 | No pesticide for the ants. They won't go past a barrier of coffee grounds, so I put them around our house and on the anthills between our patio pavers. No more poisons on weeds in the cracks of our driveway or paver patio. I pour boiling water on them, instead. |
A Change of Attitude and Actions
(2009) by Mary
This entry is about our home in the city, because that is where the change in our attitude and actions began.
Manicured. Yes, that is how I would describe our yard here in the city. Perfection comes in handy at times, and Larry is a perfectionist. Perfection can also undo a person. Logic would tell you when you hire a service to fertilize your yard - you mow, water, edge, and keep the weeds in check - it should look beautiful. Well, it was a thing of beauty until the grubs or fungus hit. Then sometimes a portion would be wiped out in just a few days. Larry would be devastated. Applying F-stop for the fungus was expensive, time consuming, and sometimes not even helpful. I was tired of using poisons; tired of polluting the world for future generations. Larry didn't quite see it that way. Especially since he didn't have answers to the problems. Understandable. Then things fell in place. We agreed on going a different direction, and started on a journey of experimenting in "Going Green." It hadn't been a favorite topic of ours, but there we were, dabbling in it.
I am SO proud of Larry! He stopped catching the grass, and now lets it fall right back on our yard even though it is messy! There are many benefits to that. Also our lawn service son had told us that too much nitrogen was being put on our yard causing weak grass, so Larry found an organic fertilizer and started applying it himself. He has been rewarded immensely. No fungus the first year, and only a little the second. The biggest surprise was that we had a patch in the middle of the backyard that always looked as though the sprinkler missed it. For the first time, it was green like the rest of the yard. Yes, we are learning and changing together, being rewarded for our efforts, and having fun. composting
