Green

A thin strip of green, waving in a slight breeze. Near the ground where worms and tiny bugs crawl. It grows with thousands of other tiny green strips, all in the same, small plot of ground. You and I call this grass or lawn. It grows wild with glee in many places, but where we want it specifically, it grows with much nurture, labor and sweat. Many times, it fails to grow at all in spite our constant feeding, seeding and toil. This is the story of American homeowners struggling to present a neat and tidy home plot complete with a healthy lawn.

I remember dealing with a balky yard many years ago. Several large swatches of intended lawn were bare. I remembered a bag of lawn seed in the garage, and I freely spread a lot of seed on several bare patches. It was late fall. Of course nothing happened.

Then the winter of 1978/79 happened. 93 inches of snow with months of four-foot packs of snow just sitting there on the ground. I remember six-foot high piles of snow along both sides of the driveway that winter. Awesome amount of snow, and constant drudgery to keep the drive and walks free of snow and ice. It was a monumental task that winter, but it was doable.

Then spring occurred. When the snow melted, I walked through the yard to see how the plants had fared. To my surprise, previously bare patches of lawn were thriving with healthy growth. It seems the long period of snowpack and slow melting nurtured the seeds to produce a vibrant lawn. It was beautiful! I was thrilled.

I had the trees overhead trimmed and thinned that season and sunlight continued to nurture the new lawn patches. They survived well for the next several years.

I learned a lot about grass that year. I came to appreciate sunlight and moisture needed to sustain healthy lawns. How often we forget or simply don’t know. For the future I sold that home, bought a town home without trees, enjoyed the HOA mowing a lawn that prospered well. After that it has been apartment living where the building owner struggles to keep a lush lawn where none will grow! I know what he is dealing with. But I won’t tell him. Besides, he probably know it anyway. Such is life and the struggled to grow tiny green blades.

Enjoy them when you have them. Marvel at the success of others.

December 22, 2025