I was gazing out the window the other day at my less than perfect front lawn. The dandelions have started changing from their delightful yellow to their seed heads. A sparrow flew onto the lawn and began hungrily snatching off dandelion seeds and eating them. I had never seen a bird eat dandelion seeds before. For many minutes the bird ate the seeds and then flew away to be replaced by another sparrow picking up some dried flower bits probably for nest making. Then a robin came by and began looking for worms. I could have stayed at the window much longer to watch the constant stream of birds in our yard. They come not because we hang out bird feeders but because we allow the plants in our yard to grow a bit wild. We allow diversity in plants, weeds and seeds.
I glanced across the street and saw a disturbing sight. There was the truck for the chemical lawn service once again in our neighborhood. The gloved employee was dragging out a hose to spray another lawn into perfect greenness. My sparrow would never find a feast of dandelion seeds on that lawn. There is no garden debris for nest making in the perfect bark piled around all their trees. And any robin pulling out a worm is going to get some unwanted chemicals in their diet. The gloves on the hose sprayer and the warning signs posted on the lawn after spraying can't be read by the birds.
How in the world did we come to this way of thinking? When did the diversity of nature become so unwanted? Who has decided that a sterile uniform looking yard is pretty? And if you really want to do some scary reading, and I encourage you to do so, start googling the dangers of the chemicals coming out of those lawn care trucks. We need to change our mindset fast. We are poisoning nature and by default ourselves. I don't know if I can change my neighbors minds. But I know I can can take care of the one small spot of the earth I am directly responsible for - my own yard. So yes I am the house with the yard full of dandelions, the tree line with areas of overgrowth and a garden in the front lawn. Call me eccentric and my yard unruly. I call it diversity.
I glanced across the street and saw a disturbing sight. There was the truck for the chemical lawn service once again in our neighborhood. The gloved employee was dragging out a hose to spray another lawn into perfect greenness. My sparrow would never find a feast of dandelion seeds on that lawn. There is no garden debris for nest making in the perfect bark piled around all their trees. And any robin pulling out a worm is going to get some unwanted chemicals in their diet. The gloves on the hose sprayer and the warning signs posted on the lawn after spraying can't be read by the birds.
How in the world did we come to this way of thinking? When did the diversity of nature become so unwanted? Who has decided that a sterile uniform looking yard is pretty? And if you really want to do some scary reading, and I encourage you to do so, start googling the dangers of the chemicals coming out of those lawn care trucks. We need to change our mindset fast. We are poisoning nature and by default ourselves. I don't know if I can change my neighbors minds. But I know I can can take care of the one small spot of the earth I am directly responsible for - my own yard. So yes I am the house with the yard full of dandelions, the tree line with areas of overgrowth and a garden in the front lawn. Call me eccentric and my yard unruly. I call it diversity.
RSS Feed