|
We tend to think we do all of the teaching when it comes to
children. Then they do something poetic, and we realize that
we are more often students of their subtle wisdom.
Take Lakewood youngster Cecilia Foti, who wrote an essay at
Bancroft Middle School addressing the controversy over her
family's decision to convert its front yard into a
fruit-and-vegetable farm.
Cecilia, who was profiled in a New York Times story also
published in the Press-Telegram, argued that the old-fashioned
front lawn "needs to be eradicated from our society and fast!"
We don't entirely agree with that absolutist view, but we
are encouraged by her willingness to write down her thoughts
and turn them in at school. We also like the idea of healthy
greens sprouting in the place of thirsty grass. Getting kids
to talk about vegetables, much less eat them, is a weedy
issue. Maybe if more kids grew greens they would eat them.
But more importantly we believe it's OK for the Fotis to do
what they want with their yard as long as they don't destroy
the character of the neighborhood. And, after examining photos
of the yet-to-mature garden, we think the suburban farm fits.
Because of the home's ample driveway, the vegetable patch
is rather small and less intrusive than one might think.
Planted Memorial Day weekend, the plants are still immature.
These aren't the cornstalks you saw in "Field of Dreams."
We're not sure if we'd follow their lead, but we admire the
family's decision to turn the lawn into a food source that
puts water to a logical use, growing food, rather than a
decorative use, greening grass.
Lakewood is known for a live-and-let-live ethos, where
residents tend to believe, rightly, that they can do what they
want with their land as long as the use doesn't hurt the
quality of life for their neighbors. Fruits and veggies can
certainly do no more harm to a neighborhood's appearance than
the mammoth motor homes legally
parked citywide.
We admire Cecilia's commitment to healthy eating, something
not nearly enough middle schoolers embrace. Cecilia is now a
champion of the garden's edibles. We wish more kids would
follow her lead.
Stuck in her vegetable patch is this message: "The empty
front lawn requiring mowing, watering and weeding previously
on this location has been removed."
Some neighbors, of course, are on the other side of the
Fotis' decision to raze their lawn as part of a greater
nationwide movement to replace lawns with gardens. Detractors
don't think it fits in with the post-war tract homes doting
the city, and we agree it takes some getting used to.
The New York Times described their discontent far more
elegantly than we can: "Neighbors fret about a potential
decline in property values, while others worry that all those
succulent fruits and vegetables will attract drive-by thieves
- as well as opossums and other vermin - in pursuit of Maui
onions and Brandywine tomatoes."
We cannot believe this small garden will hurt property
values, which tend to be dictated by good schools and safe
streets, two things Lakewood has going for it. And Lakewood,
known for watchful neighbors, needn't worry much about
vegetable theft.
Still, we can understand that residents don't necessarily
want to look at something they're not used to seeing. But in a
nation of unhealthy people, and in a state prone to drought,
the Fotis put their front yard to good use. Maybe some will
follow.
Critics should tend to their own gardens.
| 
RETURN TO TOP