I mentioned to someone that a lawn could be made into an old-fashioned diverse garden with fruit trees, berry bushes, flowering bushes, perennial flowers, and wild areas. His response was: won’t the wild animals take the food? Isn’t a manicured lawn good?
To me, this illustrates a few different things.
First, it’s a reminder of the general lack of ecological literacy in our society.
We are in global ecological overshoot, and whatever we can do to regenerate ecosystems – even if it’s “just” converting a lawn into a more natural garden or a food forest, moves us in the right direction.
We have a massive loss of insects here in Norway, and the recent fashioned of overly manicured lawns is part of the problem. Where there used to be trees, bushes, flowers, and wild areas and edges, there is now a green desert that can’t support much if any life. (Pesticides used in agriculture and green area is another reason for the collapse of the insect world, as is natural areas made into buildings and roads.)
Converting a lawn to a more wild area with a diversity of flowers will support the local insects, which is invaluable. What happens to the insects will happen to us. What we do to the web of life, we do to ourselves.
Then, there is the difference between a zero-sum vs win-win mindset.
The fear of animals taking the food comes from a zero-sum mindset. If they take it, there won’t be enough for me. It may be better to not do anything than allowing the wild animals to eat food from the garden.
The reality is that a diverse and lush garden provides more than enough food for everyone. Also, we can get our food from the supermarket, and the wildlife can only get it from nature.
A win-win mindset comes from recognizing that we are all part of the web of life. Our existence depends on a thriving web of life and wildlife. We can’t exist without it.
We all win or we all lose, together. And right now, we are all losing. The whole web of life is losing because of our civilization organized around the idea of separation and a zero-sum mindset.
Recognizing this can be challenging and bring up grief, despair, and more, and the remedy – for us collectively and individually – is for each of us to do what we can, including in our own literal backyard.
The featured photo is from one of the apple trees at my childhood home. The rest are from a recent trip to Drøbak where some old-fashioned gardens still exist.