Support My Natural Yard
Donation protected
My name is Janette Rosenbaum, and I am a natural gardener. In my yard on the west side of Madison, I use native plants to create a welcoming space for all the species that call my neighborhood home.
And they come. I have watched monarch butterflies using my hedgerow as a corridor. I have watched twenty birds lining up to use my birdbath. I have watched a mother rabbit nurse her baby right outside my window.
I also know that my natural yard has a bigger impact. I'm a master's student in Environmental Studies, and last semester I wrote a paper about how urban plants are critical to human health, along with a magazine article on how natural yards help save species from extinction.
The city of Madison has been challenging my yard all summer, even though what I am doing is legal with the submission of a natural yard application - which I sent in as soon as I bought my house a year and a half ago. Despite my ongoing efforts to resolve the issue, it wound up in court.
The judge fined me less than $20 and asked me to address some projects that were already on my to-do list. That sounds like a victory to me, but because from the court's perspective I lost, I'm expected to pay for the city's lawyer. If I could afford a lawyer, I would have hired my own! As a student, I've had no income since last fall.
Please support my campaign so that I can keep my natural yard. Paying the court costs myself would mean being unable to afford tuition, and could put me at risk of losing my house - a steep penalty for trying to be a good neighbor.
Thank you for joining me!
And they come. I have watched monarch butterflies using my hedgerow as a corridor. I have watched twenty birds lining up to use my birdbath. I have watched a mother rabbit nurse her baby right outside my window.
I also know that my natural yard has a bigger impact. I'm a master's student in Environmental Studies, and last semester I wrote a paper about how urban plants are critical to human health, along with a magazine article on how natural yards help save species from extinction.
The city of Madison has been challenging my yard all summer, even though what I am doing is legal with the submission of a natural yard application - which I sent in as soon as I bought my house a year and a half ago. Despite my ongoing efforts to resolve the issue, it wound up in court.
The judge fined me less than $20 and asked me to address some projects that were already on my to-do list. That sounds like a victory to me, but because from the court's perspective I lost, I'm expected to pay for the city's lawyer. If I could afford a lawyer, I would have hired my own! As a student, I've had no income since last fall.
Please support my campaign so that I can keep my natural yard. Paying the court costs myself would mean being unable to afford tuition, and could put me at risk of losing my house - a steep penalty for trying to be a good neighbor.
Thank you for joining me!
Organizer
Janette Rosenbaum
Organizer
Madison, WI
