Navajos not allowed to grow a garden?

[diane]

The latest Heirloom Gardener ( Winter 2015-16), is a special issue, all about vegetables from Native Americans and India.

In one article, First Seeds by Kristen Davenport, it is written that the Navajo Housing Authority built houses and has an official policy
that gardens are not allowed.

Why? I have read about some U.S. suburban housing regulations against growing vegetables in the front yard, which also seems strange to me.

[khoomeizhi]

not heard of that. when i lived on the navajo reservation back in 1997 or so, most homesites had their own gardens as far as i could tell - but these were mostly out in the bush, and likely not 'housing authority' type locations.

and yes, they are strange rules. mostly based on preconceived notions about how vegetable gardens don't look 'nice', as far as i can tell. i know of a few folks in places with that sort of rules in place that get around them by growing more 'ornamental' or showy veggies. it helps that a lot of those homeowner association folks don't actually seem to know what many vegetables look like.

[blueadzuki]

I have no real clue. If I was struggling for a reason, I might guess that that the Houses tend to be being built in areas where water is at an EXTREME premium. to the point where EVERY LAST drop is considered necessary for drinking. Or it could be some sort of lingering racist reason, to ensure the natives are perpetually dependent on the government for their food (remember there was a period where the government was willing to try and drive the bison to extinction SPECIFICALLY to try and starve the native peoples to submission/extinction.)

The front yard thing is often an aesthetic one. A lot of Neighborhood Associations are mostly focused on making the area as "neat" as possible, and gardens are looked on as messy eyesores when compared to an endless expanse of flat manicured green lawn.

It's sort of the reason my family is not allowed to take down any trees on our property without approval (even though there are so many we are basically in shade 24/7) or keep any farm type animals, even if we wanted to (no pigs, no chickens, etc.)

Some associations go even further, demanding that all houses have lawns made of the same grass, cut to the exact same length and same degree of greenness bordered by identical trees and flowers (a few even have official neighborhood groundskeepers that residents have to use and pay for.) . There are famous cases of people having to move out of their houses because the Neighborhood association selected a lawn grass species that was not capable of growing in that space (due to drainage or soil issues) and refusing to back down on the point.

[steev]

That's weird.

I get that many housing regs prohibit veggies (not that I have any sympathy with that, whatsoever), as do many civic regs; truly HUA, in my opinion. I won't even start on landscaping rules in gated communities; nobody wants to know how stupid I think those are, nor their rules.

Up Mandana Blvd in Oakland, there's a guy who's been veggie-gardening his wide verges at least the last 25 years (where he is, his backyard would be much less favorable, being shaded/cold); I salute him for his common sense (I once stopped by to tell him so).

I am wondering who runs the Navaho Housing Authority; where this housing is being constructed (clearly we're not dealing in isolated hogans); the Federal Gummint isn't the only agency capable of being stupid. I seriously doubt that this is about water-scarcity or attempted genocide (as the buffalo eradication clearly was), sounds like somebody's bullshit idea of what is proper landscaping. Pity they don't get real land-use.

[raymondo]

In Australia in my state, there are only regulations about what you can/cannot grow on the public verge. There are no regulations governing what one can/cannot grow in one's own front yard, unless it encroaches on public space or your neighbour's property. The state public housing authority does not allow tenants to grow large trees in the front yard but that's the only restriction and they never police it anyway.
I hope it stays that way. I'd hate to see some of the absurd regulations in some parts of the US and Canada adopted here.

[steev]

I think we in the USA are on the cutting edge of many things, stupidity and absurdity not being the least of the frontiers to which we boldly go.

[richardw]

Jan 6, 2016 3:10:59 GMT -5 raymondo said:

In Australia in my state, there are only regulations about what you can/cannot grow on the public verge. There are no regulations governing what one can/cannot grow in one's own front yard, unless it encroaches on public space or your neighbour's property. The state public housing authority does not allow tenants to grow large trees in the front yard but that's the only restriction and they never police it anyway.
I hope it stays that way. I'd hate to see some of the absurd regulations in some parts of the US and Canada adopted here.

Its pretty much the same here too raymondo though some residential subdivisions go further and make buyers sign agreements that they cant have clothesline,cant have outdoor BBQ, no hens and there's probably other regulations too, thats fine if they want to be sardine.

[steev]

When I was driving graveyard cab in Oakland, it was obviously clear where there were chickens or ducks (all over town), around dawn; the raccoons and possums were also pretty obvious, as they went on their rounds.

I rather miss the raccoons and possums on the farm, both because they'd go a long way to control the rodents and just because I like them as admirable critters, no less survivors in changing times, than ourselves.

I realize that I speak as a person who will stop to shoo a rattlesnake off the road so some dumb-ass doesn't run over it through inattention or malice, because the rattlesnake is not a threat to me, but a cousin, trying to get through its life as best it can, given the cards it's been dealt.

We need to get over the self-promoting notion that we (humans) are the "Crown of Creation"; all life is the "Crown of Creation"; all that live are children of our Great Mother Earth (even the damned gophers, may they all die. Inshallah!).