Ferguson resident wins fight for front yard vegetable garden
Karl Tricamo's garden in Ferguson on July 12
Karl Tricamo's garden on July 12. (Photo courtesy of Karl Tricamo)
2012-07-27T00:05:00Z2012-07-27T13:39:33ZFerguson resident wins fight for front yard vegetable gardenstltoday.com
FERGUSON • A Ferguson resident has won a battle with city officials that could be considered a matter of taste.
The resident, Karl Tricamo, had been feuding with the city for months over the vegetable garden he had planted in front of his house in the 300 block of Louisa Avenue.
The city saw the garden as a blot on the landscape and issued Tricamo a citation demanding he uproot the corn, tomatoes, sorghum, peppers and other crops sprouting there and, instead, seed the yard for grass. The garden measures 35 feet by 25 feet.
With the help of an attorney from the Libertarian group Freedom Center of Missouri, Tricamo emerged victorious on Wednesday night when the city's Board of Adjustment voted to throw out the citation against him.
"We felt vindicated," said Tricamo, 29. "I had taken steps from day one that everything would be within ordinance. They just tried to throw everything at us and hoped something would stick."
Tricamo's attorney, Dave Roland, cast the issue as a blow against petty city tyranny.
"Gardening is part of the basis of human civilization," Roland said. "Is it unusual to have a garden in your front yard? Yes. But the city had no right to demand he remove it."
The board voted 4-1 in Tricamo's favor.
But board chairman Joe Schroeder, who cast the lone vote to uphold the citation, said the ruling should not be construed as support for Tricamo's endeavor.
"The board felt that, technically, he had the law in his favor," Schroeder said. "But I think that all of us on the board agreed that the garden is an eyesore. It goes against common sense, really, to put a garden in the front yard instead of the back."
Schroeder said he wondered what Tricamo's yard will look like when the growing season is over.
"Will it be a patch of mud?" he asked.
Tricamo and his fiancée, Nikki Brandt, 26, had their first child, Kae, five months ago. Tricamo, a stay-at-home dad, said he planted the garden as a way to sustain his family in a healthy, environmentally sound way. The garden requires less water than a typical lawn, the couple says, and the 55 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, grain, and herbs has nearly sustained the family for the last two months. They spend little at the grocery store.
They have been careful to plant taller, flowering grains and plants near the street to camouflage other plants behind them. Just because the garden is different, they point out, doesn't make it any less attractive than the grass that used to cover the yard. They rent the home and have the full support of their landlord, they said.
In a few weeks, Tricamo will pull out the current garden and plant fall and winter crops. When those are finished producing, he will mulch and plant winter wheat.
Though the citation has been thrown out, the couple has grown weary of repeated interactions with City Hall and visits and drive-bys by code enforcement officers. Tricamo logged his dealings with City Hall and the garden in a blog, vegetableyarden.wordpress.com.
Through it all, the garden has continued to produce — Thursday's haul included a five gallon bucket nearly full of tomatoes, about a dozen peppers, and several squash.
So is this now a victory garden?
"It was a victory garden in the first place," said Brandt.
The resident, Karl Tricamo, had been feuding with the city for months over the vegetable garden he had planted in front of his house in the 300 block of Louisa Avenue.
The city saw the garden as a blot on the landscape and issued Tricamo a citation demanding he uproot the corn, tomatoes, sorghum, peppers and other crops sprouting there and, instead, seed the yard for grass. The garden measures 35 feet by 25 feet.
With the help of an attorney from the Libertarian group Freedom Center of Missouri, Tricamo emerged victorious on Wednesday night when the city's Board of Adjustment voted to throw out the citation against him.
"We felt vindicated," said Tricamo, 29. "I had taken steps from day one that everything would be within ordinance. They just tried to throw everything at us and hoped something would stick."
Tricamo's attorney, Dave Roland, cast the issue as a blow against petty city tyranny.
"Gardening is part of the basis of human civilization," Roland said. "Is it unusual to have a garden in your front yard? Yes. But the city had no right to demand he remove it."
The board voted 4-1 in Tricamo's favor.
But board chairman Joe Schroeder, who cast the lone vote to uphold the citation, said the ruling should not be construed as support for Tricamo's endeavor.
"The board felt that, technically, he had the law in his favor," Schroeder said. "But I think that all of us on the board agreed that the garden is an eyesore. It goes against common sense, really, to put a garden in the front yard instead of the back."
Schroeder said he wondered what Tricamo's yard will look like when the growing season is over.
"Will it be a patch of mud?" he asked.
Tricamo and his fiancée, Nikki Brandt, 26, had their first child, Kae, five months ago. Tricamo, a stay-at-home dad, said he planted the garden as a way to sustain his family in a healthy, environmentally sound way. The garden requires less water than a typical lawn, the couple says, and the 55 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, grain, and herbs has nearly sustained the family for the last two months. They spend little at the grocery store.
They have been careful to plant taller, flowering grains and plants near the street to camouflage other plants behind them. Just because the garden is different, they point out, doesn't make it any less attractive than the grass that used to cover the yard. They rent the home and have the full support of their landlord, they said.
In a few weeks, Tricamo will pull out the current garden and plant fall and winter crops. When those are finished producing, he will mulch and plant winter wheat.
Though the citation has been thrown out, the couple has grown weary of repeated interactions with City Hall and visits and drive-bys by code enforcement officers. Tricamo logged his dealings with City Hall and the garden in a blog, vegetableyarden.wordpress.com.
Through it all, the garden has continued to produce — Thursday's haul included a five gallon bucket nearly full of tomatoes, about a dozen peppers, and several squash.
So is this now a victory garden?
"It was a victory garden in the first place," said Brandt.
