I was reading a series of articles this past week, which argued for the development of urban farms as a means to provide fresh vegetables and fruits to the inner city areas at lower costs. I am intrigued by the idea because it is close to my heart. I volunteer at the Food Bank once a week, and walking down aisles in my local supermarket, I am dispirited by the fact that fresh food stuffs are much more expensive than canned, processed foods. With this article rattling around in my head, and with ideas for plans for my own garden coming to fore, I began to think about a trend in home building.
If I am not working on the weekend, I like to walk through neighborhoods with my daughter in tow. One area near my son's fencing class has held me captive. The homes are undergoing quite a change. The square footage of American homes has been ever increasing. The dream of home of the 80's was 1500 sq ft to the dream home of last year being over 10000 sq ft. We are simply making homes larger on the same size lots. The new construction along this stroll consists of homes or town homes taking up virtually all of the lot. Front gardens are strips of grass in most cases, while the back garden is a porch with potted plants. I cannot fathom wishing to live in such a house. More homeowners seem to be considering this trend. A subdivision near my own is contemplating the idea that homes should be allowed to be built up to the property line, with roof lines being permitted to overhang your neighbors property. I asked one resident who was in favor of this proposal what the consequences would be when two neighbors built to the same property line, with the desire to have their roof overhang this line. He felt that would never happen. I am not so optimistic.
I come back home to lie down in the grass with my daughter to watch the birds fly into the homes that we have created for them in the garden. My daughter decides to fight with the bees for control of the flowers, and we both try to figure out what shape that cloud really is. The dog has decided that the sandbox is his, for the time being.
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