Dollars for Dandelions

I read recently of a guy who said that in the 1970s in the United States, lawns were fascinating places where kids could play for hours, just discovering all the diversity that was there. As you know, I live in a neighborhood with pesticide-laden monoculture lawns and I am on a little bit of a journey to reverse that at my own home. Our backyard has been pesticide-free for three years now, and, let me tell you, that guy would have a field day out there.

In addition to the two types of clover I plant in my garden, the wild Dutch clover is blooming as well and my younger daughter sits there and picks the flowers and plays some sort of game that I can't hear, peering at her from the kitchen window as I clean up after dinner.

Every other thing growing on that lawn looks like it would do just fine with a splash of balsamic vinegar. The weediest part of the yard, however, is where the water flows from my neighbor's yards when it rains, and since their yards are still chemically-treated, the salad bowl has to stay inside. Ah yes, we are all connected.

My younger daughter made the innocent childish "mistake" of rolling on a nearby lawn the other day and whatever chemical was on it made her entire body break out in a rash within about an hour.

"You can't roll on lawns that have pesticides," I told my daughter.

"What lawns have pesticides?" she asked.

Gosh, this was a sad conversation to me.

"Most of them, honey," I answered, thinking about her playing some game with that clover, thinking about that man who remembered being a boy, playing on lawns.

"At least I can play on ours," she answered, and I nodded and kissed her goodnight. Soon she will be able to play freely on the front lawn as well, since I've canceled the chemical guy (but unfortunately, he showed up recently when I wasn't here and gave one last killer treatment--the day before my final Open Garden, by the way. Oh, how I loved sharing all my eco-ideas with folks as we sidestepped the sea of toxicity!)

I saw my friend Mitzie the next morning and told her about this and she told me her son's face blew up just the other day after playing on some grass. I asked her when was the last time she saw children doing gymnmastics on their front lawns, something my friends and I did for hours, days, months, years. (I can still do a mean handspring!) We both stood there speechless.

When was the last time you saw children play on a front lawn? And not toddlers with moms standing nearby visiting. Older elementary and middle school kids, who are out there of their own volition, with bats and balls or arms upstretched in preparation for a handstand forward roll or front walkover (wasn't the friend who could do the back walkover the most envied kid on the block?)

I started a "Dollars for Dandelions" program here at the Baker house a few weeks ago, when it was clear that my back lawn would be a sea of yellow before long. I offered a nickle a dandelion, and then got wiped out of $20 bucks before I could finish making breakfast. And so eventually it morphed to the current pay scale--a penny for three dandelions. The kids don't make a ton of money, and 10% goes in the charity jar, but they have fun out there on the lawn.

Fun on the lawn. What a concept.

Dollars for Dandelions--A few bucks a week.
Fun on the Lawn--Priceless.