When I was ten, my Nanna paid me a quarter each time I mowed her lawn. I used a reel-type push mower. Each metal wheel had a small capped hole for oiling, and the mower made a pleasant scissoring sound as it cut the grass. It was hard work, but my grandmother’s house, like many old farmhouses, was close to the road, and the lawn was tiny.

Today lawns are huge. In my area of Carbon County we have a zoning designation entitled “rural conservation,” requiring minimum three-acre building lots. These sections should actually be designated “lawn proliferation” zones, since the average home buyer mows the entire three acres. On a summer Saturday afternoon you can hear the roar of the riding mowers up and down the valley.

Residents take pride in a wide expanse of weed-free dark green grass. They fertilize and lime their yards to encourage growth, use insecticides to kill the grubs to keep the skunks from digging holes in the yard, buy herbicides by the gallon to keep the dandelions out, and mow and mow and mow.

We have to rethink this whole idea of what makes a good lawn. Our current view of the perfect lawn is creating a host of problems that involve the mowers, the chemicals, and the lawn itself. I’ll address each of these, and then suggest partial solutions.

Gasoline-powered mowers use petroleum products, probably imported. While a single mower doesn’t consume huge amounts, think of how many times the lawn is mowed, and then multiply that by the thousands of lawns just in Carbon County.

Fuel consumption is not the only issue, of course. Mower engines generate harmful exhaust fumes. Noise pollution is also a problem; if you aren’t using ear protection when you mow, you could very well have hearing problems later in life.

Chemicals are the second big problem. The fertilizer runs off and causes problems in streams and lakes. The herbicides and insecticides seep into the ground water, poison birds and beneficial insects like honeybees, and have potentially harmful effects on your grandkids playing on the grass.

A closely clipped lawn is not much better than asphalt for storm water retention. In addition, such a lawn provides no seeds or flowers for birds, no pollen for insects, no cover or nesting site. Environmentally it is the equivalent of a green desert.

There are a number of steps you can take to mitigate these problems, but the most important first step is to redefine the ideal lawn. Don’t spray the dandelions--eat them in the early spring with bacon dressing, teach your kids to make small wind instruments out of the flower stalks, and make wine from the yellow flowers. Allow a patch of milkweeds to flourish so the monarch butterfly caterpillars have a food source. Break the stem and show your granddaughter why they are called milkweeds.

Allow the skunks to take care of your grub problem. Skunks are fun to watch, they don’t stink if you don’t disturb them, and the holes they dig are relatively small. Just set your mower an inch higher and you’ll be fine.

The final step is to get rid of the power mower and switch to a push mower. I have not taken this step myself, but I can guarantee that when I do, our lawn will be downsized considerably. That’s a good thing.

Roy Christman