I’ve heard about it before, but it would never work for our area where Spring starts in March. No mow March or April would be great though. We’d have hayfields if people didn’t mow at all in May and it’s past the prime early time for pollinators.
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No Mow May is pretty easy in Maine.
No Mow May is definitely a thing in Minneapolis. We participated last year and almost everyone in our neighborhood did.
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I wouldn’t like the look of a ragged lawn only at my house. But if the whole neighborhood got on board, that would look ok… and be good for the bee population.
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This winter I finally read “The Inconvenient Truth” (Al Gore) book that has kicked around our house for about 20 years. Lots of photos, charts/data stories. Has anybody seen the movie or read the updated version?
Yes, depending on where you live it may be more sensible for it to be no mow April! We also pull up dandelions and put the leaves in our salad. Since our (small) lawn is 100% organic no worries about eating pesticides.
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Yes, our yard - or should I say mower - could MAYBE survive a no mow April but May yikes, it would really be a problem to take care of end of May! I’m cutting for the 3rd time today, April 23 and others around me have done more often!
Our neighbor keeps an IMMACULATE lawn and has already fertilized twice this year (not organic) and it didn’t even need it! His grass is lush, but dude has to cut it nearly every other day!
We try to do little things that make a big difference in our trash output over time, for example we use bar soap instead of liquid soap in the shower, and we buy powdered Tide vs liquid to avoid those big plastic jugs.
I’m trying to reject (refuse) fast fashion which is bad for the environment and garment workers. It’s hard sometimes. I just got sucked into buying a pair of Eddie Bauer pants at Costco because they were cheap and cute even though I don’t need them. I haven’t worn them yet, so maybe guilt will win out and I’ll take them back. I’m also trying to support brands that are more sustainable; companies like Patagonia, with their Fair Trade Certified factory and earth friendly corporate policies, and Chaco, that has a repair program.
(Why Fashion Needs to Be More Sustainable - Sustainable Living)
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We can only make it through April without mowing because our ponies are mowing it. Even then, due to travels in May, we’re mowing next week.
It’s sad that our culture believes we have to fertilize, spray, and mow - mainly due to tradition and being taught how things are “supposed” to look.
But we also don’t want to live in the middle of a hayfield nor do we want obnoxious weeds spreading (ragweed, multiflora, poison ivy), so keeping it trimmed down is helpful. I’m just not fond of the golf course or country club look. I like my lawn a little taller with (wild) flowers intermixed, esp dandelions.
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Due to our travels I keep up with two different churches (different denominations too), one here and one in VA where FIL is - both have online options which I’ve used today.
It was so refreshing to hear both teach/preach that it’s our job to take care of God’s beautiful world and not destroy it.
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My church also has handy online options (live or later/youtube). After Covid, I had to get used to not watching from home in my bathrobe.
Today we had an Earth Day theme (we’re an “Earth Care” congregation). It included a talk afterward from a Bread for The World organization. The tidbit relevant to this thread is that Americans end up throwing out 40% of food. Some of it is probably from home fridge (though from all our posts I know this group tries to minimize that!). Much of the waste is at grocery stores, due to overly conservative expiration dates. In our community I know that some of that goes to organization supplying area food pantry nonprofits, but probably much of it still gets trashed.
Similar stats (US food wasted 30 to 40%) from another source.
key chart
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Our grocery store throws a ton away. It aggravates me a lot and I’ve mentioned it, but just get shrugs. It’s just a branch so the local manager can’t do anything about policy anyway.
Meanwhile food banks in our county do drives to get food.
Oh man, I have that same neighbor and it drives me CRAZY! Our houses are right next to each other and he spends about an hour and a half mowing and blowing 3X per week, and blowing in between to get the one or 2 leafs off of it. He even blows the rain off! His noise pollution will eventually be the trigger for us to downsize to a townhouse!! For Earth Day, I would love to buy him an electric blower to replace the ungodly loud gas one he uses!!
I told my husband I want to do No Mow May (April) next year just to make HIM crazy.
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H and I were recently talking about letting our lawn go even more natural to drive our neighbor crazy too. It would also help counteract the effects on the environment a wee bit by our using even less gas to make up for their continual use of it.
They’ll even ride their lawn tractor to go get mail from their mailbox. Sure it’s a longer driveway, but it’s not that long and they have no physical issues to not walk considering they’ll go on walks at times. They just don’t want to. Occasionally they’ll pick it up driving back in at least.
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LITERALLY the same man! We have 2 huge maples that drop the little helicopters on his driveway and he will go out MULTIPLE times a day to suck them up. I’m sure he would love it if we got rid of those trees. He has NO trees in his yard.
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We have the same neighbor! We are in the WOODS and he still wants his lawn perfect. And in the winter he’s out there with his noisy snowblower while the snow is still coming down hard. We’re just the opposite so we must drive him nuts, too. Right now there are a lot of huge branches down in our front yard. I’ll get them eventually.
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we’ve turned about a third of our front yard, and about half the back yard to non-grass surfaces; either ground cover or meadow. Plan is to get the frontyard to half as well.
I use powder detergent instead of liquid and recycle the cardboard box (both for dishwasher and laundry). A brand called Meloria is made in Chicago and comes in nifty cardboard canisters my husband keeps and uses for stuff. But plenty of natuonal brands can be purchased in cardboard , not plastic.
we buy handsoap in bars, and put it on pretty concrete soapholders I got on Etsy. Again, eliminates plastic. And we use bar shampoo (shampoo pucks) and I use solid conditioner as well. We don’t buy paper towels, either; I have cloth ones.
Still haven’t found a plastic-free sub for toothpaste and dishwashing soap, but we do use bamboo toothbrushes. ( There are lots of toothpaste subs but they are waaay too expensive. )
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Yesterday I bought a large bottle of refillable dish soap at TJ’s for like 2.99! I figure I’ll just refill my current Dawn Dish soap container - we don’t go through tons anyway but refillable helps.
Shampoo /conditioner pucks? Tell me more. Trouble is, if you need a certain formulation I imagine you’re out of luck
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Refills are definitely a step in the right direction (as opposed to buying new 16oz bottles every time)
I buy our shampoo pucks from Etsy; lots of stores have choices but they are pretty much the same as far as I can tell. They last a really long time! The ones with argan oil made my scalp too oily and my favorite is citrus (smells so good).
Lush is also really good for a lot of plastic free alternatives.
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