1 August 2023

At our house, we had a river and a lake front property at least three times per summer. That was because the ravine that runs through our property overflowed and flooded occasionally.

During heavy rains, water from the neighborhood would flow through that drainageway at rates of more than 10 CFM. It rushed through pipes under the street just north of us and accelerated as it winded through our property. Along the way, it would wash away soil, relocating the landscaping. In fact, over time, it created a scenic “cliff,” a difference in elevation of 6 feet in one section. In addition, there is a steep slope that, if not careful, could swallow a lawnmower and the handler.

The worst part was that as the water carved its path with each downpour, the residual water would stand for days in some areas, creating a perfect environment for mosquito hordes.

After years of mowing the slope and the cliff and using various techniques to fight mosquitoes (including the county health department’s help), it was a hot August afternoon in 2010 when we decided we needed to do something differently. We chose to work with the natural vegetation instead of against it.

The goal of most homeowners is to have a neatly manicured and (fertilizer-induced) lawn, void of anything that looks like weed. We also adhered to that cult, spending money, time and energy we can never recover, spreading herbicides and pesticides, doing much more harm than good. Disconnecting ourselves from the manicured lawn paradigm, we chose a different path with the goal of saving our property from erosion.

Let me make clear that we are not landscapers. We had not done this before and were basing the project on our recollection of what we saw during our river hikes to construct something similar. Our first step was to shore up the edges that had been degraded. We imported large river stones to lay down in the drainageway (we now call it a tiny river since it’s pretty!), some soil and mulch to replace eroded soil, and set up cinderblocks to hold it all in place. We next planted shrubs and plants that would root in the soil. We stopped mowing in the most vulnerable areas and started throwing leaves and lawn clippings down instead.

Tiny Forests

Over time, the hands-off approach has resulted in the development of two lovely natural areas that I refer to as tiny forests. There is no more erosion as wildflowers, wild grasses and plants have grown over the soil. Other than hand-pulling dandelion and garlic mustard, we leave much of it untouched.

Along with the functional uses as living sponges to soak up excess water (before the mosquitoes can get comfy), and aesthetics, the small ecosystems (+ older trees) temporarily or permanently house chipmunks, cardinals, blue jays, robins, brown bats, barred owls, rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, deer and most recently, a red-tailed hawk family. The squirrels have lovingly planted their acorns that have become a natural privacy screen, bird nesting areas and migrating birds rest stop.

The experience has taught me that when it comes to land use, it is extremely important to leave space for and share the land with animals and insects. Of course the exception is sharing my vegetable garden---a topic for a future post.