Mower no more.

For years now, and for various reasons, I've been giving out about Lawns and mowers. 'Grass', I will declaim given even a hint of an opportunity, 'is for Cattle!'. Meaning 'Cattle' in the sense of any grazing animal. We fool ourselves into maintaining large tracts of the stuff by telling ourselves it's for the kids to play on. We go into 'annihilation' mode at the first sight of a dandelion, which are a favourite of the beleaguered honey-bee, and fate forbid we should suffer the site of flowering clover. We maintain petrol-engined, carbon-emitting lawnmowers in order to help us keep order on this aspect of the (small 'e') environment at the expense of the (big 'E') Environment. We grumble through pushing the mower around the garden when we feel we have to in order to maintain the neighbours good opinion of us (I'm still in this last camp myself but am making plans to leave 'any day now').

See what I mean? Mentioning lawns to me is virtually guaranteed to get you an express ticket to rant city.

So it added greatly to my personal 'happiness index' to learn of the existence of a growing 'no-mow' movement. I'm not going to list all the sites here - if you're reading this you're already using a Google service (blogger) and there's a good chance that the page it appears on has it's own little Google search box. Off you go now, search for all the reasons why mowing might be killing us all  <calms self> might well be perceived as a significant detriment to the state of the Environment, and then make your own mind up. And while you're at it, have a look for alternatives to 'traditional' lawns. There are lots of ways to use your outdoor space (if you're lucky enough to have some) that can actually contribute to both beautifying your neighbourhood AND the health of the Environment simultaneously.