Issue Two
Let it Grow
Lawn mowing season is upon us. Sure, when you first learned to mow the lawn it was a novelty. It was almost fun writing your name in the high grass with a power tool and all. Then as you got older it became therapeutic. You, alone with your thoughts, the drone of the machine, the smell of the grass. But now, you’ve had it. Fun nowadays is staring at the computer screen, and therapy? Well it’s almost worth the ten-dollar co-pay as long as you can keep it at two times a month. Anything beats mowing.
I know, I know, there are laws. But if a whole bunch of people got together and simply said: "We’re mad and we’re not gonna take it anymore," then maybe the law would change. We don’t need to mow anymore! We don’t need to cut to the boundary to show who owns what piece of land, that’s what we have surveyors and lawyers for, remember? And just think how absolutely beautiful the planet would be if lawns were gone? What beautiful hoods we would have if everyone suddenly said in unison: "LET IT GROW FOR GOD’S SAKE
LET IT GROW!"
What would happen? I’ll tell you.
STOP MOWING in JULY 2001
WEEDS and TALL GRASS by NOVEMBER 2001 (yes there will be mice and rabbits but many people live in the woods quite successfully without them being in the house. Besides, that’s what’s supposed to be out there: Animals. Hello People! We’re not the only ones on the planet you know! No, they don’t attack or bite; that only happens on Monty Python.)
GRASSES DOMINATE by JUNE 2002
You won’t recognize your lawn because it will be gone! The native grasses are ruling the space once again, just like the old days! Birds drop berries that germinate and begin to root.
CHRISTMAS TREES! By JUNE 2014
This is twelve years later folks. Your lawn is a dream past and suddenly your house value is risen because now you live in a secluded wooded area. Very secluded, very wooded. Very dense.. These trees may be 15 feet tall. Squirrels and birds are singing you a lovely song!) You may not be able to walk through this forest yet because the floor is still in the making.
THIRTY YEARS LATER: That would be JUNE 2044
Did you ever walk in the forest and the ground is a soft cushion of pine needles? Well that’s what happened to those Christmas trees that were so dense in your yard…they thinned out below and now maples and other deciduous trees (or those that were able to tolerate the darkness from 2014) can grow taller! It’s a real live forest here. You might even be able to put a picnic table beneath one of those trees. (You’re probably retired by now, a perfect time for a picnic!)
BY JUNE OF 2101 It’s one hundred years of growth! You have a mature hardwood forest. It’s taken a century and maybe you’re even dead, but think of what you’ve left your children? A house in the woods.
Think of what you’ve left the planet! ALONE! Imagine how it would look if ALL the neighborhoods were in the woods! Imagine.