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Two weeks ago, I was watching my neighbor meticulously patch his lawn after spending a half hour edging the sidewalk.
I thought, “If he spent that much time and care on a vegetable garden, he could feed his family all summer long.”
Then last week on my son’s preschool field trip, the instructor showed the kids a photo of a lawnmower and asked what tool did that job 100 years ago on the farm. The scythe was the answer, and I thought, “That wasn’t for cutting grass, it was for field work.” I was struck by the fact that farmers 100 years ago didn’t have lawns. They didn’t have time for them, nor did they probably see the point.
My husband mentioned tonight that people 100 years ago would laugh at us, having just finished jumping around for an hour doing P90X. They would think we did an awful lot of manual labor with no practical result. (I agree!)
When I compare our labors today vs. those of a more agrarian society decades ago, I find myself surprised at how busy we are with so little to show for it.I was inspired on this line of thinking by Annette from Sustainable Eats, who left some zinger winning comments at Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s CAFO post back during the Spring Cleaning carnival. (If you haven’t read that comment thread, it’s a post in itself!)
One of the commenters there was questioning whether slow food and smaller, grass-based farms could possibly feed the world if in fact we could succeed in eradicating factory farming. She firmly believed there was not enough farming land in the world to do it. (Hear Michael Pollan’s perspective on that issue Friday; he answered my question at a talk in April on just this subject!)
Annette pointed out:
“How much lawn do we have in this country? Stop thinking large herds roaming farmland. Everyone with space for lawn should have chickens and/or meat rabbits. They take very little space, are very efficient converters of grass and bugs and are easy to care for and yes, butcher.
It’s time more of us took responsibility for our own inputs and stopped relying on farmers to solve the food crisis.
I have friends who have dairy goats in the city (in Seattle you can have 3 mini goats the size of labs essentially and require the same space as labs, and 3 chickens regardless of yard size.) Goats, chickens and rabbits don’t require much setup and aren’t much more trouble to care for than dogs.
I finally have come around to spending my time not mowing and fertilizing the lawn but instead tending a garden and not walking the dog but raising productive pets instead.”
“I believe that we can feed ourselves sustainably using a traditional food model – by eating less meat, all parts of the animal, not wasting anything, densely planting edibles over ornamentals, learning to make more things with secondary items (like soap from excess animal fats rather than throwing them away) and probably decreasing our reliance upon grain-based foods because they are the least nutrient dense foods we could eat.
By eating less food overall we could make significant strides in opening up valuable farmland or kitchen gardens or family goat runs. And how about not building any more ridiculously sized houses which we then fill up with more stuff than we possibly need? Everything is related and shifting thinking in one area will certainly lead to shifting thinking in others.”
This idea is a paradigm shift for me. I hadn’t thought much before about all the usable land on each individual home’s property, even in the city, for growing food, both the rooted kind and the walking kind. I think of Annette’s concept every time I see a perfectly manicured lawn. It’s just the kind of practical life choice that I could really get behind. (Honey, if you’re reading this post, don’t worry: I still don’t want to get chickens!)
See? What are tractors used for nowadays? Mowing the lawn. It’s urban gardening at its best worst.
My son and I just finished reading Farmer Boy, the third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House” series. Just like what I learned in Little House in the Big Woods, I was struck by the amount and quality of the work the family accomplished in this true story of Laura’s husband’s childhood farm, and how much of it was directly related to feeding their families for the year.
I was inspired to do some landscape gardening with herbs this year, and over the weekend I made sure to get my tomato, cucumber and pepper plants in. It’s not much, but it’s a start! (Tomorrow I’ll tell you the EIGHT things I put in my tomato planting holes – not including the tomato plant!) Real Food on a Real Budget also helped inspire me to get going, since Stephanie Langford admits that, like me, she’s got a brown thumb. Even if you own no land, you might be able to use container gardening to grow a salad on your balcony.
What do you think? Could Americans spend less time tending a perfect lawn, exercising at the gym, and walking dogs in exchange for growing some of their own food? What are you doing with the land you own?
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my parents are a bit too busy to do an full vegetable garden in their yard but they have planted 6 fruit trees in their back lawn (and have spots for 2 more once they find dwarf varieties of the trees they want). fruit trees are super easy because if you don’t feel like picking the fruit yourself, the local food bank will come out and do it for you (and take the fruit but give you the tax deduction)
Carrie´s last blog ..How to Make the Most of Follow Friday
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I’m gonna have to come back and read the comments when my eyes aren’t closing on their own… they look good from what I skimmed! I linked to this on my roundup, and while I love my in-law’s eggs, I don’t know that I could butcher chickens. Or much of anything else, for that matter. I specifically remember that Laura Ingalls Wilder had her appetite spoiled for meat after butchering!
Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Inaugural Garden Update (Week 3, Sigh)
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I do agree, we are doing much of the same on our homestead in Vermont. We are raising chickens and hopefully soon adding goats and sheep. We also started a major garden project this year, which will grow year by year I am sure, until we are at the point that we are at least 75% sustainable – the rest of it being made up for locally.
Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen´s last blog ..How Does Your Garden Grow?
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LOVED this post. You are so right! Lawn care is a huge waste of time and money, and land and water too. It’s so silly from every angle! I wrote about it awhile back too..we definitely have the same feelings on this issue! http://moorethanfine.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-true-feelings-about-lawn-care-late.html
Nikki Moore´s last blog ..A list of fake organic and fake natural products!
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Combing the Net – 6/14/2010 « Honey and Locusts // Jun 14, 2010 at 2:18 pm
[...] Real Gardening vs. American Lawncare — Could Americans relieve world hunger by turning our lawns into food-producing fields? This is a fascinating post that would make Wendell Berry proud. (HT: Trevin Wax) [...]
They did it during WWII in the Victory gardens. I believe I saw a number once that said some 60% of the population had a victory garden in their yard and produced a significant amount of their own food. I don’t know how accurate the number is, but it does indicate that growing our own food is really not beyond us. We just have to be convinced of its necessity.
bibliotecaria´s last blog ..Exploring new vegetables
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I love this idea, I hate to see oversized lawns perfectly manicured, it also means they have used a lot of terrible fertilizer and precious water on a LAWN.
We have a few raised beds and have a plan to turn our entire front yard into a beautiful vegetable/flower garden with paths and a sandbox for the littles, when they have outgrown that they extra blueberry bushes will go there.
Keep planting this seed of an idea in peoples heads, I love it.
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Interesting thoughts. I agree with you to a certain extent-I find myself spending too much time and effort in “keeping up with the Joneses” without much lasting effect.
However, you are missing two things of value when you consider Americans today: the level of advancement and knowledge that our society has obtained as a whole. We would not have the great medical and technology gains without time away from manual labor, ie: mental effort through education. Manual labor takes time away from these things. The level of education 100 years ago was vastly different than we have today.
Secondly, there is something to be said for aesthetic beauty. While it may be a waste of time and resources to spend hours on a lawn, we do receive happiness and our lives our enriched by beautiful things. For some, this may mean looking at a beautiful lawn. We all need beauty in our lives.
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Great article…I definitely agree that sometimes we tend to put an overemphasis on our lawns, as well as our cars, home updates, fashion, etc. I know I tend to spend a little more time on my lawn than I should and perhaps I could use it to grow food and have animals….BUT I live in an HOA and am required to manicure my lawn and it would cost a lot more money for me to do something else and make it look good. Oh and farm animals are out of the question. Plus, don’t you remember (or at least I do) running in the lawn with friends play games as a kid or backyard BBQs. As much as lawns take a bit of time and work they sure have given me a lot of enjoyment.
Matthew B´s last blog ..Welcome Caleb Matthew Becker
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Sorry, I have to speak up here. There is absolutely no way that chickens are easier to care for than grass. My grass gets mowed at most every 2 weeks. That’s it. I do not ever water it. I do not ever fertilize or apply any other kind of chemical.
I hate my grass but I don’t have the time or other resources to rip it out right now. Unfortunately I do not have the time to care for chickens either. I am sure they are worth the work but you can’t invest resources that you don’t have.
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Not considered in this post is the soil conservation that is provided by an established manicured lawn. Also not considered is the mental health and well being of those that “tend” to the manicure and those that simply enjoy the esthetics of the well-manicured yard. A well manicured yard does NOT always require excessive watering and fertilizing and to assume that it does, well you know the catchy phrase about assuming…
I (and my DH) grew up on family farms. Both farms had large yards (about 3-5 acres each) in addition the gardens, cattle pastures, and grain fields. Proper farming and preservation does not require the keeping chickens and other farm animals most likely is forbidden in most HOA’s across the country. (As well as the proper management of their waste products.)
While I could (and have) mow the yard to reduce my DH’s workload around the homestead (now an acre in a subdivision), he finds it to be a stress reliever and enjoyable time to mow the yard. Who am I to not allow this feeding of his soul or dare I say judge or even steal this opportunity from him?
While I do enjoy container gardening and raised beds to tear out established grass and totally replace with gardens is not environmental wise and to change all to raised beds, depriving children of a larger grassy area to run, play (football, kickball, baseball, etc), and learn about the earth (bugs, worms, etc) is selfish and they have never taken a child to the ER with a large gash on his head from running between beds and tripping.
To say nothing about the crossing the line from need gardening to glutenous is a very fine line to cross. Food pantries across the country generally do not accept home processed foods due the fear of distributing food that is not processed properly. (An understandable worry in this litigious society we live in.) So grow only what you will use, not what you will waste.
Also not taken into consideration, is limiting potential resale value by limiting the pool of possible buyers (not just your property but those of your neighbors as well). Wise stewardship of both the kitchen and the home as a whole has to take property values weigh into the decision-making.
Lori´s last blog ..Stoney’s Crew: Back Door Guests Are Always Best!
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Katie Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Lori,
This seems like an important issue for you; for me, it was just an exploration of an idea. I love that my kids can play in our yard, and I wouldn’t advocate getting rid of my lawn entirely. Just not making it perfect and putting some time toward some veggies. I’m all about balance, if you read around Kitchen Stewardship a bit.
Thanks for your perspective,
Katie
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Friday's Frugal Favorites for June the 18th | iGoBOGO // Jun 18, 2010 at 12:01 pm
[...] I loved this very thought provoking post from Kitchen Stewardship on Real Gardening vs. American Lawn Care! [...]