Palaver from Persimmon Crossing
with Warren Faulk
The Longest Yards
Georgia is several years into a significant drought. Our communities are under various degrees of water restrictions. Yards and fields have pretty much dried up. Cows are eating hay that would normally be reserved for the winter. Most of our shallow wells are strained to the limits if not completely dried up. Farmers are pumping water from deep wells to serve livestock that would normally drink at spring fed creeks.One of the things that is most troubling to many is that their lawns are drying up and they can't think of anything to do about it. So I have been doing some thinking.
First a couple observations. When planning or replanning your yard consider the fact that most people in the world don't have a yard or a lawn mower. The yards they do have are designed to fit their needs, not to fill up all the eye can see. Germany is the best example I can cite. I lived in Germany at one point for four years and never saw a lawnmower except in American yards. The German yards were small but well kept and were more garden than yard as we define these things. One of my grandfathers had a reel type push mower and the other had a flock of chickens with which to maintain their yards.
We would do well to realize that:
-
The bigger the lawnmower the more gas it consumes, the more
it pollutes (air and noise), the less exercise you get and the
more trouble it is to maintain. Your yard should serve you and
not the other way around.
Commercial fertilizer pollutes. Not just your yard but the ground water too.
Every area in America has its own native plants that serve very well for landscaping and need little if any help from us. Why not go with the flow?
Fishing is a lot more fun than mowing and watering lawns.
There is nothing wrong with having a few weeds around.
A messy fence row is the best gift you can give to a rabbit or a song bird.
Chickens and purple martins eat bugs.
Hens don't crow and you don't need a rooster to get eggs.
A yard left 5" high, given the selection of an appropriate grass to begin with, is less trouble all around than one that is cut close.
Agent Orange is a defoliant that we once thought harmless. (Are you sure about Roundup?)
One of the most popular insecticides is now being "banned." It has been used inside and out for decades. Now they tell us that it damages nervous systems and may even reduce human IQ. (Typical reaction -- Buy all you can now. It won't be available next year.)
-- Warren Faulk
Smarr, Georgia
Share your reactions with your fellow readers at The Progress Report:
| Page One | Page Two | Archive |
| Discussion Room | Letters | What's Geoism? |
