Tom Carroll and Hermine Ricketts

Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll are a married couple who have resided at their modest home in Miami Shores, Fla., for more than 20 years.  For 17 of those years, they grew vegetables in their front yard for their own consumption.  Because their backyard doesn’t get sufficient sunlight, the front yard was the only place where they could grow their vegetables.

Hermine and Tom always took care of the garden to preserve its health and physical appearance.  With great pride, Hermine meticulously maintained and tended the vegetables, weeding and pruning on an almost-daily basis.  An architect by trade, she applied her talents for design to create a garden in a unique front-yard landscape.  In retirement, the vegetable garden provided her with a continuing means to channel her energy and to engage her lifelong passion for design.  Quite often, neighbors and passersby would spot her in the garden and compliment her on its beauty.

But this source of sustenance and solace for Hermine and Tom was uprooted in May 2013, when the Miami Shores Village Council amended its zoning code to expressly prohibit front-yard vegetable gardens.