THE LAWN IS MY BANQUET, THE BEES SHALL NOT WANT

Who is your lawn feeding? Anyone? Anything? If you are unsure, the best way to check is to go out there on a sunny day in May and just listen for life. Do you hear anything? Do you see anything? If so, great job! If not, listen up. There is so much potential in that space. You can create a multicultural paradise for insects and birds and everything in between. I know that to many folk local to my part of the world in rural Vermont, this is preaching to the choir. But for those of who still succumb to cultural pressures to mow and blow and add uncalculated amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous to your lawns in some unrelenting pursuit of the American dream, this one’s for you. You can do better by doing less. Those monocultural “chem lawns” are net producers of atmospheric CO2 and serve as food deserts for local ecosystems. What’s more, they are a bit passé. Beneficial landscapes are in vogue. More and more people are moving towards wildflower meadows and multi-use gardens. It’s not only ecologically conscientious, it’s aesthetically hip.