This year we are getting 'Weed Man' to tend our lawn. This company will make several trips to our lawn this season, aerating, killing moss, fertilizing, and killing weeds. Because 'Weed Man' accommodates so many customers, the company buys its material in large quantities, and the costs are low. In fact, it does not cost that much more to have this company do these things than it would if we did them ourselves.
Why do we do this lawn thing? Our lawn not only gets fed regularly, but we have an underground automatic sprinkler system that came with the house that waters the lawn at regular intervals. I also mow it once a week whether it needs it or not. The lawn is pretty, but is uncompetitive, weak, and pathetic. Without human intervention, it has not a chance against dandelion or a host of other plants that would inundate and take over almost immediately.
About a kilometre from where we live the rainforest starts. Here on the eastern part of the island, the rainforest floor is mostly ferns, and the canopy consists of douglas fir, balsam, hemlock, cedar, and alder. Moving westwards, it begins to rise towards the spine of mountains that run north/south along our island, giving way at a certain altitude to meadow. The rainforest picks up again west of the mountains all the way down to the Pacific shores. Throughout, the rainforest is very dense: in terms of vegetation per square metre, it is the highest in the world. On the west coast of the island, the salal that covers the forest floor rises sometimes 3 metres, and without a machete it is in some places virtually impenetrable.
And so, the lame, weak, lawns of my subdivision are juxtaposed beside a rainforest that is the most prolific landform in the world. We subsidize a pathetic plant while nature not a kilometre away promotes tough, competitive winners.
It is as if we are living in China 150 years ago, when people bound the feet of young aristocratic women in such a way that it was impossible for them to walk as adults. The status of aristocratic women was measured by many things, one of which was their complete inability to walk. Perhaps in the same way we support grass. By doing so, we engage in a warped kind of 'conspicous consumption'. Because we are able to support grass, somehow it reflects our ability to consume.
1 comment:
When living on a corner in a lovely home,in a nice neighbourhood, it seems responsible to have a well kept lawn.
However, living in the forest, as I do, allows for quite a different point of view.
For instance, I LIKE dandelions.
Mostly I have to go across the road to the wide open bluffs to find enough of them to make a dish of breaded and sauteed flowers for dinner. The young greens are spicy and yummy in a salad and the roots, made into tincture, relieve stomach upset.
The petals of fresh new dandelions are sweet and chewy when eaten raw.
The poor dandelion has gotten an unfortunate reputation amongst city dwellers but, here in the country, they are well respected.
Try 'em , you'll like 'em.
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