should have made it a social cause I guess. I haven't dug it up yet ... they keep sending certified letters. I haven't even bothered to pick the last one up from the post office. I had a house fire in early June and sadly, the garden took a backseat. We had to live in a hotel for about a month.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear about this outcome. I came over from the original post, which someone posted in a gardening community of which I'm a member.
ReplyDeleteI blogged your original post (http://thestonestead.blogspot.com) and shared it on Facebook.
Another thing to point out to the people who tout "lawns" is that the fertilizers and pesticides that are usually needed to keep the lawns "HOA pretty" are actually very poisonous and those poisons get into our groundwater and our waterways.
I detest HOAs and other such organizations. They are so regressive!
Good luck with your garden adventure!