Ideally, I would much rather grow our micro-farm and eliminate a lawn entirely. But it's hard when you have a 4 year old. I feel obligated to create some space for her (and her sister to be in two weeks) to run around and play. I suppose we could go to the park one block away and run around. But it's nice to be able to do that in the backyard. For some reason, having a lawn as the center piece of both our front and back yards seems as American as the 4th of July. Besides, what would the neighbors think if I dug up my front yard and planted a vineyard?
Yet, wouldn't it also be nice to be able to do this:
I can think of a lot of educational benefits to using our space in this sense. It would also be a giant step toward self-sufficiency. And any time our kids wanted to "run around", well, they could do so a block away.
The other issue is time. I have other priorities right now. So the time is not now. But as each spring comes and goes, we have less and less grass. I am able to carve out another garden bed out of our sod or raise one right on top of it.
For now, I haven't touched our front lawn. In fact, in some cities, there are laws that prevent one from having a vegetable garden in the front. But if we are eventually going to sell our current home, I hesitate to start excavating the street side of our house.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think having a lawn is evil. Though, why is it so hard to get rid of it? Why is it so important? Why does it seem as essential as celebrating the 4th of July? Why do I mow it, water it, then mow it again the next week? This cycle seems senseless.
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