Tuthill Files: Urban Farming Edition
By KEVIN SAWYER
The Minneapolis City Council is debating the merits of permitting urban farming in Minneapolis. Urban farms represent a great way for homeowners to use land, make a little money, and provide produce to so-called food deserts. Who could be against…
Yep, Meg “Patio Nazi” Tuthill and her merry band of lake home elites dislike the idea of urban farming, what with all the dirt and the noise and uppity lower-income individuals becoming dangerously self-sufficient.
The article quotes Linda Schutz, East Isles resident who reads like a character out of a Victorian satire:
“We already have noise issues. We have congestion and traffic and parking issues. So now you would want to introduce further nuisances that are more typical of a rural environment?”
Intel couldn’t manufacture a violin small enough.
It seems absurd Linda would worry about folks in her neighborhood suddenly adopting agrarian values. This is about areas of the city with empty lots and a real need for highly localized produce. I cannot fathom what her concern might be, outside of an instinct toward preserving a regulatory status quo that has served her and her ilk quite well.
As is her wont, Meg Tuthill pretends she supports urban farming, but with a few regulations. Of course, the purpose of these regulations would be to substantially reduce the viability of urban farms, thus ensuring their paucity. Her tactics should sound familiar to anyone who followed her frivolous, quixotic mission to curb the citywide patio patronage.
Of her opposition, Tuthill says “This is a built-up city and everybody has property rights.” Until you want to exercise them, I guess.
As a volunteer with the McKinley CSA non-profit in the Northside I really appreciate you guys discussing this issue. Our social enterprise arm of the McKinley neighborhood association was created in response to a survey of what the local residents wanted for their community. We have helped to make great use of several vacant lots in our area, bringing a healthy, beautiful, natural, and economically beneficial revitalization to our community. In just our third year we are near 50 share members and growing rapidly.
We believe strongly that urban agriculture has its place in our neighborhoods and can be an incredibly powerful tool for positive change in the areas that need it most. We have helped our residents begin reclaiming their space and reaching out to one another. We appreciate attention being brought to this issue and any help in supporting our cause!
Plants are loud, dude. And we can’t have all those colorful vegetables cluttering up vacant lots. That ruins the ambiance.
I can’t hear anything over these damned carrots.
I can only assume Meg is going to put forth a noise-diminishing proposal to do away with lawn mowers, leaf blowers and snow blowers in the lakes area, since noise is of such utmost importance? Oh wait, would that make having a perfectly manicured yard more difficult?
I keep wanting to start a rogue gardening effort to take advantage of some of the park area around the lakes. I’m thinking that no one would notice/mind if I divided my rhubarb and transplanted some? Who’s with me? Shall we add some to the Lake of the Isles? We could do it at night, with gasp, shovels, so as to be quiet…
List of nuisances associated with living in a rural area:
1. Slow tractors.
2. Lack of fine dining.
3. Stinky cows and pigs.
None of the above are likely consequences of urban farming.
And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber. And took me on high, and higher still until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself. And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil. One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. And terror possesed me then. And I begged, “Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?” And the angel said unto me, “These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots! You see, Reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust.” And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared, “Hear me now, I have seen the light! They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!” Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus. Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on……..
Hallelujah!
Maynard James Keenan for city council…
“Maynard James Keenan for city council…”
Oof. For political purposes, can I propose a rebrand to J.K. Maynard?
Also, urban farmers are apparently having the same problem in Detroit. City leaders are concerned urban farms will become somehow less desirable lots for development.
Is Detroit our future?
From the article: “But there’s one thing he hasn’t been allowed to do under the current Minneapolis zoning code — sell his vegetables to make a profit.”
If this is true, can he give his vegetables out and ask for a small “donation?” Could he keep extensive financial records of his investment and sell vegetables so he can break even? Could he set up a non-profit entity, take a small “board of directors” salary and manage his finances so that he officially, does not make a profit? Just asking.
I don’t think he will be able to have a large production / tractor maintained farm on that small of an urban lot. I think a steady dose of reality needs to be slapped in some people’s faces.
where is our local chapter of the Chefs Collaborative to champion these urban farmers?
“Our fences are 6 feet high. I don’t want to walk out my back yard and see a plastic something 12 feet high over my six foot fence.” – Meg Tuthill.
Dammit woman, if I live in an urban food desert, that’s EXACTLY what I want to see.
There are ugly, scraggly evergreens in the neighboring lawn. A green house would be an oasis by comparison. And it wouldn’t drip sap on my car either.