[rwoodley]

Sure we should all do our part. But farmers could reduce their use of herbicides SLIGHTLY so that milk weed could go on the fringes of farmland like it used to and the problem would go away in very quickly.

I raised this with the Sierra Club of Illinois and they said that Archer Daniels was too powerful and there was no point. But the herbicides are a huge contributor to the problem. We are a democracy, no?

[netule]

Since a few years ago, I stopped using pesticides and herbicides altogether and just let my weeds grow where they like. I live in the Bay Area and once spring comes along my lawn and the sides along my footpaths bloom with clover flowers, dandelions, and other flowers that I don't know. Bees love them and it honestly looks great. I did notice some nightshade plants come up around my back yard, but my pets seem to know instinctively to avoid them, so I'm not taking them down. I recommend it to anyone who is not forced by their neighborhood association or landlord to kill them.

[njarboe]

I started doing the same thing with my front lawn in Oakland, California due mainly to the last drought. It is now socially more acceptable to have a dry, dead lawn in the summer than a green one, so not watering it doesn't make you look like a poor person or a weirdo. Greens up with the first rains and has a lot of different grasses and flowering plants in it from natural seeding. I like it.

The main problem is getting rid of the tall dry fire-hazard stalks when it completely drys out, a few months after the last rain of the season. Mowing leaves lots of straw to track into the house for months. Burning is out of the question in an urban area plus it kills the insect population. Can't keep a goat year round. If I could rent one goat for a weekend, that would be great.

[groby_b]

http://citygrazing.org/

[jorts]

Any pics you can share?