Grass Roots

We bought our house five years ago, just before we welcomed our fourth child. It was built in 1962 and much of the house, inside and out is all original. It is set on the inside curve of our street so front and side yards face the street. The lot is a quarter acre and the house sits on about half that space. The landscaping is 50 years old. Two spruce trees, a birch, a volunteer larch, a maple, and a hazelnut grace our yard; all mature and in need of pruning. The cedar shrubs are all overgrown and taking over the driveway and the fence. When I went to plant some flowers in those first years of homeownership, I discovered all of the yard that wasn't designated "lawn" was covered in landscaping plastic under the bark chips. The previous owner had put in a few azaleas just before selling that were choking under the plastic.  I remember ripping up the plastic from around the plants in an effort to save them. I felt like the plastic was smothering them and I had to let them breathe! Darren assured me that landscaping plastic was an accepted practice to prevent weeds, but I was never convinced it was healthy.

Aside from mowing and planting a few bulbs, we didn't do anything to the yard in four years.  Then, last year, along with Darren's sister, Dana and her husband, Stephen, we decided to use some of the underused lawn to put in some raised beds and plant vegetables. We put in two boxes that Stephen put together and Darren found a crate box we used for potatoes.  We decided we didn't care if we were successful, we just wanted to give it a try.  We knew that we wanted to grow them without using chemical fertilizers and see what happened. It was a good run.  We really enjoyed making salads with our own vegetables and watching our kids discover the joy of pulling a carrot out of the ground.  And, we were using our yard in a place we never went to unless we were mowing the lawn. It felt good to get out in our own yard and use it for something productive! Productive. Efficient. Organic. Sustainable. Edible. Compatible. These are words that consistently lead to a set of design principles called: permaculture. The dictionary definition (a al dictionary.com):

per·ma·cul·ture [pur-muh-kuhl-cher]  Show IPA

noun

a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Permaculture design combines art and science to create plant guilds that will grow together in abundance, working together to give the nutrients they need without artificial fertilizers and pesticides. The practice also seeks to use water efficiently, often reclaiming water from the land or roofs that is normally wasted. The model is based on the observations of how plants work in harmony in a forest operating in various levels from tall trees to root level.

This all sounded very good to us. We began to think of our yard having lots of potential, but we knew we didn't have the knowledge to start this on our own and we needed a plan. So, we hired Erik Blender, an Ecological Land Steward to help us design our yard.


Now the fun begins!