Why mow?

When we bought our first house--a new home without any landscaping done yet--of course we put in as much lawn as possible. But why? Isn't that what everyone does? Yes, but why? It doesn't produce food. It takes lots of time, water, fertilizer and other chemicals to keep looking like it's supposed to. But why do we do it? Why do we mow...and mow...and mow? This question is raised and treated well in this great short article by Michael Pollan entitled, 'Why Mow?'

What's it going to look like?

Newberg wants to know, "What in the world are you doing to your yard?" Well, it's hard to describe, so perhaps I'll just show you what we hope it will look like (sort of). Another question people often want to know is "How long is it going to take?" Well, if all goes as planned, it will take less time than it took to build Machu Picchu.

Children of Sod

Speaking of the earth, I just heard Seth Martin playing songs in concert from his new CD I Stood Upon a High Place. Not only was the music down to earth, but some of it was even about the earth! Not to be missed is the song, "Children of Sod"


Check out this line: "Don't we all feel better when the smell of dirt clings to our skin, pervades us, loves us, and waits for us to ask it to come in?"

This Dirt Soul says, "I dig it"

Grass (and flowers) Growing

Yes, that's right, the seeds have sprouted--grass AND flowers. The 'inter-cropping' is inter-sprouting, and it's fun to see. This fall seeding has been perfect timing--water, sun, water, sun, perfect temperatures. We're looking forward to seeing those strawberry flowers, the white yarrow, the blue bells, the English pink daisies.

Sowing Seed

We got the small plot of lawn seeded this week two days prior to the onset of the rain! We used a seed combination developed by an OSU professor who wanted an eco-friendly lawn that required no fertilizer and little watering. It only needs to be mowed once a month, and can get by with mowing once or twice a year. It has the look of an cottage meadow because it has several varieties of small flowers mixed in with the grass. This allows the different plants to feed each other (strawberry clover returns nitrogen to the soil, eg.), rather than having a mon0-culture lawn which depletes the soil and requires continued applications of fertilizer. It's called 'Fluer de Lawn' and can be purchased at Hobbs and Hopkins in Portland. It will look something like this.

Moving Dirt

This last Saturday, Jillian, Andy Copeland, Nate Hyatt and others moved dozens of wheelbarrows full of soil from one side of the yard, where we'll have a flagstone patio, to the other, where we are backfilling soil behind the growing retaining wall.

Dirt is an anti-depressant?

Yep. This article explains that scientists from Bristol University recently found that despite our obsession with anti-bacterial soap, some bacteria is good for us, and it even makes us happy. The bacteria found in dirt is found to act as an anti-depressant. Many people probably already knew that working in the soil makes them happy, but now it's been shown that this is true. Daniel and Jonathan certainly didn't need this study to tell them that dirt makes them happy. But the study helped keep their Papa from preventing the mud-fest this last Saturday.

Dirt Photos

(Click to enlarge)

A photo exhibit of mine just opened and is now on display at Lindgren Gallery at George Fox University (next to Bauman Auditorium). The title of the show is GROUNDED LIGHT and it helps explain why I think dirt is so important. We come from dirt. We return to dirt. Our food comes from dirt. Our homes are built on dirt. Yet we have a dis-ease with dirt. Why is that? If you see the show, you may understand more about why we're doing what we're doing to our yard. The exhibit has been extended and will be on display through NOVEMBER 6, 2008.

Time to Kill the Lawn?

This article just came out in the Oregonian on Sunday. It asks the question that has partly inspired us to remove all of our grass (and we're only planning on re-seeding about 15-20% of what once was grass).