Ross: Tired of mowing your lawn? The bees might thank you
Apr 26, 2023, 8:17 AM | Updated: 9:36 am
GARHAM, BAVARIA, GERMANY - 2022/04/23: An elderly man mowing the lawn in the yard with a Honda HRX76 lawn mower. (Editors note: The photographer has permission (model release) to license this image from Germany.). (Photo by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(Photo by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
All of us here at Seattle’s Morning News love sunshine.
On most things, we keep our opinions or ourselves, but I think it’s fair to say whenever Colleen or I summarize the forecast, if there’s even a hint that the sun might go full-frontal, we get giddy.
However, if you are a homeowner with a yard, there is one drawback to a sunny spring day in the Pacific Northwest: and that is– the intense social pressure to mow.
I was raised during the dawn of the suburbs, and Dad was an early disciple of mowing culture, so the pressure to mow was passed on to me. And mow I did, even when I got my own home – until I realized no one could really see into our backyard.
So now, except for a few occasional nips and tucks, the backyard is mostly giant fir trees and old-growth shrubbery. I expect spotted owls at any moment.
However, I sense an opportunity to extend this approach to the front yard now. Because according to the Washington Post, there is a NO MOW movement spreading across the suburbs.
The stated purpose of the NO MOW movement is to let the wild daisies and clover take over the lawn so that pollinators can get their fix during the spring. And so, all across America, recovering lawn care addicts are letting their lawns grow and putting up “Natural Habitat” signs – so the pollinators know where the free food is.
But this is not only an amazing display of altruism toward our insect friends. It’s also an excellent way for lazy people to instantly pre-empt any criticism of their unmown yards.
And it means I can now expand my successful neglect of the backyard to the front yard, and if passers-by start flashing the side-eye, I’ll just stand there proudly pointing to my new “Natural Habitat” sign and yell something like “Why do you hate little butterflies?”
And just like that – Saturdays are now free! I love it when you can save the Earth by just neglecting it once in a while.
Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
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