The lawn. How do you feel about your lawn? Let's have a conversation. Personally, over the last few years I have felt more and more uneasy each time I go out to do lawn maintenance. The time required. The energy required. The fuel required. The CO2 emissions. The noise pollution. The fertilizer. The herbicides. What are we doing? I was indoctrinated early in our first neighborhood on what the "correct" look for your lawn is supposed to be. Perfectly green grass no matter how hot it is, not a weed in sight. Mowed regularly, fertilized on schedule, edged precisely. If you didn't follow the rules, you were a delinquent homeowner AND a bad neighbor. At that first home, we installed our FIRST sprinkler system and our FIRST irrigation well. I've been trying to let go of the idea of having the perfect lawn, but I am a rule follower and the indoctrination is strong! I am definitely going to start this year by ceasing my battle along the property line with the neighbors' clover. But I am hoping to take it much further than that. Now I understand that not everyone has had my experience or needs lawn perfection. But why is it, exactly, that we all feel the need to have about 85% of our landscape made up of grass? If you have small kids who play outside or need some grassy area for entertaining, by all means keep it. There's nothing better. But do we really need to have our WHOLE landscape covered in the stuff? What are you willing to do? Allow more weeds to grow? Devote more space to plants and less to grass? Break away from your lawn looking exactly like the neighbors' and eliminate it entirely? I know I have my own reasons for hesitating. Please share your thoughts and feelings below, especially any personal experiences with converting your landscape away from grass. There has been a lot of great conversation over on Instagram! Join that conversation here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B9r5vEbAWxz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link