On The Lawn

            For the original blog post please see Chaos Vanquished 

  While mowing the lawn today I began to muse about the cup holder in which my can of Coca-Cola was stowed on our riding lawn-mower.  It struck me funny that we as a country and a class of people have such few worries in life that we have cup holders on lawn mowers.  Then I began to muse on the idea of lawn.  What are these expanses of grass that we as westerners have such an idea of normalcy about; that some spend so much time nurturing and catering in such specific manners; that hours of childhood are poured into keeping it at certain length in the hot sun (for me a rite of passage was becoming heavy enough to keep the riding lawn-mower running due to the resistance shut off mechanism)? That people in places with serious drought will have to be retrained from watering their lawn?
           Evan Ratliff, in a piece titled "Turf Wars: The Battle Over the American Lawn", cites the National Gardening Association for its statistics of 60 million Americans engage in lawn care methods spending nearly $17 billion a year to professionally maintain them.  These lawns occupy more land than the occupy movement could dream of protesting on, a whopping total of 25 million acres about the size of Virginia!  This idea is so pervasive that communities have regulations and laws dictating grass heights and weed control.  The social images that go with an unkempt lawn are still deeply rooted in middle to upper class Americans in suburban and rural settings.
            Though grassy lawns are convenient for parties, lawn sports, or walking without having to make paths to a certain location or the aesthetic touch of nicely kept green as opposed to bare dirt or rocky soil, where did this idea one having property where most of it is kept and tended a specific way without really producing anything necessary to survival? Spurred by these musings I have decided to take a quick look at the history of the lawn and perhaps when you go out this summer and are pushing that noisy, little, grass-guillotine you will ponder it in a different light.

            Wikipedia defines "lawn" as, "An area of aesthetic and recreational land planted with grasses or other durable plants and can be defined by four characteristics: it is composed only of grass species; it is subject to weed and pest control; it is subject to practices aimed at maintaining its green colour; and it is regularly mowed to ensure an acceptable length" (              with this definition I realize that which I have mowed for so many years falls under the category of "meadow" due to the many other non-grass plants that grow there as well as lacking weed/pest control).  The term goes back to the 16th century in suburban expansion as "an important aspect of the interaction between the natural environment and the constructed urban and suburban space."

These grassy lots originated during the early medieval ages with the segregation of land as that which is set aside for agriculture and that which was used for the grazing of the community's livestock. The name "lawn", originally "laune" has the idea of an enclosed piece of land and often near a place of worship.  The climate of Western Europe made lawns possible to grow where other cultures did not keep them as par of their gardens.
              The popularity of the lawn grew as aristocrats began to pick up.  For the wealthy this was done through the labor of scything and shearing, but also done by grazing animals who will sometimes produce a similar effect. In the Elizabethan times the lawn became a place for walking and social events and were a status symbol which demonstrated the owner's ability to employ and keep an area maintained and beautiful that was for no other purpose than for aesthetic quality.  This is the idea that has carried on much till today.  Think of what was, until recently, called "the American Dream", that symbolic home surrounded by the white picket fence that encloses a lush green lawn.
              Let's not forget that several of  the most expansive American and International, entertainment industries have their roots in the western lawn.  Sports such as Cricket, rugby, polo, football (soccer) and their close relatives baseball and American football all are lawn based sports developed by aristocratic people who found ways to entertain themselves.

              When one considers it, complaining about mowing the lawn is a first-world pseudo care.  It is we who are affluent enough to put time, resources and energy into keeping an otherwise useless plot of land.  Burning gasoline, using pesticides, often pouring palatable, clean water into vast expanses short green plants.  Truthfully, the lawn is an environmental nightmare which is beginning to outlive it's demand.  It will be interesting in the coming years as resources become more scarce and the growing environmental trends continue to see how the western idea of the lawn changes.  I'm not calling for the overthrow of all lawns by any long shot, but the research done for this left a slightly bitter and cynical taste in my mouth over much more than what we do at my house in terms of lawn keeping.  Being responsible is one of the biggest things that we can learn from this. Having the greenest lawn isn't the end all of life, and perhaps using so many pesticides to keep all but that envied green plant away isn't the best use of our environment.  We are stewards of the earth and we should make wise use of its resources, but remember to take into account the local laws on lawn care so you don't get fined.

For the inquisitive, see Turf Wars: The Battle over the American Lawn by Evan Ratliff