DerekMartin.ca web development, spirituality, UFOs & the occult

Why rake leaves? Why mow lawns?

I complain about this every year, so I thought I should finally turn it into a blog post.

I grew up in the country where lawns were measured in acres.
Now I'm a programmer.
Programmers tend to try to automate anything involving physical labour.
Good programmers also try to avoid doing anything they don't need to do.
Further, I've never been a follower - I always do my own thing.
Together, these facts mean that I am predisposed toward avoiding yard work.

I don't mind doing something if I understand WHY it needs to be done AND if I agree that the NEED is real. Unfortunately, some yard work 'tasks' don't meet those two criteria.

Why do people rake their leaves?
After googling, I found the answer is threefold:

1. So it looks neat & tidy
2. So your lawn can get the sunlight it needs to grow more
3. Because everybody else is doing it

Brett Watts hit the nail on the head when he said "raking leaves is dumb, and you are even dumber for doing it". He went on to give several reasons it's dumb, which I'll paraphrase here:

Reasons Not To Rake Leaves:

1. You need to buy rakes (which probably won't biodegrade)
2. You need to buy bags (which may or may not biodegrade)
3. The "leaf pickup" trucks pollute the environment
4. Leaves left on the ground naturally decompose & fertilize your lawn & flower beds, so you don't need to buy & spread chemical fertilizers and compost (which is partially made from decomposed leaves).
5. Trees drop their leaves in the expectation that they'll be re-absorbed by the soil near their roots, so that the tree can re-absorb those nutrients again in the sprint. By removing your leaves, you are stopping the cycle, and robbing your soil of the nutrients it gave the tree.
6. If you were really raking to give your lawn more sun, shouldn't you also shovel the snow off your lawn to give it more sun?

The only functional reason to rake leaves appears to be providing your lawn with the sunlight it needs to grow, which brings me to my next question:

Why do people mow their lawns?
After googling, I found the answer is twofold:

1. So it looks neat & tidy
2. Because everybody else is doing it

Richard Goerwitz says "Jesus doesn't care if you don't mow. In fact, quite the opposite: He'd rather you gave up materialistic attachments and ornaments like your lawn (Matthew 19:21, Luke 16:13; see also Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, 1 Peter 3:3)". He went on to give several reasons not to mow, which I'll paraphrase here:

Reasons Not To Mow Lawns:

1. Mowers are loud and can damage hearing
2. Mowers are dangerous
3. Mowers put out lots of emissions (far more per gallon than your catalytic-converter-outfitted car)
4. Unmowed lawns give kids more padding to fall on when they play
5. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people prefer non-uniformity, or random shagginess.
6. The mowed lawn only "looks good" because it sends a culturally relative signal about the owner, not because it's actually better that way. It shows that the owner is getting the job done; that he or she is a responsible suburban citizen; that he or she has enough extra time or money to take care of business and keep the place "neat". Conversely, an un-mowed lawn is seen as a sign of unfitness, unability to cope, or as a cry for help.

Wow.
Couldn't have said it better myself.

Michael Pollan of the New York Times had a few more interesting tidbits about lawn mowing. These are from his article "Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns". It can be expensive. The Lawn Institute of America (i'm not kidding) says "lawn cultivation is a $30 billion a year industry". It can be socially coercive. Perhaps you only mow out of a sense of civic duty. Perhaps you don't want to be shunned by your community. He says the traditional stance is that "you should want your lawn NOT to stand out."

Frank J Scott, one of the original proponents of the great American lawn, said "With our open-faced front lawns we declare our like-mindedness to our neighbors".

But isn't that just being a conformist?
Isn't that what we teach our children NOT to do?
Don't we preach "thinking for yourself"?

I don't want to be part of that.
I like how nature looks when it's left to its own devices.
I enjoy "wildness" and the purity.
I don't want to dominate nature, I want to be part of it.

Michael Pollan was on the same page as me when he said "Lawns, I am convinced, are a symptom of, and a metaphor for, our skewed relationship to the land. They teach us that, with the help of petrochemicals and technology, we can bend nature to our will. Lawns stoke our hubris with regard to the land. What is the alternative? To turn them into gardens. Whereas lawn care depends on overcoming local conditions, gardening depends on taking advantage of them."

So, if you really must have a socially acceptable "aesthetic", then I suggest building a backyard habitat, or landscaping yourself out of a lawn by filling the yard with wild grasses, mulch, trees, bushes, trellisses, and a garden. Adopt a permacultural philosophy! Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities and much more.

It's all about being part of the environment, and using its strengths instead of trying to dominate it.

If you really do like raking & mowing, and how it makes your yard look, be my guest, but I've got better things to do, like reading, sleeping, and going poo.