MIAMI SHORES, FL – Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll are a married couple who have resided at their home in Miami Shores, Fla., for more than 20 years. For 17 of those years, they grew vegetables in their front yard for their own consumption. Because their backyard doesn’t get sufficient sunlight, the front yard was the only place where they could grow their veggie treats.
Hermine and Tom are carrying the torch in a conflict whose origins predate the nation’s founding. America’s Founders understood the significance of small-scale agricultural production to a free society. The U.S. Constitution’s framers—many of whom were themselves gardeners and farmers—had a profound appreciation for the earth’s potential to provide food, independence and autonomy.
Likewise, the earliest Americans were strongly opposed to governmental policies that impacted what they could eat or drink. In defiance of such overreach, colonists boycotted British imports in favor of locally sourced substitutes, relying, like Hermine and Tom, on their own lands to provide for their most basic needs. [contextly_sidebar id=”d183cb77c1793b614eec7bdde218f6ff”]
In fact, the Declaration of Independence provides perhaps the earliest American enshrinement of the concept of “food freedom.” And as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Field explained, “The right to procure healthy and nutritious food, by which life may be preserved and enjoyed, and to manufacture it, is among the inalienable rights” referenced in the Declaration.Food freedom, in short, has a long and honored place in our national history.
But this source of sustenance and solace for Hermine and Tom was uprooted in May 2013, when the Miami Shores Village Council amended its zoning code to expressly prohibit front-yard vegetable gardens: “Vegetable gardens are permitted in rear yards only.” This prohibition was enacted in the name of “protect[ing] the distinctive character of Miami Shores Village.” Yet fruit, flowers and flamingos are still okay in the front yards of Miami Shores—just not vegetables.
Within days, code enforcement inspectors arrived on Hermine and Tom’s property, purportedly acting on an anonymous complaint. Before Hermine and Tom could even make sense of the situation, they were issued a citation for maintaining an illegal front-yard vegetable garden. Just like that, they were outlaws. They were given two choices: get rid of the vegetables or face fines of $50 per day.
In the weeks that followed, Hermine and Tom appeared before the Miami Shores Code Enforcement Board on two separate occasions, seeking clarity on the vegetable ban and pleading for the ability to keep their garden. Each time, their pleas were brushed aside by Miami Shores officials.
Faced with significant fines, Hermine and Tom agreed to uproot their vegetable garden. And for the first time in 17 years, they will not have a fall vegetable harvest.
Hermine and Tom never set out to violate the law. The idea of making productive use of their property to grow food just seemed like a smart, economical thing to do. In Miami Shores, however, that sort of self-sufficiency—always a hallmark of the American character—is against the law. But old habits (and constitutionally protected rights) die-hard; with the help of the Institute for Justice, which now represents Hermine and Tom in court, they are fighting back.
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