Nope.

Gardener Sues Tulsa for Cutting Down Her Edible Garden

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KOTV reports that Denise Morrison grows an edible and medicinal garden of over 100 plant varieties in her front and back yard. Last August, she received a letter from the city reporting a complaint about her yard.

She took photographs of her gardens and went to meet with city inspectors who told her “Everything, everything need to go” when she asked for problem areas to be pointed out.

Upon hearing that all of her garden would have to be destroyed she called the police who issued her a citation so she could appear in court and work it out with the city. At her court hearing on August 15 the judge directed both parties to return to court in October.

The very next day, Morrison found, and photographed, city workers cutting down most of her plants-with what appears to be a bobcat and riding lawnmower- including trees that bore fruits and nuts. It is important to point out here that the city did not have permission to take action against the garden because the judge had put off hearing their case until October.

Everything that Morrison grew could be eaten. At the time the gardener was unemployed and not covered by insurance.She used her garden not only to feed herself, but to treat her diabetes, high-blood pressure and arthritis. According to Morrison, when she explained this to the enforcement officials she was told “we don’t care.” Morrison has filed a civil rights lawsuit arguing that the enforcement officials overstepped their bounds.

If this is sounding familiar to you it’s because gardens like Morrison’s are always coming under attack. Remember the story of Adam Guerrero last year that made national headlines after Colleen blogged about it here at TreeHugger?

I wish Morrison all the luck with her lawsuit because gardens are a civil right.

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I understand that this story would be really enraging if it were true. Like. I get that. I do. My knee jerk reaction was a pretty strong one, but there is absolutely no reason to buy this woman’s story. I’m not saying she deserves to be totally dismissed; it’s just we’re getting a pretty bias angle on the issue, here. We might as well take it with a grain of salt. Search this case on google, and you’ll find no unbiased or particularly reputable news organizations covering this story, or even one without an obvious, specific agenda to promote.

There might be a reason for that: we only have this woman’s word to go on. The City of Tulsa has been unable to comment. You don’t gaggle around a news story that involves two aggravated parties without getting at least more than one source. Can we just wait for the defense to speak without jumping to the conclusion that the government is victimizing this woman? Seems kinda dirty to me. makes me all itchy and whatnot.