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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Activism / Victory for Rosie’s Garden but USDA a No Show in the Process

Victory for Rosie’s Garden but USDA a No Show in the Process

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

raised bedsThe story of 4 year old Rosie and her garden that was threatened with removal in a subsidized housing development in South Dakota continues to develop at a rapid pace.

According to Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI), the property management company handling the 8-unit rental property and the property owner where Rosie and her single, disabled mother Mary live have mutually agreed to build the family a new raised bed vegetable garden next spring. In addition, the garden will be available for other tenants of the complex.

While this is a wonderful victory for this family and the residents of the complex, unfortunately, it seems the USDA has been a no show in the resolution process and has yet to respond to inquiries as to whether it will establish a policy to prevent this sort of subsidized housing anti-gardening harassment in the future.

All the USDA seems able to do is deny that it had anything whatsoever to do with the problem in the first place despite the fact that the agency pays most of the rent for Mary and thousands of citizens like her around the United States.

The USDA should do the right thing and insist that property owners and managers of subsidized housing permit residents to grow their own food in well cared for gardens rather than look the other way when residents are bullied for their efforts at self sufficiency. After all, the stated mission of the USDA Rural Development Agency is to “improve the quality of life in rural America”. Gardening surely would be supportive of this important goal.

Roger Doiron, Director of KGI, had this to say about the announcement of raised gardening beds for Rosie in the spring of 2014:

“It’s a small victory, but hopefully one that will motivate local and federal decision-makers to make sure that others living in subsidized housing can enjoy the benefits of home-grown foods too.”

Let’s hope that Mr. Doiron’s optimism is not misplaced and policies are indeed put in place so this type of situation never occurs again.

Given the USDA’s washing of its hands concerning Rosie and Mary’s predicament, however, I am not at all convinced that the USDA will proactively change its ways anytime soon.

Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

Source: Kitchen Gardeners International

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Category: Activism, Gardening
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (11)

  1. Donna

    Sep 7, 2013 at 9:09 pm

    (just to check to get the follow-up comments)

    Reply
  2. Donna

    Sep 7, 2013 at 9:08 pm

    So is anybody actually helping this little girl now?

    Reply
  3. Confused

    Aug 29, 2013 at 3:51 pm

    At first the USDA was the enemy for telling us what to do. Well, that was not true. Now they are the enemy for not telling someone else, a property owner, what to do. It seems they can’t win. Of note is that without the USDA program providing rent assistance, the 4 yo and her mother would likely have a harder life.

    It seems more likely that property management either misinterpreted a USDA rule governing those accepting renting to Section 515 recipient or used them as a scapegoat. My money is on the latter.

    It is a little late, but it would be instructive to see the lease. If it did not specifically allow for a garden, then management, working on behalf of the owner, has the right to remove the garden. While this is (expletive) thing to do, it is very legal and constitutional. The lease is what governs the relationship between renter and landlord.

    Reply
    • Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

      Aug 29, 2013 at 10:45 pm

      You’re right … the USDA just can’t win as it shouldn’t even exist in the first place.

  4. James quarford

    Aug 28, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    I remember ww2,We all victory gardens in a housing project we lived in . We grew everything and all shared,the work ,harvest ,putting it up. I someone got sick we made soup,bread. we went fishing,clamming you name it,We survived healthy . Grow your garden .

    Reply
  5. Susan

    Aug 28, 2013 at 7:58 pm

    Is there any way that we can thank the property management company for doing this? it’s wonderful!

    Reply
  6. Susan E

    Aug 28, 2013 at 12:35 pm

    I’m happy that the property management company went the extra mile and is seemingly not only allowing, but encouraging gardens for their residents. That’s a huge victory. As far as the USDA, they are useless and we’d all be better off without them. They are right to stay out of this and all food freedoms.

    Reply
  7. peanut butter

    Aug 27, 2013 at 11:45 pm

    While I certainly am glad the girl gets to keep her garden, the USDA has no Constitutional authority even to exist, let alone to promulgate regulations about property management organizations and how they handle home gardens. If we beg the USDA to claim that authority, we will hardly have standing to complain whey they try, for instance, to force a national animal identification scheme on us.

    Reply
    • Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist

      Aug 28, 2013 at 7:25 am

      The problem with the USDA and other too-much-power extensions of the federal executive branch is that they make up “rules” when it suits them and claim “no rules” when it doesn’t. There is no oversight of these agencies other than a long, expensive court battle and they just keep getting bigger and bigger and more powerful every year bullying whomever and whatever their corporate overlords like Monsanto want as the corporations have the lobbying and financial power to pull the strings.

      This is why small farms and individuals like Rosie are having a tougher time with each passing day exercising simple rights like producing their own food.

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