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I was buying gas the other day and I was chatting to the woman buying lawnmower gas beside me how kind of wasteful it is for us to routinely mow our lawns in the big scheme of things. That was when she proudly said she had reduced her lawn from 5 acres down to 3 when the price of gas went high, but is back up to 5 acres.
Now I mow 2 acres myself and I think that is a waste. I have however given back a half acre to the sheep just so they can graze it. Still this lawn thing is perplexing...did you know more land in the USA is in lawns then is in food production! At the same time lawns consume far more herbicides and fertilizers then agricultural land! That is kind of scary since it is predicted in 2050 we are going to run out of arable land to feed the world.
I am all for property rights of tax payers, but I can't help but look at some of these people who have multiple acre lawns and think what a waste...all that fuel going to mow it, and what for? Do they actually use that area for kids to play on, of a baseball game to take place now and then...or is it just mown to "look good?" With Maine losing 5000 acres a year of ag land to development, I almost wish the Gov would step in and stop the huge lawn madness.
With sheep here now, I would reduce my lawn drastically, but the wife is mad enough as is at me for surrounding the house with pasture. Still I have reduced my lawn somewhat. So what about other Hobby Farm Members...is your lawn getting bigger, or smaller...and why did you make that choice? (aesthetics, use, economics, environmental reasons, etc)
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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| Due to our spring fire, we have moved from the farm place to a house in town. So my farm yard is 100% pasture now. In town we "only" have about 1/3 acre and we have yet to get it all mowed at one time. Having lived in Az for so long, I resent spending my "free" time mowing something. I bought a battery operated Neutron mower which I love (although I did have to buy a spare battery). I am planning to add a greenhouse and about a dozen raised beds as well as a fenced area for my dogs this year. Next year I want a pond, a deck and more flower beds. Then perhaps the lawn will be an OK size. (I threaten to bring in a couple goats but I'm not sure how my neighbors would feel about it.) Mary Ann
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DB - good topic.
I've come to the conclusion that most people are very concerned about their image whether it's how they look or if their car is clean or if the house is spotless for guests or if the lawn is perfect. However, they define how those things are suppose to be to them.
Partly, I think this is from advertising and entertainment, kind of like 'keeping up with the Jones'. The people who want to sell you bigger lawn tractors need to convince you that you have to have a gorgeous looking large lawn or who'd buy the tractor. Or how about the companies making products to kill broad leafed plants and try to convince you that those plants don't belong in a lawn. Maybe, somewhere down the line we associated large lawns with wealth - if the lawn is large obviously you have money cause who'd have time to mow it unless they hired someone.
Then, of course, there's the people who seem to have nothing better to do than make sure their lawns come up to some artificial standard that someone else thinks it should look like. Maybe people are just bored and mowing the lawn gives them something to do. Being bored is not something I have much experience with.
Personally, our lawn is the hay field that was around our house when we bought it. When we mow it, it's green, with some beautiful clover thrown in or Indian paint brush or some thyme I added or the violets that have spread... to me it's far more interesting and beneficial for all the beings that use my lawn. My husband would like a larger hayfield/lawn, however, it is getting smaller since I'd rather have fruit trees, veggie gardens, bees, chickens and flowers than lawns. So the lawn is more like very wide paths around the other features.
Why? Well, partly out of respect for the earth and the beings that share this space. Partly because I prefer quiet than motorized machines. Partly because of the beings... they and I prefer the variety. Partly because I love the birds, chipmunks etc and wide expanses of lawn deter those entities. Partly because even though I like a neatly cut hayfield, I don't want to spend hours cutting it. Partly, because having trees ensures we have more moisture in the soil, more shade, more cool in the heat of the summer, more micro climates for growing things like tomatoes up north. Plus, the variety helps keep the bugs down and is healthier for all who share my place.
Cause I like it, and I like the feel of the place that's been created here.
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Starting Member
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| Hey Everyone; Having had to mow a parade field with a 22" briggs, ( Just imagine an entire platoon of soldiers, spaced about 5 paces apart row mowing a parade ground, it was like a giant tree of camo soldiers pushing briggs in shrinking circles) I have to say let it grow!! I would think that having a well defined lawn with hay field and or orchard, garden or berry patch in close proximity to the house would look better than having a stretch of massive ground cut super short and looking all manicured. I think someones garden shows of better than a manicured lawn, IT'S GRASS FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD!! But that is just me, Id rather spend my time on something I can eat than something the live stock wants to eat! Which I might add would more than likely be doing the cutting for me!! Smokebox
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Oh yes VJ...you are right. I forget which herbicide company it was that in the 1960's convinced America that dandelions were a weed and had to be killed to have a nice lawn. Well if the truth be known a dandelion is NOT a weed at all but a legume and therefore does well at nitrogen fixation! In other words it does the lawn good!
I was horrified when I was out in Buffalo MN and the person apologized because she had not sprayed her lawn. She said the lake association required homes to spray because the seeds would blow into other peoples yards and contaminate them.
I'm thinking, a lake association suggested this? Time for the lake association to reassess its priorities. Dandelions actually have use and make for a good feed...if caught at the right time. We cannot harvest dandelion early enough to get it at the right stage so for haylage and winter feed purposes it is useless, but to spray for it...right...like I would spend money on that...and beside a lake...with the rain run-off lawns have....holy smokes get rid of that lake association quick!
Incidentally my sheep, by being allowed to graze on hayfields early in the season, pretty much have rooted it out of existence. In other words my sheep do a better job then a herbicide could ever do, but they work well on all kinds of weeds like smooth bedstraw, poison ivy and queen annes lace as well.
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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Senior Member
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Disclaimer: On the smooth bedstraw and queen annes lace, the sheep do not actually graze it out by eating it to nothing, it is the high nitrogen content in their manure that actually changes the nutrients in the soil which makes it more fertile...something smooth bedstraw and queen annes lace do not like. This change allows grass to thrive and those two weeds to be stressed.
At the same time, sheep manure has about twice the nitrogen potency as cow manure, and cows have mouths that get irritated by smooth bedstraw while sheep do not so sheep do better at getting rid of these two weeds.
Anyway, just wanted to be clear on how and why sheep eradicate these to notoriously evasive weeds from a pasture rather quickly.
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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| We have about an acre of "lawn". It's mostly weeds and scrub grass. No fertilizer or insect poison applied. When mowed it looks passable so my other half keeps off my back because her home looks pretty. There is another reason also. Here in the lowcountry we have tons of snakes and four are poisonous. We have dogs that stick their nose into everything that moves. We also have chickens for egg production. Snakes don't like to crawl in the open too much and usually avoid the low "lawn" areas around the house. Ken
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Since buying our place our "yard" has gotten much smaller. The front is left alone only because that is where the septic tank is and we won't pasture that. The back yard has been taken up by the new barn, pasture, and a huge dog kennel. We actually have to open the pasture gates when the animals are not out to play frisbee with Zoey so she has more room to run. It's still plenty big for BBQ's and my nephews to play in when they come to the country but what isn't dedicated to the livestock is given to the dogs.
Steph
Lazy L Ranch
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Hey Cappy...I can understand the snake thing. I can climb 500 feet in the air and it will not bother me but snakes...that is different. All snakes here are considered lethal because if I see one, I nearly have a heart attack! Actually Maine is the only state in the nation that does not have poisonous snakes, but part of the reason I mow as much as I do is because of snakes...so yes I fully understand.
I will also admit that I use my lawn too, and for people with kids, or who like to entertain a lot, then I have no issues with people having bigger lawns, its just the people that mow because they think it looks good that get me...use if for a garden or something please...
But you really need to be commended Lopers and Labs...you are the minimalist lawn owners that many of us (myself included) should really look up to. Good for you...
Eat lamb...because 50,000 coyotes CAN'T be wrong!
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What's with farmers and snakes?!?!?
I was helping my Finn farmer friend in the hay field several years ago. A snake got caught in the bale stuck under the binder twine. He stopped the tractor and walked backwards and insisted I remove the dead mangled body.
Never seen him like that before nor since. I found it the oddest thing.
Me I find them fascinating - we have no poisonous ones here either, just mostly garter snakes.
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