As a child raised on a farm, the concept of traditional chemical lawn care was foreign to me.
We never used fertilizer, weed control, insecticide, herbicide, nor fungicide and somehow our lawn was always healthy and lush year in and year out.
Our Journey
Raised in the countryside, I spent summers running barefoot through the soft country grass; basking in the diversity of plant and insect life that surrounded me. Chirping with crickets and grasshopers, chasing butterflies and fireflies, watching the bee's gather pollen.
The concept of traditional chemical lawn care was a foreign idea. We never used lawn care products, no weed control, fertilizer, insecticides, herbicides, nor fungicides. We never raked the grass clippings or leaves. We never heard of Scotts, TrueGreen or ChemLawn. We simply mowed the lawn and let God take care of the rest.
It wasn't until I moved to suburbs outside of New York City that I discovered the devastating effects chemical lawn care has on the local ecosystem, biodiversity and waterways.
This was revealed one warm summer evening, when my family returned home after a visit to the country. My son said, 'daddy, where's the honey bees?' It was in that moment I realized something was very wrong. I hadn't heard any crickets that summer, nor seen any butterflies or fireflies or bees. In fact, our yard and neighbor yards we're mostly void of life outside of the manicured lawns and flower beds. This ecosystem in which I was living with my family and neighbors wasn't just sick, it was devoid of life.
“My son said, “daddy, where’s the honey bees?” It was in that moment I realized something was very wrong.
I felt a strong calling to restore the local ecosystem back to its natural state.”
As that realization came upon me, I felt a strong calling to restore the ecoystem back to it's natural diversity. I searched out the experts in organic lawncare, attended classes, received certifications, and interviewed numerous professors from Ivy leagues experimenting with the latest organic lawn care techniques. I built a network and uncovered the cutting edge science behind organic lawn care which surprisingly pointed back to the same fundamental ogranic lawn care my family practiced many years ago.
What I discovered is it’s possible to have a beautiful lawn that's beneficial to the environment and can help restore the damage done by years of toxic chemical use.
Like any sick patient, there is a road to recovery. In the case of traditional lawns with a history of chemical use there is usually a 3 - 4 year period to restore the biodiversity needed to sustain a healthy and organic lawn without any chemical interventions. But once you've restored your lawns ecosystem, once that 3 - 4 year period of restoration is over, it requires very little effort to maintain besides regular mowings and infrequent deep waterings.