Dear Humble Human

Tall grasses enhance the soil sponge. We want the soil sponge, we want soft earth to walk upon. It’s time to change how we view our backyard landscapes. Imagine a future where we partake in the environment, we help generate the soil sponge with the willingness to grow wild tall grasses.

On a hot summer day after a fierce fight with the clay dirt patch in the yard, I jammed my shoved into the hard soil. Only the tip stuck. My muscles tensed and twitched in pain. I flopped down, defeated. Alas, the red clay had won this time. I lay on the ground staring up at the wood handle. Whose idea was it to cut grass to the dirt? Or take out the trees and grasses in the cities?

Do we fear tall grasses and weeds so much that we need giant monster machines to clip tiny blades of menacing grass down to an inch or less? Man vs. nature causes us and the planet pain. Biology shows us we’re depleting the microclimate with every cut, every tilled piece of land. Which means we keep the water, and carbon in the atmosphere. Indeed this contributes to the hot summer droughts without rain.

Biology shows us we’re depleting the microclimate with every cut, every tilled piece of land. This means we keep the water and carbon in the atmosphere. Hence the hot summer droughts and run off after major summer rain storms or when the snow thaws and flash floods happen. Melted snow used to drain into marshes, and build up rivers, and stream beds because the soil could hold water. Today that excess water has nowhere else to go. The marshes have been filled in with dirt with houses or strip malls.

Man over nature ideology has dominated over society for a millennium. So now we cut to the DIRT! 

Enter Eeyore character. “Shame. I think we forgot how rivers, streams, and those aquifer thing’s get formed. Too late now. The water is all gone.”

But Eeyore we still have the SOIL SPONGE!

Circling back to the story, two summers later, I have patches of grass two feet high. One area where I’d been successful with in ground compost, sprouted a tomato plant from seed smack in the middle of those tall grasses. Right now it has twelve green tomatoes and one turning red. Can you appreciate that I haven’t watered it once. The potted tomatoes have yet to produce anything.

Imagine the possibilities for other crops! No more need to water! 

AB RA CA DA BRA… (wave magic spade) and….

TA DA…..

Look, we solved the climate crisis….with a SOIL SPONGE!

YIPPEE!! (Do people still say Yippee?)

Moreover, I say to all you wondrous landscapers out there; stop cutting to the dirt! Drop your Weed Wacker! Elevate the mower to the highest setting. Trim only the dead branches, feed the soil, and…

LET THE GRASS GROW!!! 

La La La….LET IT GROW… LET IT GROW….

Everyone sing now….la la la la 

Thank you for reading musings from this master composter and author. If you like the topic, please share on your social media. Have a look at the Compost Coach Patreon Page to learn more, or feel inspired to act.

Spread conversations like the weeds spread their seeds. Be willing to be surprised. 

Planet people prosper!