I’ve never thought of myself in terms of being a trendsetter, nor was I aware that the kind of gardening I’ve been engaged in for the past quarter of a century actually has a name, but it does. It’s called yardening.
I learned about this in mid-April when a lady named Margaret Gerhard a.k.a. Mother Nature, came to Open Circle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and gave a remarkable presentation on the subject.
It was fast-paced and packed with information. The focus was to encourage people to move from large mono culture lawns to making use of every available space to grow food or to create natural habitat for native plants.
Also addressed was the subject of pesticides and the research that gives a clear connection between numerous physical afflictions ranging from various types of cancer to birth defects and autism due to exposure to any type of pesticides.
In addition there is a clear connection between declining honey bee populations and pesticides. Bees cannot survive on mono culture landscapes or the chemicals used to maintain them. If the bee population fails they say humans have two to four years to live.
Other facts presented were that a lawnmower operated for one hour creates as much pollution as driving a car on a 350-mile road trip.
The Wall Street Journal, June 4 and 5, 2011, ran an article on why we must love our weeds. These so-called weeds are actually beneficial food sources, as well as sources of medicine and offer a sustainable alternative to extensive lawns.
Converting lawns to gardens or wild woodlands alleviates water runoff and actually cleans the water that filters through their roots, vastly benefitting the environment.
Comments such as “wild gardens look messy” demonstrate the underlying mindset of humans being in control rather than acting as partners with nature.
In places like Denmark, Sweden, Israel and Alaska they are actually planting vegetables in their parks and in large containers along their streets where people are welcome to eat the produce.
This is only a small fraction of available information the sources of which are varied. Much of it is available online by Googling “wild ones” or “beyond pesticides.org” as well as spcpweb.org. Also, check out VictoryGardenInitiative.org.
The Audubon Society that sponsors the Zooapolis Garden Tours in Fond du Lac on Aug. 9 has long been in the forefront of this movement. More and more people are coming to understand that only by growing their own food can they be sure of receiving the maximum safety and nutritional benefits.
Cities, towns and villages are slowly beginning to see the wisdom in a pesticide free and natural landscape.
It isn’t too late to change our mind set and embrace yardening.
Most lawns are utilized only about one percent of the time and then only small areas, but natural landscapes draw us in and engage us on so many levels of both a spiritual and physical nature.
I’ve never for a moment regretted turning my yard into a pocket-size nature preserve where groups of plants live in a harmonious relationship with birds to bees, butterflies and other citizens and children of nature. And it’s a whole lot less labor-intensive than mowing a lawn.
Margaret Jarek of Fond du Lac writes a column for Action Reporter Media.
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