Have you ever stopped and really thought about lawns?  I mean who came up with the idea of lawns in the first place?  Originally lawns were simply enclosed areas for the communal grazing of sheep, horses, and rabbits.  Later the pastoral effect of many acres of grazing pasture became a sign of wealth amongst aristocracy and thus became popular as a status symbol.  As floral gardens became more popular, the pasture lawn became more for human enjoyment than for livestock.  Maintenance was very labor intensive as lawn mowers were yet to be invented, so lawn had to be cut by hand - a further sign of wealth if you could afford to employ people to hand cut your pasture just for looks.

Somewhere along the line lawn mowers were invented along with suburbia where every man could have his own castle - so naturally every man wanted a lawn just like the gentry of old.

Well once everyone has something, it stops being a status symbol.  It just becomes an upkeep chore without any payoff.  Now when I was a kid, we played on our lawn - both front and back.  But we didn't know any better and actually exposed ourselves to such unhygienic things as sunshine and dirt and grass and bugs.  I can honestly say that I never saw my boys willingly play on the grass in my back yard and I have never seen any kids playing on the front lawns of any of my neighbors.  So why exactly do we have lawns?

This year I took the step to challenge my stuck mindset about having to have a lawn.  I decided to put in a garden instead.  I have been mowing my backyard for 17 years now for no discernible reason or purpose - so I decided to try something more purposeful - grow food.

Now the soil in my back yard is not great for growing - mostly clay.  So I decided to put in gardening boxes and fill them with really nice soil.  I actually took my first stab at this last year with two garden boxes that I filled with the most expensive soil mixture on the planet.  For the hundreds I spent I got little success...some tomatoes and chard and that was about it.  My fennel never formed a bulb.  My carrots were pathetic.  My beets refused to grow.  My exotic Asian vegetables never even sprouted.

Well my motto has always been that if at first you don't succeed, try harder and try smarter next time.  So I expanded my two-bed garden to a thirteen-bed garden this year.  Instead of buying expensive bags of fancy soil conditioners, I simply had four yards of planter's mix topsoil dumped onto my driveway.  I was even smart enough to hire a willing young lad to move all that dirt back to the planter boxes (thereby saving my back unnecessary pain and disability.)



Some new seed and lots of vegetable starts from the nursery and over night I had an instant garden.  I even cheated and got a couple half mature tomato plants from Costco to put out there since I was getting started on my garden so late in the season.

If you would like to plan out your garden, a really cool online planning tool for designing your garden can be found at:
Garden Planner

So lets see - I planted  several varieties of tomato, eggplant, peppers, summer squashes, winter squashes, herbs, and even a pumpkin.  From seed I have beets, Japanese radish, Roma beans, sweet pea pods, and something else that I forgot what I planted there - but it is up and growing!  As a long-term investment I even put in a bed of asparagus and some rhubarb.  These will need a couple years before my first harvest.

I doubt that this project will actually be any less work than my former lawn was, but it will be a lot more productive and purposeful.  There is something delightful about being able to go out into your backyard and pick a tomato from the vine still warm from the sun and bite down into its messy juiciness.  

I am not sure how wise it was to plant several zucchini and yellow squash as one plant has been known to overload us in the past.  Zucchini are one of those vegetables that demonstrate true friendship - that is, when you are willing to take them from the poor overburdened gardener.  Some of you may have that opportunity later this year.      

This whole process could become infectious.  Of late I have even been entertaining replacing my front lawn with an herb and strawberry garden.  The possibilities are unending.  I think I love the creativity of it all.  Lawns are boring.  Gardens are so much more interesting.  So if I am going to have to go out there and put in a couple hours of work every week anyway, why not do something both fun and interesting?  Soil, sunshine, and water are doing all the real work.  I get to simply tend the garden with my love, and it will gift me with delicious garden delights.

Good Journey,

 

 

david@fairoakshealth.com

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About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
Spiritual Life Coach

 

Somatic Therapies

 

Lorena Morales