Here's Todd, he's a real friendly guy. And I think he's getting his Masters in Regenerative Studies.
Hopefully most people are familiar with Food Not Lawns (it says it all in the name and the Goddess blogged about it once before) so I won't get too much into it. But the organization itself, the chapter in Claremont is an ACTUAL community that will HELP you convert your front lawn into a full-on vegetable and herb garden including POMONANS. They will send out a BUNCH of people to convert your lawn in a single day. A colleague of mine, Anne, who lives in Pomona just outside of the "hysterical" district as she calls it, has had her lawn redone. Unfortunately it was taken over by the invasive nut sedge after some time BUT the Claremont Food Not Lawns group WILL be going back to take care of the nut sedge problem and replant the garden. So if you can't tell by now, they are a very supportive group.
The reason why they prefer to do front lawns is so that it is visible. So that people can understand that there are options to the front lawn. Paula Lantz's interview with the Goddess mentions that there are people that don't like that some homeowners choose to plant foods in their lawn. I for one think that is ridiculous.
Anne brought up a point made by Paul Robbins in his book "Lawn People", that people with lawns and the care for lawns is a cause, for some people, of great anxiety. It is because it is an image that one is upholding for their neighbors. Lawns have a bigger impact on ones life than you'd think. Todd mentioned that the lawn is sort of an extension of the interior home, bringing the well manicured carpeting outside for presentation to the neighbors. I would hate to have to be constantly appeasing my neighbors with my lawn.
One of my Professors Dr. Susan Mulley was also there and she brought up the point of how the shift between lawns and edible gardens has happened repeatedly and is also a source of discrimination. During the war effort (WWII) it was considered patriotic to grow your own food at your home so that more resources could be poured into our troops (those gardens were called victory gardens). Then when that began to calm down and the lawn was replacing edibles it was considered that only immigrants grew their own food and of course immigrants don't know any better and no one likes immigrants!(kidding... or am i?) sad. Now according to Ms. Lantz there are still people in her district that feel others should not be growing food in their lawns! Well... they're stuck in the 50's and aren't very patriotic! (kidding, for reals this time)
The Claremont chapter of Food Not Lawns covers the surrounding areas, so it includes Pomona. I say join them and convert your water guzzling drought inducing lawn into a food production organically grown produce oasis.
Oh and if you want to keep a lawn here are some photos of 241 Franklin in Pomona of the drought resistant Carex pansa
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3 comments:
Yeah, Todd is a great guy. Least people think they get something for free, the deal is that you have to help take out other people's lawn, and then they, in turn, do yours. My friend K had helped, but in the end, I thought they changed the set up, as my friend and her family ended up doing the work themselves. She still benefited grealy from connections she made in terms of materials and technique.
I couldn't get 241 FRanklin to display, but is it "the bamboo house?" I like the idea of the carex pansa for the historic district, as I think it's one that even the hardcores could accept, since it not only looks like grass, it is a very nice shade of green. I live in the heart of the historic district and am one of those that wants something that "goes" with the house. I like in a craftsman, which is a style that I think is in keeping with a native garden. It would be very helpful for people to be given a blueprint for how to convert from lawn to food, or lawn to carex. As a starving student, Ahduhrew, I'd think there's money to be had om helping people who want to convert. I know that I would like to, but frankly I find the process intimidating.
G of P
Fixed the link to 241, it is indeed the bamboo house. you're right, people do have to give in order to get, there are no free lunches.
I agree I would think there would be a lot of resistance to edible frontyards with the craftsman style homes, and there are those that actually USE their lawns (kudos) so carex is a great alternative for the eco-friendlies.
I would gladly offer my services but alas with the amount of time I have left I could never commit to taking up any more projects(and be reliable). But if some of my commitments somehow fall wayward I will definitely consider it, thanks for the idea! I guess that means you'd have to get a huge discount.
ok i fixed ALL the links now
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