Michaelangelica
06-05-2010, 08:05 PM
It's a quiet street in northwest Lawrence. The lawns are green and lush, the heady smell of charcoal and barbecue sauce is in the air, and there's a basketball goal standing sentry to nearly each driveway.
Laura and Devin Zell love their house, their neighbors and their location, and agree that a stroll down their block could write the definition of modern suburbia.
That said, they are planning to change an integral part of that suburban identity one blade of grass at a time.
"To me, a lawn is kind of sad," says Laura Zell, known as Lori to her friends. "I feel that as homeowners, and as apartment renters, whatever it is, we are stewards of this land. And it's our responsibility to take care of it and to use it the way that it's supposed to be used. Not necessarily just for aesthetic purposes. Why not have aesthetics and food and beauty and something that sustains beneficial wildlife?"
In short: The Zells will eschew their piece of Lawrence suburbia for a grass-less lawn. Their front yard will soon be nothing but edible vegetation and walkways. Their back yard will include a swath of grass for throwing around a ball with their son, Henry, 2, but the rest of their lot will be crowded with plants and trees that not only provide beauty, but food as well.
On the organically maintained menu? Strawberries, rhubarb, goji berry bushes, a wildlife garden shaded by fruit and nut trees, a rotating crop of vegetables done in space-maximizing keyhole beds, a grape arbor and even a "beer garden" of brew-making implements shaded by a pergola crawling with viney hops plants. Recycled bricks and decomposed granite will create gardener-friendly pathways, while a super-sized rain barrel system and three-stage compost sorter (for ready, cooking and in-the-works compost), will hydrate and feed the growing vegetation.
Mimicking nature
The Zells' new yard comes courtesy of the permaculture landscaping movement. Started in the 1970s, permaculture is an alternate way of looking at land and the plants that inhabit it.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/apr/21/eating-landscape-permaculture-proves-yard-can-wiel/?print
So many of this type of report in the world press.
I don't think I need post any more
Laura and Devin Zell love their house, their neighbors and their location, and agree that a stroll down their block could write the definition of modern suburbia.
That said, they are planning to change an integral part of that suburban identity one blade of grass at a time.
"To me, a lawn is kind of sad," says Laura Zell, known as Lori to her friends. "I feel that as homeowners, and as apartment renters, whatever it is, we are stewards of this land. And it's our responsibility to take care of it and to use it the way that it's supposed to be used. Not necessarily just for aesthetic purposes. Why not have aesthetics and food and beauty and something that sustains beneficial wildlife?"
In short: The Zells will eschew their piece of Lawrence suburbia for a grass-less lawn. Their front yard will soon be nothing but edible vegetation and walkways. Their back yard will include a swath of grass for throwing around a ball with their son, Henry, 2, but the rest of their lot will be crowded with plants and trees that not only provide beauty, but food as well.
On the organically maintained menu? Strawberries, rhubarb, goji berry bushes, a wildlife garden shaded by fruit and nut trees, a rotating crop of vegetables done in space-maximizing keyhole beds, a grape arbor and even a "beer garden" of brew-making implements shaded by a pergola crawling with viney hops plants. Recycled bricks and decomposed granite will create gardener-friendly pathways, while a super-sized rain barrel system and three-stage compost sorter (for ready, cooking and in-the-works compost), will hydrate and feed the growing vegetation.
Mimicking nature
The Zells' new yard comes courtesy of the permaculture landscaping movement. Started in the 1970s, permaculture is an alternate way of looking at land and the plants that inhabit it.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/apr/21/eating-landscape-permaculture-proves-yard-can-wiel/?print
So many of this type of report in the world press.
I don't think I need post any more