Governments need to tend their own gardens (and stay out of ours!)

An Orlando man has been ordered to destroy his small vegetable garden.  You can read more details about this case here but the basic gist is that the city didn't consider his front yard to be "finished" and "inviting" so they ordered him to pull up his crops.  Unfortunately, this is not an aberrant occurrence.  Across the nation, homeowners have been cited, fined, and even had their vegetable gardens mowed down by dictatorial cities and homeowner associations.  The waste here is plain to see.

First, there is the destruction of all that food.  I was raised in a household that always avoided food waste.  We tried to never put more on our plate than we would eat.  Table scraps were given to the dogs (or pigs if we happened to be raising one at the time).  Vegetable scraps were fed to chickens or composted.  Garden produce not immediately eaten was canned or frozen.  I try to raise my family with similar values.  The idea of destroying that much fresh produce sickens me.

Second there is the waste of so many of this man's resources.  This man put together an irrigation system, bought seeds and plants, and put in hours of his time to create this garden.  Additionally, you have to consider all the money he will have to spend in replacing the lost food.  He's also (indirectly) paying the fuel costs for trucking veggies and fruit from distant destinations.

Finally, there is also the ridiculous waste of city resources.  If I was a tax-payer in Orlando, I would be completely disgusted by the idea that instead of spending their time arresting murderers, thieves and crack-dealers, the police are busy cracking down on unlawful lettuce.  It seems to me that city officials, police, and courts all have better things to do with their time.

I recognize that when folks live in proximity to each other, there have to be some rules for the good of all.  But I think those rules should be geared towards basic health and safety concerns, not towards preventing sustainable, health living practices in order to satisfy the esthetic whims of city hall.