Grass Good, Lawns Bad

I just got this article via Common Dreams: “Lose Your Lawn.”

Hmmm. Something familiar here. Oh yes, on June 21, 2008 I posted “Death to Infidel Lawns.”

Of course, my hatred of bluegrass lawns does not mean I hate grass. I love grass. In fact, I have lush grass everywhere and I even water it–a couple of times a summer or maybe even once a month if we have an abundance of irrigation water. I also cut it–in March, but other than that, the yard’s on its own.

Below, is a photo of our east yard on the 8th of September 2012: 

I can’t–don’t want to?–claim to have a politically correct landscape though. The tree in the photo is a Russian Olive, a noxious weed. So, clearly, I have an outlaw spirit.  Make that a left wing outlaw spirit; I also have  Russian Sage and lots of wonderfully edible white-topped Chinese garlic as well as my oh-so-American native grasses and bushes.

Actually, I’m just cheap and eccentric. I don’t like to waste water, time, and money trying to grow the standard, conformist American lawn. Besides, the occasional English estate excepted, bluegrass lawns are boring.

Cassandra

No Guilt-Free Lunch

A local restaurant just put the most delicious salad on its menu–quinoa and kale. The mix sounds rather icky, but it turned out to be plate-licking good. And now I get to feel guilty about eating it.

“Can Vegans Stomach the Unpalatable Truth about Quinoa?”

There is a ray of hope. A few farms grow quinoa here in Colorado. Should I ask about the source or should I just gobble?

Cassandra

Cut the Grass

We need to cut the budget, right? I suggest we start by cutting military golf courses. Why? Read this: “U.S. Military Spends Tens of Millions of Dollars on Golf Courses, Luxury Perks for Generals”

I protested against blue grass lawns in dry areas back in 2008 in “Death to Infidel Lawns.”  For reasons both aesthetic and socio-economic, golf courses sicken me. However, I do not hate grass. I love grasses. Only the frivolous, wasteful, and inappropriate use grass angers me. Golf courses in non-bluegrass friendly areas gulp water and require more care than a pre-Revolution French aristocrat, and today’s reflexive use of blue grass as a mandatory feature of–

Oh, go read “Death to Infidel Lawns.”

But remember the goodness of grass. Humans crave the beauty of the Savannah where grazing animals produced a mix of lawns and roughs. There, man becomes a part of nature. In contrast, golf courses parody nature and embolden the powerful to waste water, land, and manpower.

The contrast between man in nature and man attempting to dominate nature troubles me every day. So, thinking of man, thinking of grass, I clicked up photos of the water-thrifty grasses  surrounding our house–buffalo grass, blue grama, sand love grass, little bluestem, big bluestem, and side oats grama.

My thoughts wander off topic, distracted by my grasses. Forgive me.

Stop military golf courses. STOP GRASS ABUSE NOW!

Cassandra

Amazon UPDATE

UPDATE to “Amazon, the Eight Hundred Pound Gorilla”:

Dr. Steven Leeb, a regualr contributor on Seeking Alpha, one of my favorite investing sites, carried this column today (12/12/12): “Amazon: Anathema To Value Investors?”

To me, Leeb’s outline Bezo’s vision shows the company’s shrewd, long term legal, but in my view predatory, planning.

How many useful little local companies will fail because of this business model? More importantly perhaps, how many consumers will not be able to buy anything locally when–please note I did not say if, for I too am a long term planner–the internet goes down for long periods of time and then forever. Our energy consumption assures the snapping of the grid at some point, doesn’t it? Or do you think that energy is endless and that growth can go on forever?

Oh well, I suppose by the time the internet fails entirely any surviving local companies would have serious supply problems anyway.

Have a nice day.

Cassandra

Urban Farming

Sometimes I find something positive. As the rising costs of transport, synthetic fertilizer, and other factors kick in, we’re going to need to do more and more of this.

Will Allen: The Urban Farmer

We’re still doomed, of course.

Cassandra

Support Your Local Santa!

A local company installed our EPA-approved fireplace insert three years ago. The insert now supplies almost all of the heating for our house. We love it, but, alas, the tight firebox Santa-proofs our house.

Of course, considering the stats on the first part of this website, that might not be a bad thing:  “What Is Santa’s Carbon Footprint?”

Whoever put this site together might be happy to know that some of the holiday wrapping I use has been recycled many times. I also recycle gift bags I receive. Stuffing a bag is so much easier than wrapping! For couples, I’ve been known to stuff lots of little gifts into a fancy pair of new pillowcases and pin a card on each. Why use any wrapping at all? It ain’t gonna save the planet, but it makes me feel good.

Happy Holidays!

Cassandra

We need more responsible little farms like this one. I’m going to draft a note to Forsyth Township about sustainable farming and the future of the United States. Too many people are still under the delusion that food comes from right from the factory to the supermarkets.

GROWtest.org

Shady Grove Farm, owned and operated by the Buchler family in Gwinn, MI, is in a legal battle with the Forsyth Township over zoning regulations and the right to farm.

View original post

Climate + Human Nature: The End Is Near(er)

The ever cheerful Chris Hedges turned this out today: “Chris Hedges: Stand Still for the Apocalypse”

While Hedges is certainly apocalyptic, he fails to stress overpopulation and to factor in the near certain depletion of necessary natural resources, especially fish, fertile soil, and clean water. While more people are starting to take climate change more seriously, we continue to overfish, overfarm, and pollute without many even mentioning what this means to future generations.

As major investment manager Jeremy Grantham and others have argued, food and water are THE most vital human issues, greater even than a nasty rise in temperatures, which in itself is going to alter the oceans, the land, and our fresh water supply. Grantham’s typically solid predictions popped up today on a financial site: “Jeremy Grantham Warns of No Safety Margin from This Collapse.”

In short, Grantham sees serious unpleasantries as being even closer than Hedges does.

Have a nice day.

Cassandra

Handbasket Report: People Are Expensive

Despite the babbling of a few who contend the world is not filled up, the world is filled up. In fact, overpopulation is likely to be the root cause of more human deaths in the upcoming decades than anything else because the pressure of overpopulation leads to starvation and all sorts of unpleasantries.

If you disagree, look up the word “Lebensraum” or watch Hotel Rwanda. Even reading the Wikipedia entry on overpopulation can be a revelation for some.  However, those are quite abstract in comparison to something most Americans take more seriously–their wallets.

Read this: “The Cost, in Dollars, of Raising a Child”

Add in the upcoming rises in food prices as water becomes scarcer, droughts even more common, and fertilizer rarer and rarer.

Nine billion people by 2050.  And food enough to feed how many?

Nevertheless, I have total confidence in humanity’s inability to control itself.  Ah, babies are so cuuuuuute.  And sex is fun.

Meanwhile, I watch this clock.

Cassandra the Childless

And Sometimes I Get It Right

Surprise, surprise!  BP Gives Up On Cellulosic Ethanol In The U.S.

I remember back when BP was touting their ventures into U.S. non-corn ethanol. I thought, oh, right, THAT’ll work.

But then I am a Cassandra, and everyone seemed so optimistic about everything from switchgrass to algae.  The vote’s still out on the algae–I’m still seeing a big NO WAY–but everything I’ve read on the switchgrass and such projects have proven they work in theory but not in practice. That is, coming up with a lab experiment that shows possibilty does not mean it’s a feasible idea for mass production.

Want ethanol?  Move to Brazil.  They have great heaps of cane left over from the sugar harvest.  It makes great ethanol and they don’t have to devote special fields to it or build tanks or whatever.  They just pick up the waste stalks and make ethanol out if it. Big difference.

Cassandra