Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Between the Dragonflies and the Monarchs, I think not spraying the lawn for grubs really helps.

I guess it's the Law of Unintended Consequences.

This is when something unexpected happens due to your action or inaction.

The Law, is also one of the things that stuck in my mind from my Sociology courses in university all those years ago.   Fun thing, Sociology.  Half of the course is defining the term Cohesion, the rest of it was using the term in creative ways.

I don't believe in coating your lawn with chemicals unless you really do need it.  If you are having grubs that are killing off the grass and natural means are not controlling them, go for it, but only as much as is truly needed.

In our case, I think my neighbors' spraying pesticides are causing me to be an Island of Nature.  Or perhaps it is merely a nice thought.

I watch what goes on in the front yard very closely.

I chase the ducks off.  That time there was a duck "party" on my front porch that was so loud that through the hurricane glass, I could hear every single one of the seventeen of them that were cramming onto that one female duck at the bottom of the pile.  That was enough.  Chase the female, the males follow.  The eggs they are laying are giving me an opportunity to watch the foxes and perhaps coyotes that come through here at night.  They have a taste for duck eggs just like your "outdoor cats".

If you feed the ducks, you are really feeding the foxes and the coyotes.  The ones that amble about this neighborhood are an introduced species, and not native.  They also bring parasites that sicken your dogs.  There is no such thing as an outdoor pet in suburbia or the city.

Lately I have noticed that there are quite a few Dragonflies taking residence here and at the little M.E. dePalma park nearby.  They, and my treasured Monarch Butterflies shuttle back and forth with great regularity.  

Those grubs sometimes hatch into a mature Dragonfly.  Frequently, by my count.  They are drawing these nondescript birds that have been coming to keep the count of Dragonflies in check.  I'm fine with that, they are in balance with nature.

I'm also noticing that these same birds are not on any of my neighbor's yards.  For the same reasons.  They spray, we don't.

A Green Lawn may be what we have been conditioned to expect in suburbia, but in a climate like ours, that comes at a cost.  You spray, you water, you fertilize, you edge.  Extra carbon dioxide and other pollutants leech into the atmosphere.  Ground water contamination means don't drink that water out of the irrigation that has to happen twice a week, all year around.

It would make more sense to find a landscape more in tune with where you are.   Oh sure, if you live in the UK or Ireland where lawns need nothing but a trim from time to time, great.  I'm in a place in South Florida where I truly have to wonder have we all lost our minds.

Salt intrusion will fix that I am sure.  

Native plants are best.  Following that, as I was told by a lovely Jamaican woman once, they need to give you something back.  Fruiting plants that something can eat as well.  

I guess that is partly why I made it a point to plant a Mango in my own backyard as well.  Can't put the thing in the front yard, after all, I wouldn't get any of them myself!

You see, someone came through the neighborhood the other day and picked every fruit they could reach.  They will be on sale at a flea market near you soon.

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