Pledge to Skip the Lawn Spray and #SaveTheBees #LoveTheWeeds

Saving the bees used to be a regular part of lawn care. I remember planting grass seed with my Dad as a little girl. I studied the bag carefully and noticed that written across the bottom was the phrase “with clover.” The grass seed had clover mixed in as a way of fixing nitrogen to the soil. Clover helped make a lawn healthy and green, that was common knowledge. Our grass was always green, sprinkled with beautiful white and purple clover flowers and filled with yellow dandelion blooms. We would run through the grass searching for white dandelion seed heads that were full of wishes. You know the type, white and fluffy…just waiting for someone to wish on.

I’m not sure when the lawn and garden culture changed and grass seed started coming without clover. Dandelions, clover and other healthy green “weeds” suddenly became the enemy. An enemy so hated that people are willing to hose their lawns down with dangerous herbicides and pesticides to get rid of them. Is it considered affluent to have a “weed” free lawn? Does spraying your lawn with chemicals including roundup, which has been proven to be linked to Parkinson’s disease, somehow make you a better homeowner? It creates a soil that weeds can’t survive in, bugs die in and worms are virtually non-existent In my opinion, it makes you a terrible neighbor and a hazard to our planet!

Living in the country we embrace our weeds. Our lawn is green, greener in fact then the lawns of those who grow a single type of grass and periodically have it hosed down with toxic chemicals. In fact, their lawns are full of brown patches and stringy grass…while our lawn, full of weeds, is lush and green nearly year round…without any intervention from us at all. My children run and play, lay in the grass and hold worms in their hands. I never worry about lawn and garden chemicals harming them, we simply don’t use them.

Due to not using chemicals on our lawn, when we plant our garden it’s easy to see the life in our soil. Upon sticking the shovel into the soil notice a myriad of life: Worms, bugs, ants, spiders and grubs provide an endless source of learning and entertainment for my boys…and frankly for me too! I know the banana peels I’m mixing in, the leaves that I  composted two seasons ago, and the coffee grounds from this morning’s brew are all contributing to this life.

Soil is a living substance.

     When I first heard this phrase it took me some time to wrap my mind around it. “A single teaspoon (1 gram) of rich garden soil can hold up to one billion bacteria, several yards of fungal filaments, several thousand protozoa, and scores of nematodes.” (1) It’s literally teeming with life. Mother nature has created the perfect medium for life to grow and we need to step out of her way! Spraying chemicals on grass, gardens and soils harms this life and works it’s way up the food chain to humans.

Save the bees by skipping lawn spray

     This season, cancel your lawn spray practices. Urge friends and family to do the same. Lawns may transition, mono-cropped grasses that NEED chemicals to survive may phase out, but no need to worry. They will be replaced by lush green weeds that need no care to survive. Crab grass, dandelions and clovers are not the enemy. When the “grass” in the lawns dies off typically these “weeds” survive.  IMO we should be planting more weeds and less finicky grass species that can’t survive without man made toxins. Need some starter weeds? I’m happy to share ours. If you’re nearby stop over and gather some dandelion and clover seed heads. If you are farther away, visit your local national park, farm or other less chemically polluted lawn. Enjoy the return of colorful weeds, worms and a healthier living environment.

     In my opinion, we should be planting more weeds and less finicky grass species that can’t survive without man-made toxins. Need some starter weeds? I’m happy to share ours. If you’re nearby stop over and gather some dandelion and clover seed heads. If you are farther away, visit your local national park, farm or other less chemically polluted lawn. Enjoy the return of colorful weeds, worms and a healthier living environment.

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1. http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/secret-life-soil-0

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