Integrated pest management

We don't have a lawn; we have a habitat. And I have chosen to care for it using principles of integrated pest management. This simply means a certain level of "pests" is tolerable and manageable through the controlled presence of competing species. So instead of saturating our green space with petrochemicals to maintain a narrow assortment of grass species, we are cultivating white clover and spreading milky spore. In addition, we have planted a hillside with red clover in order to build up the soil over the next few years. We are taking this approach because most problems with plant health and resilience are rooted (couldn't resist) in poor soil. Creating healthy soil takes time. Pouring fertilizer on weak soil doesn't improve it. It's at best a very short term fix, kind of like Viagra. Most lawns symbolize a triumph of chemicals and will power over the facts of nature. Integrated pest management accepts that the "lawn" is not happening in isolation, that the arbitrary space called "lawn" is a construct in someone's mind and value system separate and distinct from the natural world. Put another way, lawns don't happen in nature. They are the product of turfgrass science, which is a course of study at all land grant universities.
If we lived on a golf course, I'd be consulting daily with a turfgrass specialist. But we live in a clearing in the woods. The old ruins of former habitations on our land remind us of our own visitor status. We are stewards and we are just passing through. And to the moose and bears we may even be pests.
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Petroleum Nightmare

I'm struggling to find a way out of the petrochemical web of deceit. We aren't living in the Information Age; this is still the Petroleum Age. As we helplessly watch the Gulf of Mexico disaster expand, not knowing where and when it will stop and what all it will kill, we continue to depend on petroleum-based chemicals in all aspects of daily life. Nearly everything you purchase and use, including food, is wrapped in petrochemical-based plastic or made from it. Baby toys, baby bottles, IV bags, cell phones, computers, athletic shoes, "fleece" clothing, your car, the inside and outside of your fridge, go cups, feminine hygiene products -- I could go on, but you get the point. Your body, your organism, cannot avoid contact with plastic. Even in presumably inert consumer applications these products do leach out harmful chemicals. They are toxic from cradle to grave. Deadly oil spills, refineries spewing carcinogens, trash that will not decay for thousands of years, this is the dark side of our dependence on petroleum-based plastic. Yes, there are alternatives and some companies are using them. But you can't always find them. So what can you do to reduce your exposure?
Since you cannot eliminate the stuff, it makes the most sense to take a harm reduction approach. Try using less.

Instead of plastic landscape "fabric" make your mulch thicker and don't be afraid to spend time weeding. You'll get exercise and the "weeds" actually are nutrient rich biomass you can compost and use to build up your soil. Instead of bagged fertilizer, find a farm with some livestock and get some manure.

Let your toddler live dangerously and drink from a glass made of glass. Limit the number of plastic toys in your home. Don't bring a new one in without getting rid of an old one.

Get a fountain pen and use it religiously.

Do not buy beverages in plastic bottles. Good luck with this one. A helpful alternative practice is to drink tea brewed with tap water. It sounds ridiculously obvious, I know. If you want iced tea, store it in a glass container.

Ask your favorite deli to use waxed paper containers instead of plastic.

Buy fewer baked goods. Think about all the plastic in the bread aisle.






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