Becoming a Nature Steward

Having a lawn is like having a tv but never turning it on. It provides very little use. It is barren and not useful for the local ecology, aka nature. Lawn is great to walk barefoot on and can be used as green pathways, but it shouldn’t be wall to wall carpet. I think we can all agree that we don’t use ALL of our lawn to walk on. Where we live was once an ecosystem. You, me, no matter where you call home, it was once an ecosystem. A thriving micro metropolis of bees, butterflies, insects, snakes, amphibians, birds, fungi and mammals.

So what happened? Well, we came along. Maybe not you specifically bulldozed it and tamed it, but ask yourself, what was my yard before it was a residential lot?

Kids are fascinated with nature if you guide them and cultivate their curiosity.

When you truly sit down in the grass and look at a lawn, lush green or brown and crusty, it is an ecological desert. You may see a Robin or a Leafhopper, maybe a few “pesky” ants, but by and by, it fits the definition of an ecological desert. Not sand dunes and scorpions, but more like the verb, to desert. An abandonment or appearing empty. We’ve deserted our yards and made them inhospitable for nature. Now that seems harsh, and I know folks will think, “have you seen my lawn? It’s the greenest turf on my street!” Well sadly I’m all out of participation ribbons… And let me be clear, not mowing and letting the dandelions and clovers bloom is not helping either. It isn’t. Yes you’ll see desperate bees just barely hanging on for dear life with those scarce dandelion and clover blossoms. But in contrast, what if we were to take that space of now lawn, and push the limits of “holding capacity” (The carrying capacity of an ecosystem is the largest population that it can sustain indefinitely with the available resources, also called the “maximum load”) What if we as the supreme rulers of this planet, saw ourselves as not entitled above all other species, constantly beating back nature away from our yards, but instead saw the obvious and attainable opportunity to compassionately lay the foundation for an ecological eden. We would not only invite nature back in a massive way, but help to reverse the 6th mass extinction. nature is running out of room because we humans have beat it back so much and we’ve destroyed nearly every ecosystem and introduced an army of invasive plants and insects, that nature is now on life support.

Depressing, yes. Solutions? It will take a paradigm shift. A 10,000ft view of how we as humans view our landscapes around us. That boulevard, why is it mowed lawn? Why is there so much lawn in our towns and cities? How much of that can we devote back to nature in a very positive way? There’s so much opportunity in our communities to invite nature back into our lives. That boulevard could be restored to a natural meadow with a chorus of wildflower blooms and drifts of native grasses.

It starts with education and opening our eyes. Asking the important questions with each other. Could we help improve impoverished areas by simply making the landscape beautiful and allowing their children to experience nature or escape to nature without it being a trek out of their way!? Is it not worth investigating? There’s been studies proving that having nature surrounding schoolyards improves concentration and learning, why wouldn’t it help to improve quality of life for others? We don’t like seeing poverty. We want everyone to have a chance to succeed in life. A child born into poverty shouldn’t also be nature impoverished. We can do better for each other and for nature.

Kids thrive when they get to explore outdoors!

We can not only improve nature by inviting it back into our lives, but we can also help ourselves by interacting and witnessing the magic and mystery of nature. We don’t live on the African plains anymore. We don’t have to worry about getting eaten by a pack of lions. We can handle more butterflies, bees, birds and frogs.

So if you’ve read this far, ask yourself, could you cut down on your lawn space? Do you like to see birds and butterflies? Would you like to help nature by providing habitat in your yard? I hope the answers are yes.

A Lorquin’s Admiral on a native Chokecherry shrub in our chicken run.