Lawn 2.0: Natural Lawn Care

Excerpt from Justin West’s masters dissertation

‘Unlawning what we have lawned’

Lawns are to me an embodiment of the confusion which we as a society are experiencing. Lawns reflect our desire, conscious or unconscious, to control our surroundings and separate ourselves. Lawns (urban parks aside) are actually rarely used in the recreational activities for which they are well designed. They are a leftover from the 17th and 18th century European gentry when landowners were few and labour was cheap. They have continued to act as status symbols, and have spread extensively, particularly in the US following the suburban sprawl of post- WWII. In a NASA sponsored study lawns in the US were estimated to cover 32 million acres.

It is the most extensive irrigated crop in the country (about three times that of corn). 50-70% of residential water is used for irrigation. The collective maintenance budget of this ‘crop’ was in the range of 29 billion dollars in 2002, or roughly 1,200 dollars/using household. That something so wasteful can be a sign of wealth is understandable, but how something so lacking in health and diversity can be a sign of wealth is a reflection upon the dearth of ecological education in our society.

The lawn, it seems, separates us like a moat from the untidiness of our surroundings-be they the neighbour’s property, or a stretch of unmanaged woodland. Neighbours come and go, the woodland grows denser and more entangled, but the lawn-moat remains, an embodiment of a seemingly timeless order. This form of tidiness is in actuality, as Bill Mollison says, ‘maintained disorder.’ Lawns are spatially extended without regard for temporality. The striving forward into complexity and diversity is stunted by each pass of the whirring blades. Our abilities to perceive life’s movements juxtaposed with its durational qualities are rendered virtually obsolete in wastelands of ‘lawnliness.’

Due to their very design forest gardens have high potential for replacing unnecessary and unused residential lawns. They are complex and diverse, which means they are not well suited for large scale mechanized operations. However, they are very low maintenance, but require frequent periodic human participation, mostly in the form of harvesting abundant food crops. And…

…they are beautiful.

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Practice Natural Lawn Care

It’s easy to save time and money by putting these steps to work for a beautiful yard.

Mow higher, mow regularly and leave the clippings.

Mow more frequently when grass is actively growing so that you are only cutting no more than one-third of the height of the grass. This practice minimizes the amount of grass clippings. The desired height of grass varies depending on climate. Contact your local Cooperative Extension office for local recommendations. “Grasscycling,” or leaving the clippings on the lawn, doesn’t cause thatch build up—but it does make lawns healthier. Soil organisms recycle the clippings into free fertilizer, and you save all the work of bagging. Modern mulching lawn mowers make “grasscycling” even easier and homeowners can reduce their mowing time by 30 to 40 percent by not having to bag clippings.

Honey, I Shrunk the Lawn!

• Grass grows best on level, well-drained soil in full sun or part shade.
• Consider alternatives to grass on steep slopes, shady areas or near streams and lakes.
• In these areas, it takes a lot of extra work (and sometimes chemicals) to maintain grass.
• Look for other plants, such as ground covers, better suited to soggy soil, slopes or heavy shade.
• Leave or plant a “buffer” of dense native vegetation along streams and lakes to filter and slow run-off, shade and cool the water, provide homes for wildlife and prevent bank erosion.

Lawns need only about one inch of rain a week in summer to stay green. Or you can let areas of lawn that don’t get heavy wear go brown and dormant— they’ll bounce back in the fall.

Overseeding can improve the quality of your lawn.

• Core aerate in the fall to improve root development and water penetration.
• Follow by overseeding thin areas of lawn with grass seed blends recommended for your area.
• Then “top-dress” by raking in quarter- to half-inch of compost to cover the seed and improve the soil.
• Repeat these steps annually as needed to improve poor lawns.

How  Grass  Grows

A letter from Chief Arvol Looking Horse and the 13 Grandmothers

A Great Urgency

To All World Religious and Spiritual Leaders

My Relatives,

Time has come to speak to the hearts of our Nations and their Leaders. I
ask you this from the bottom of my heart, to come together from the Spirit
of your Nations in prayer.

We, from the heart of Turtle Island, have a great message for the World; we
are guided to speak from all the White Animals showing their sacred color,
which have been signs for us to pray for the sacred life of all things. As
I am sending this message to you, many Animal Nations are being threatened,
those that swim, those that crawl, those that fly, and the plant Nations,
eventually all will be affect from the oil disaster in the Gulf.

The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The
catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill which looks like the
bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes that we
cannot afford to continue to make.

I asked, as Spiritual Leaders, that we join together, united in prayer with
the whole of our Global Communities. My concern is these serious issues will
continue to worsen, as a domino effect that our Ancestors have warned us of
in their Prophecies.

I know in my heart there are millions of people that feel our united prayers
for the sake of our Grandmother Earth are long overdue. I believe we as
Spiritual people must gather ourselves and focus our thoughts and prayers to
allow the healing of the many wounds that have been inflicted on the Earth.
As we honor the Cycle of Life, let us call for Prayer circles globally to
assist in healing Grandmother Earth (our Unc¹I Maka).

We ask for prayers that the oil spill, this bleeding, will stop. That the
winds stay calm to assist in the work. Pray for the people to be guided in
repairing this mistake, and that we may also seek to live in harmony, as we
make the choice to change the destructive path we are on.

As we pray, we will fully understand that we are all connected. And that
what we create can have lasting effects on all life.

So let us unite spiritually, All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer. Along
with this immediate effort, I also ask to please remember June 21st, World
Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites day. Whether it is a natural
site, a temple, a church, a synagogue or just your own sacred space, let us
make a prayer for all life, for good decision making by our Nations, for our
children¹s future and well-being, and the generations to come.

Onipikte (that we shall live),

Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
Wolakota.org

CONSCIOUS PARTICIPATION IN HEALING OUR PLANETARY WATERS

OUR MOTHER EARTH NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Along with many peoples all around the globe, and many water prayers this spring, we are calling for a
MASSIVE GLOBAL EFFORT

Our main intention for this healing is to return the waters to their original pure crystalline blueprint, and to add to their abundance for the nourishment of ALL living things on the planet.

Pray in your local waterways, at the rivers or lakes or streams.

Or pray with a bowl of water in the middle of the cities.

We, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers Ask you to join us:
MAY 18, 2010
CONSCIOUS PARTICIPATION IN HEALING OUR PLANETARY WATERS
OUR MOTHER EARTH NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Along with many peoples all around the globe, and many water prayers this spring, we are calling for a
MASSIVE GLOBAL EFFORT
Our main intention for this healing is to return the waters to their original pure crystalline blueprint,

and to add to their abundance for the nourishment of ALL living things on the planet.

“We are Water Babies. Do not to forget

to say thank you every day for the water you drink,

the water you bathe in.

Without our Mother water we would not survive.”
—
Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, Takelma Siletz, Oregon

For more information:
http://www.grandmotherscouncil.com/

www.goldeneagleceremonies.com

Hydroponic Lettuce

Though certainly not the most energy-efficient model I’ve ever seen, this Discovery Channel how-to on growing commercial lettuce using a hydroponic technique is quite interesting, and for me at least was the source of a few nice ideas!