“For nearly as long as they’ve been popular, lawns have served as a totem of middle-class vulgarity, conformity, and excess. In her landmark 1962 book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson denounced the wanton use of lawn pesticides. Carson’s contemporary, activist Lorrie Otto, condemned yards as ‘sterile’ and ‘flagrantly wasteful.’ Polemics as cutting as a mower’s blade have proliferated in the decades since, but lawns abide. Spivak and her team come not to bury them, but to adapt them to the insects vital to the entire ecosystem—and our food supply.”

— Tom Philpott,
Your Perfect Green Lawn Is a Buzz Kill.
Mother Jones,

Continue reading “It’s time to change the standard for American lawns”

It’s time to change the standard for American lawns

Rough draft of our garden plans for 2021

If I have learned anything in going on four years of trying my hand at gardening, it’s that it’s not hard for me to come up with plans.  What’s hard is narrowing down those plans to a realistic list. So I’m going to try something new this year, which I hope will help us best whittle down our To Do List—which is still awesome to behold.
[Courtesy Notice: This is one of my long rambles so you might want to grab a beverage/snack beforehand.] Continue reading “Rough draft of our garden plans for 2021”

Late additions

It got quiet around here for a bit.  What happened was I had a reaction to something and it took me a while to realize what was going on, and also to seek medical attention once realized.  This has not been a fun year, medically, for me.  I’ve got toes and fingers crossed this will be the end of a bad stretch.  (Don’t think I’ve been this sick this long since college!) Continue reading “Late additions”

Note to Future Me #11

Stop dithering and either make two small leaf bins, or figure out how to make the time to clear out all the tiny saplings for the larger spot you and your partner picked but haven’t made time to clear yet.  I’ve already put too many leaves in the compost, though I did at least make sure to make them somewhat easy to take out later.  Sorry about the dithering!  Do better than current me, please.  [Later Note: Woo!  Done!]