So, for weeks now, I've been out there on my front lawn about once a week pulling weeds. I went pesticide-free up front just last year, if you can believe it took me that long to catch on to all this (the back yard has been pesticide-free for a number of years now, and the majority of my veggie garden is up on a hill and has always been pesticide-free).
The lawns in my neighborhood are Bermuda grass and they go dormant (which makes them hay-colored) in the brief winter here in Atlanta. When the weeds grow in early spring, it is easy to see them--and pick them. In my neighborhood of over 100 homes, however, there are only about a dozen that have weeds you can see. That's because all those other lawns are dowsed with chemicals. We stay off these perfect lawns so that we don't drag the chemicals back into our home. As a result, we have fallen into a habit of referring to lawns when we are out walking as "poison lawns" and "play lawns." Gosh, didn't they all used to be play lawns?
Anyway, so the pesticide/herbicide thing upsets me the more I find out about it, and the current issue of Pesticides and You doesn't help (here are archived issues, by the way), hitting hard with all the neurotoxin and bioaccumulative effects of these poisons and the "secret inert ingredients," on people (especially children) and animals. Speaking of animals, I'm hearing lots of buzz about dogs that are getting sick from lawn chemicals. In fact, the American Veterinary Medical Association has just added a feature to make it easy for veterinarians to report incidences of suspected pesticide posioning. Also, here is the Beyond Pesticides PDF titled What you show know to keep your pets safe. Do you think our country will take more notice of the effects on dogs than children? Perhaps.
So I go out and pick the weeds, filling a leftover box from last year's CSA deliveries in about a half hour. "For this, I should risk poisoning my children?" I ask myself, looking at the box, looking at the lawn, and again completely perplexed how we have come this far as a society.
Yesterday when I came home I noticed something different, greener. The lawn. The lawn is growing. THE LAWN IS GROWING! OH NO! Not again! Remember last year? The PUSH MOWER?!
Reel Mowers. Pushing On for the Planet.
Sixteen Households Make a Community.
Feeling Edgy. (Or a Completely Honest Lawn Update.)
What Gets Measured Gets Done.
Click, Clack, Mow (and Its Damaging Alternative!)
Do I actually have to get out there and do that again?
I hear the deafening roar of the mega-mowers and blowers as they roll into my neighborhood and think about how one of those riding mowers emits as much pollution as 34 cars. The good news: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tightened emissions standards last September for new gasoline-powered lawn mowers, weed trimmers and boat engines by adopting rules that will require small gas engines to have catalytic converters. The bad news: The rules don't go into effect until 2010 and 2011, and then only affect new motors. According to the EPA, the new regulations, once fully implemented, will eliminate emissions totaling 600,000 tons of hydrocarbons, 130,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and 1.5 million tons of carbon monoxide annually. Both hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide contribute to ground-level ozone, or smog, which is linked to respiratory illnesses as well as premature deaths.
And so, yes, I will push on. Another year of exercise. Meeting neighbors. Noticing things around my property I hadn't noticed before, like that sink hole in the front and the way those magnolia trees self-seeded and the Carolina jasmine growing in the blackberry bushes on the side where I never used to walk before. Meditating as I push up, down, up, down, Zamboni-like, zombie-like. Doing my little tiny bit to make a litte tiny difference. Because children are watching. And playing, once again, on the lawn.
Wanna' join me? (There's this adorable new cord-free battery-powered model if you don't want to go the whole manual push route.)
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7 comments:
Hi Pattie we have a small lawn and I keep the lawn clippings for mulch for our veggie garden. Deb from Nirvana Farm says don't bring things from other properties to you "home farm". We had no mould this year and I am sure the plants were healthier by using our grass cuttings for mulch.
I used to use a hand push mower but not now.
Keep cool dear friend if you continue with your push mower.
Yes, we are being overrun with chickweed. But also the lawn is back and needs to be mown now. Thankfully I have the new push mower I bought last year. Now it's a pleasure to cut the grass--as long as it's not raining.
Maggie! I made such a great pizza the other night and thought of you--but I wasn't able to get a good picture of it--sorry! Oh, and yes, I used the grass clippings on my garden last year, too!
Ed: Where do you get your lawn mower sharpened? Do you do it yourself? I'm thinking that's what I'm going to do. How hard could it be?! (famous last words, right?)
Another reason to get a new mower: my brother used to mow the family lawn as a teenager. He'd be crying by the time he was done due to "allergies." Now he has his own yard and bought an electric mower. No more allergies. All these years he thought he was allergic to grass, but really it was the fumes from the mower.
R&T Mom
Pattie! Sharpening a reel mower is easy and even kind of fun. Here's what I use. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
this is so timely for us! thank you for the post. we have been using a 'community' mower that was carted from home to home. the owner of said mower recently moved and we are in the midst of needing a new one. a push mower! duh! i am giddy thinking about it : )
- tell me more about your cover crop. where are you planting it?
Okay, I'm getting that sharpening kit!
And as for cover crops, I plant them in my veggie beds when I give thm a rest (I rest a couple of differentones, or parts of ones, each season, or at least I try to!) and just in random spots where I think something inrteresting could be growing. Hairy vetch, red and crimson clovers, buckwheat, oats and field peas. They are all so beautiful and good for the soil in different ways.
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