these are dandelion leaves what do you
find comes to mind when you see a
dandelion and if this weed we’re growing
in your garden or your yard what would
you feel the urge to do sounds like a
its food every single part of the
dandelion is nutritious delicious and
ubiquitous it’s a wonder weed a snap
snack it’s in everywhere edible
incredibly it’s not the only one
lamb’s-quarter purslane pepper weed
plantain curly dock clover these crops
grow out of cracks in driveways I know
this because all of these plants are
literally growing out of cracks in my
driveway
I call it my thrive way weeds the some
might be a pest but for the birds the
bees and Mees they’re the best they’re
not the testable they’re delectable this
is our backyard when we moved in our
neighbors on all sides kindly and
generously offered their Todd’s to
control what they considered our weed
problem well what makes a weed a problem
what is a weed if kale and spinach
aren’t weeds then why are purslane in
lamb’s-quarter if a daisy is a flower
then why is it edible cousin a dandelion
a weed well let’s ask our local
government according to Lancaster County
a weed is a plant considered undesirable
unattractive or troublesome especially
one that grows where it isn’t once it or
takes the place of desired plants but
the difference between weeds and a
garden is who you’re asking because so
far in my backyard I’ve snacked on or
self-prescribed all of the weeds I’ve
already mentioned Plus elderberries
mulberries daylilies Shepherd Spurs
catnip yarrow motherwort and most
excitingly of all there’s
Lynden tree tree tree growing in our
front yard you can eat the leaves you
can make the flowers into tea and these
40-foot salads are growing as far as the
eye can see they say that money doesn’t
grow on trees but if I save money by
eating leaves off the linden trees then
it kind of does do you agrees do you
cease by just waiting we’ve allowed an
accidental food forest to flourish it’s
like oops food or a lazy lunch
it’s our grocery store and after
experiencing the life-changing
transformation of getting to know the
plants in my yard and letting them grow
I began to ask why oh why would I ever
mow well according to the city of
Lincoln its it shall be the duty of
every owner of real estate in the city
to cut and clear all weeds or worthless
vegetation whenever they shall extend
more than six inches above the ground
failure to do so is a misdemeanor so who
are neighbors who didn’t know what was
growing our backyard was literally
breaking the law but to us it was a
thriving garden the difference between
weeds and flowers was our perspective
today in America grass is our most grown
crop by area by water and by fertilizer
and strangely it’s our only crop that
gets mowed down and unused every year 17
million gallons of gas and oil are
spilled while we’re trying to refill the
tanks of our lawnmowers one running
lawnmower pollutes as much as eight cars
going 55 miles per hour and every day in
America 220 people or I guess a little
less than 220 people are sent to the
emergency room from lawn mowing
a lawnmower eats fossil fuels and farts
global warming gases and a plant eats
some of these greenhouse gases in farts
oxygen and we breathe oxygen right am i
missing something here a lawnmower might
lop off a finger in a plant might be
food we eat food I like all my fingers
just the way they are if it’s so
laughably baffling then why is a mode
one the law of the land
why are we so obsessed with grass well
as it turns out our love of grasses
comes from our past as hunter herder
gatherers short grasses meant meandering
munching mammalian meat or milk makers
were near instead of mowed grass cotton
mood instead of bad lawn care we had bad
lawn care then his wealth collected into
the hands of the few the wealthy lawns
became a status symbol a non-functional
art piece meant to showcase of landlords
dominance over their land and also their
people now fast forward to modern day
suburbia we’ve cast ourselves both as
royalty who are apparently so wealthy we
don’t want food growing around us and as
peasants who have to work all day
partially for food money and then work
extra killing all the food in our yard
that’s how fundamental and worrisome the
MOE mentality is throughout history we
believe that entire races of people are
undesirable unattractive and troublesome
growing where they aren’t wanted and
taking the place of a desired race have
humanity’s worst regimes treated their
unwanted people the way we treat our
unwanted plants my time gardening has
taught me that perhaps our attitude
towards our plants in our land becomes
our attitude towards our animals which
becomes our attitude towards ourselves
and each other instead of cutting each
other down instead of discouraging the
different be a person
or plant let’s commit to understanding
each other and letting each other grow I
was lucky
when I was four my playful plunking on
the piano probably sounded pretty
undesirable unattractive in troublesome
my parents could have saved themselves
more than a few headaches by weeding
that habit out of my garden and telling
me to give it up for good but instead
they gave me space soil and Sun in the
form of a piano lessons and their
unconditional love and support and now
I’m bearing fruit because they let me
grow now they get to come to my shows
and as it turns out not knowing and
therefore growing is just plain easier
and if you tally up the votes from the
rest of the circle of life it’s
democratically better so can we just let
food grow instead of mowing it all down
is that too radical I don’t mean to
offend anybody or scare the children in
the audience with my crazy ideas but
what if we just planted food on purpose
what if Lincoln were lined with fruit
trees vegetables berry bushes and herbs
in addition to our already everywhere
edibles what if the Capitol were
surrounded with corn or native Nebraskan
Prairie or by community gardens or even
goats we have a golden sore on our
Capitol so can we start sowing seeds
instead of mowing weeds now you may be
asking where to start but sometimes it’s
a matter of where to stop you know the
golden rule the one about doing to
others what you want them to do to you
can we start calling it the garden rule
and applying it to our yards as well if
you don’t want someone mowing down your
house with spinning blades of steel then
don’t know anytime you see a plant
animal or anything ask yourself what is
this and how is it awesome because guess
what everything is awesome
that spider that you thought was a
menace might be a talented up-and-coming
web designer that that plant that you
thought was a weed might be your new
deodorant it might help you sleep
it might cure your headache heartache
toothache or bellyache
for heaven’s sake it might be food so
how do we turn our grass into garden do
you have to find the rig to dig or the
will to till they have to toil with the
soil or pay for spray the answer I found
is no I too once had grass in my yard so
I made a batch of what I call lawns Anja
grass cardboard compost seeds water
voila this is my yard just three and a
half months after the first picture my
friends gardening is easy in fact it’s
so easy we’re already doing it and by
letting our everywhere edibles thrive by
growing markets instead of mowing
carpets will be healthier wealthier and
therefore happier we’ll start to welcome
the unfamiliar not with fear anxiety and
anger but with curiosity acceptance and
love we all agree that loving our
neighbor is crucial for a healthful
community so can we extend our
definition of neighbor to include
animals and plants as well and plus what
human neighbor doesn’t love fresh food
in pretty flowers
so in summary let’s look before we cook
perhaps a bunch of munch is right
outside your door saving you the chore
of having to buy more food from the
store
let’s lunch before we punch perhaps if
we share more food will be less rude
let’s plant before we rant this is
another way of saying let’s criticize by
creating let’s seed before we weed I
believe in the seeds of this revolution
so deeply that if you want to turn your
grass into a garden and you can’t do it
on your own and you need a capable
strong young man with a good sturdy back
to help my
friend Casey will help you out but
seriously this is a genuine offer if you
want to pass on grass and get started in
on garden in your land and you need a
hand
understand I’m your man I’ve got a plan
I will show up in my minivan ready to do
what I can so that we can all grow before we mow
find comes to mind when you see a
dandelion and if this weed we’re growing
in your garden or your yard what would
you feel the urge to do sounds like a
its food every single part of the
dandelion is nutritious delicious and
ubiquitous it’s a wonder weed a snap
snack it’s in everywhere edible
incredibly it’s not the only one
lamb’s-quarter purslane pepper weed
plantain curly dock clover these crops
grow out of cracks in driveways I know
this because all of these plants are
literally growing out of cracks in my
driveway
I call it my thrive way weeds the some
might be a pest but for the birds the
bees and Mees they’re the best they’re
not the testable they’re delectable this
is our backyard when we moved in our
neighbors on all sides kindly and
generously offered their Todd’s to
control what they considered our weed
problem well what makes a weed a problem
what is a weed if kale and spinach
aren’t weeds then why are purslane in
lamb’s-quarter if a daisy is a flower
then why is it edible cousin a dandelion
a weed well let’s ask our local
government according to Lancaster County
a weed is a plant considered undesirable
unattractive or troublesome especially
one that grows where it isn’t once it or
takes the place of desired plants but
the difference between weeds and a
garden is who you’re asking because so
far in my backyard I’ve snacked on or
self-prescribed all of the weeds I’ve
already mentioned Plus elderberries
mulberries daylilies Shepherd Spurs
catnip yarrow motherwort and most
excitingly of all there’s
Lynden tree tree tree growing in our
front yard you can eat the leaves you
can make the flowers into tea and these
40-foot salads are growing as far as the
eye can see they say that money doesn’t
grow on trees but if I save money by
eating leaves off the linden trees then
it kind of does do you agrees do you
cease by just waiting we’ve allowed an
accidental food forest to flourish it’s
like oops food or a lazy lunch
it’s our grocery store and after
experiencing the life-changing
transformation of getting to know the
plants in my yard and letting them grow
I began to ask why oh why would I ever
mow well according to the city of
Lincoln its it shall be the duty of
every owner of real estate in the city
to cut and clear all weeds or worthless
vegetation whenever they shall extend
more than six inches above the ground
failure to do so is a misdemeanor so who
are neighbors who didn’t know what was
growing our backyard was literally
breaking the law but to us it was a
thriving garden the difference between
weeds and flowers was our perspective
today in America grass is our most grown
crop by area by water and by fertilizer
and strangely it’s our only crop that
gets mowed down and unused every year 17
million gallons of gas and oil are
spilled while we’re trying to refill the
tanks of our lawnmowers one running
lawnmower pollutes as much as eight cars
going 55 miles per hour and every day in
America 220 people or I guess a little
less than 220 people are sent to the
emergency room from lawn mowing
a lawnmower eats fossil fuels and farts
global warming gases and a plant eats
some of these greenhouse gases in farts
oxygen and we breathe oxygen right am i
missing something here a lawnmower might
lop off a finger in a plant might be
food we eat food I like all my fingers
just the way they are if it’s so
laughably baffling then why is a mode
one the law of the land
why are we so obsessed with grass well
as it turns out our love of grasses
comes from our past as hunter herder
gatherers short grasses meant meandering
munching mammalian meat or milk makers
were near instead of mowed grass cotton
mood instead of bad lawn care we had bad
lawn care then his wealth collected into
the hands of the few the wealthy lawns
became a status symbol a non-functional
art piece meant to showcase of landlords
dominance over their land and also their
people now fast forward to modern day
suburbia we’ve cast ourselves both as
royalty who are apparently so wealthy we
don’t want food growing around us and as
peasants who have to work all day
partially for food money and then work
extra killing all the food in our yard
that’s how fundamental and worrisome the
MOE mentality is throughout history we
believe that entire races of people are
undesirable unattractive and troublesome
growing where they aren’t wanted and
taking the place of a desired race have
humanity’s worst regimes treated their
unwanted people the way we treat our
unwanted plants my time gardening has
taught me that perhaps our attitude
towards our plants in our land becomes
our attitude towards our animals which
becomes our attitude towards ourselves
and each other instead of cutting each
other down instead of discouraging the
different be a person
or plant let’s commit to understanding
each other and letting each other grow I
was lucky
when I was four my playful plunking on
the piano probably sounded pretty
undesirable unattractive in troublesome
my parents could have saved themselves
more than a few headaches by weeding
that habit out of my garden and telling
me to give it up for good but instead
they gave me space soil and Sun in the
form of a piano lessons and their
unconditional love and support and now
I’m bearing fruit because they let me
grow now they get to come to my shows
and as it turns out not knowing and
therefore growing is just plain easier
and if you tally up the votes from the
rest of the circle of life it’s
democratically better so can we just let
food grow instead of mowing it all down
is that too radical I don’t mean to
offend anybody or scare the children in
the audience with my crazy ideas but
what if we just planted food on purpose
what if Lincoln were lined with fruit
trees vegetables berry bushes and herbs
in addition to our already everywhere
edibles what if the Capitol were
surrounded with corn or native Nebraskan
Prairie or by community gardens or even
goats we have a golden sore on our
Capitol so can we start sowing seeds
instead of mowing weeds now you may be
asking where to start but sometimes it’s
a matter of where to stop you know the
golden rule the one about doing to
others what you want them to do to you
can we start calling it the garden rule
and applying it to our yards as well if
you don’t want someone mowing down your
house with spinning blades of steel then
don’t know anytime you see a plant
animal or anything ask yourself what is
this and how is it awesome because guess
what everything is awesome
that spider that you thought was a
menace might be a talented up-and-coming
web designer that that plant that you
thought was a weed might be your new
deodorant it might help you sleep
it might cure your headache heartache
toothache or bellyache
for heaven’s sake it might be food so
how do we turn our grass into garden do
you have to find the rig to dig or the
will to till they have to toil with the
soil or pay for spray the answer I found
is no I too once had grass in my yard so
I made a batch of what I call lawns Anja
grass cardboard compost seeds water
voila this is my yard just three and a
half months after the first picture my
friends gardening is easy in fact it’s
so easy we’re already doing it and by
letting our everywhere edibles thrive by
growing markets instead of mowing
carpets will be healthier wealthier and
therefore happier we’ll start to welcome
the unfamiliar not with fear anxiety and
anger but with curiosity acceptance and
love we all agree that loving our
neighbor is crucial for a healthful
community so can we extend our
definition of neighbor to include
animals and plants as well and plus what
human neighbor doesn’t love fresh food
in pretty flowers
so in summary let’s look before we cook
perhaps a bunch of munch is right
outside your door saving you the chore
of having to buy more food from the
store
let’s lunch before we punch perhaps if
we share more food will be less rude
let’s plant before we rant this is
another way of saying let’s criticize by
creating let’s seed before we weed I
believe in the seeds of this revolution
so deeply that if you want to turn your
grass into a garden and you can’t do it
on your own and you need a capable
strong young man with a good sturdy back
to help my
friend Casey will help you out but
seriously this is a genuine offer if you
want to pass on grass and get started in
on garden in your land and you need a
hand
understand I’m your man I’ve got a plan
I will show up in my minivan ready to do
what I can so that we can all grow before we mow
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