Here goes nothin'.
What's my motivation? Why do I want to do any of this? It's so much work, manually removing grass, selecting, placing, and caring for new plants. It costs money (Though, surprisingly little...) Weeding. So much weeding. My yard is not conventionally attractive, by most American lawn standards - all this work and it doesn't even look "better". And now, I'm writing about it.
The root of it all is this: We are in the midst of a massive biodiversity crisis- locally, regionally, and globally. Some of the many threats to biodiversity include global climate change, habitat loss, overharvesting, and herbicide/pesticide overuse. At times this makes me feel so overwhelmingly sad. To me, there is intrinsic value in our planet's plants, animals, and even bacteria. Their lives have value because... well, they just DO.
But if you need to be convinced of their worth, you are on the internet right now - do some digging, look at some reputable scientific publications- you will find that every system on this earth is beautifully, terrifyingly, undeniably interconnected. Nobody is immune. The loss of biodiversity will affect us all one day. Maybe it will mean we don't get to see our yearly hummingbirds at the feeder - poof, there goes some summertime joy, but we can handle that... right? Worse, one day soon it could affect our food supply chain. Fresh fruit and veggies require healthy soil and pollinators and we can't have healthy pollinators if we kill them all - poof, there goes... food. Can we handle that? One could fill books with specific examples of this interconnectedness.
If I allow myself to really run down that road for long enough, I begin spiraling into a feeling of complete hopelessness. But that does none of us any good... right? So, this whole process will, hopefully, help keep me out of that spiral. I can't really control the globe, but I can control the most local - my own home. And I can talk about it with others. When I gaze out at what I've started, I see a small glimmer of hope. A small island of safety for our tiniest, most delicate beings. I also see a kinda messy yard, and I want my neighbors (gosh I hope some of you read this) to understand what you're looking at when you gaze upon my glorious landscaping.
I also don't think it's too much to hope that sharing this step-by-step process may be inspiring. People don't have to be die-hard Bermudagrass murderers, only-native-plant-planters, and anti-all-chemicals like me to create a little island of their own. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all method to do this. We could save a few more of those little lives, together. We are all interconnected, after all. Wouldn't it be super cool if I could help people do that?
Thank you for being here. ~ Kelsey
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