Of all the silly things I have heard over the years about government intervention, this took the cake. A four year old girl is being told by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to rip out the small garden that she uses to grow healthy produce to supplement her and her mothers meager income of $628 per month. You see she and her mother live in subsidized housing in South Dakota and the government has determined that since this garden doesn’t fit in with what they deem “landscaping” due to the “structures” in the garden-it is a pallet garden like the one below- they are telling her to rip her garden out.

As if this is not troubling enough, lets think about what kind of a message this sends to this child and her mother. Being raised by a single mother who is also severely handicapped, this child took it upon herself to help her family. Frankly home and community gardens are a growing trend across the nation, even in my well heeled urban neighborhood. Many of our neighbors are ripping out portions of their manicured lawns and planting gardens that resemble the Victory Gardens from World War II. In fact this is a trend that is sweeping the nation according to the National Service Learning Clearinghouse. One would think that the government would smile on anyone on public assistance of any sort taking the initiative to decrease the burden on the state-but not in Obama’s America.

My blog sisters here at Victory Girls and I  have discussed this topic at length. We are confounded as to why the government would not take some hints about self sufficiency from not just this child, but those children who attend Montessori and Waldorf schools across the nation. Both Montessori and Waldorf schools frequently have gardens on their campuses that are used to teach the children science and to provide fresh produce for the cafeterias. In other words, these schools are practicing self sufficiency through gardening-much like little Rosie in South Dakota.

Think about how many tax dollars could be saved if the USDA encouraged schools to plant and maintain their own gardens. These numbers from the USDA school lunch program might resemble the numbers from the 1960’s instead of the 2012 numbers, which reflect that 68.2% of the school lunches served in the program were “free” as opposed to “reduced price”. The waste that could be saved is also staggering. Forcing fruits and vegetables on kids, as Michele Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign does, went over like a lead balloon in one PNW school district. Many kids decided to simply trash the 1/2 cup of fruit or veggies forced on them by the USDA. Research published in the Journal of American Dietetic Association in 2009 supports the idea that children who garden are more likely to consume more fruits and vegetables. So why wouldn’t the government encourage citizens to practice self sufficiency?

The establishment of school based gardens would also be a great way to bring back one of the best classes in High School, Home Economics. It would beautifully illustrate the question “Is it more cost effective to buy the heirloom tomato start for a garden for $4.99 or is it more cost effective to pay $3.99-$5.99 per pound multiple times at the grocery store for heirloom tomatoes?”.

We could sit around and mull this one over forever, but I ask you to take action instead. This is a link to the petition to save Rosie’s garden, I encourage you to sign it and share it with all your Facebook friends. This is a link to the original article referenced earlier in this posting from Kitchen Gardeners International that gives you not only the emails to the USDA employees involved in this debacle, but a template as well. I ask you to reject this statist insanity, and to encourage others to do the same.