The Insane American Farm Lawn



 I grew up on the north side of Chicago, in a two bedroom, third story walkup apartment, my early childhood spent on rickety wood porches and hard concrete. When we finally left for the burbs there were 7 of us living in that tiny space, my folks and their 5 kids. The sixth child was smart enough to wait to be born until we had a real YARD.

Being last in the birth order has always had it’s benefits.

Our yard in Warrenville, Illinois was actually a tiny lot but we thought we lived on a football field with all the grass we had to play on. Happy days it was. Then my folks bought a country home with five acres.

Let the serious mowing begin!

But, in the country, yards around the farms were still manageable in size and pastures were allowed to grow as livestock needed a place to run (and food to eat.)

Todays American farm is very different. Drive for 100 miles and you’ll be lucky to see a few cattle out and about, but pigs on pasture are very rare and sheep almost non-existant. We here (not here on South Pork Ranch but “here” in the United States) have evolved into the use of enclosed buildings for raising our livestock and the farm lot that became a farm yard in now a farm lawn.

Lawns…what a waste. It’s not like anyone ever puts up a Badminton net or plays croquet anymore.

So what has happened to all that pasture we had for livestock? Well, most of it has been planted with corn or soybeans or perhaps soybeans and then corn depending on the farmers rotation. And the American Farm Lawns have gotten massive. This time of year the air is filled with the sounds of the ever running mower or the chemical sprayers to keep weeds under control.

Rarely is it a push mower we see or hear but more likely the riding mower or the zero turn mower or the HUGE zero turn mower. We mow and mow and mow chopping up grass that could be perfectly good animal feed.  And then we purchase feed for our livestock who now reside in buildings that are far better climate controlled than this old farmhouse and we go to the grocery store to buy our meat instead of raising critters out front of the farmhouse as past generations used to do.

We too are part of this insanity but we are working hard to break the habit. Less mowing overall, even though that might be hard to believe if you drive up our lane. But if you look closely you might see the grove of trees we let take over a patch that used to be all grass just 19 years ago.