Sheet mulching and humanity

I am going to be spending a bit more time on yards than initially intended. That is at least partly because it relates to greater issues.

A few years ago I sheet-mulched a small section of our front yard.

If you are not familiar with the term, you lay down sheets of cardboard or newspapers (if newspapers, six pages thick) and then cover them with mulch and water well.

The way it was supposed to work was that in six weeks I would have a pretty good soil base and it would take out any weeds or grass underneath it.

The positive part of that is that it is still a good piece of ground. Many of the bird and bee-friendly things I planted were perennial and still growing with very little care.

The somewhat flummoxing thing is that it was more like twelve weeks after the start that things actually germinated. I don't know if that was because of the method I used or some other factors.

The unfortunate thing was that it was so much work for such a small patch of ground that I have only tried it one other time, and that was with mixed results.

That means that even though it is much more disturbing for the soil, I am having someone till it to mix in the mulch, and there might even be some spray involved. I am not proud of that, but as someone who is neither physically strong and energetic nor rich, I do have to be practical.

There could be other options that would be somewhere in between in terms of how environmentally friendly they are, but they would also be much more expensive. Back to that not rich thing...

(Plus, most landscaping companies want you to have a lawn, with or without other plants, that they will come regularly and tend to. Even trying to describe what I want gives them the impression I am deranged.)

Regardless, there are two other things I want to mention about sheet mulching, if you are so inclined.

First of all, it used to be much easier to come up with old newspapers. The last time I tried it, I was only able to because someone else had collected some papers when they meant to try it, didn't get around to it, and then were moving and clearing out their garage. The first time, my sisters had ordered some bookcases and I used the cardboard boxes.

You can purchase paper specifically for it, but times have changed and it affects things in ways you don't always expect.

The other thing is where we get to the humanity.

When I was researching sheet mulching, there were things that made sense. For the cardboard packaging, I needed to remove the packing tape. For the newspapers, I didn't use the glossy inserts.

There were comments that all of it was unnatural and bad, that even if the paper was from trees the ink wasn't.

I was worried about that, but it was part of an overall trend that I have seen before.

Some of us will remember Sarah releasing curls to the wind after cutting hair so they could be used in birds' nests in Sarah, Plain and Tall. I once found a post railing against that; that hair is not appropriate material and would tangle the birds feet!

Since some birds do use animal hair -- sometimes longer -- and long grasses, I was not completely sold on that, but I had also seen that you could compost hair and dryer lint. 

No! With your hair dye and shampoos it is all chemical and bad.

You will see similar things about feeding birds and bee houses and pet ownership.

There are things that I am sure are right. I do believe that bees are better off feeding on flowers than leaving fruits out and that leaving food scraps by the road side puts animals in danger of cars. That's completely logical.

I have seen the pictures of angel wing and I know not to feed ducks bread. 

However, if the main theme of the communication is that humans are disgusting sources of contamination... it's not even necessarily that a case can't be made, but that it's not helpful.

What I know how to do better, I will. I will also remain open to learning more and changing how I do things.

I am still here, and I want to be here. I want other people to be here. 

We can work out how to make that better if we have the will. 

That will should not be confused with despising each other. 

I should also note that the warnings about angel wing say what you can safely feed the ducks. The article about not leaving fruits out for bees explained why and talked about how to set up a watering station, which could be helpful.

Some people only have anger and contempt to offer. They are not the best sources.