Grass Paths From Here to There

~ Amusives

I’ve been experimenting with Grass lately – the landscaping variety…

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A Single Blade of Grass – When I was much younger, I couldn’t whistle at all. My aunt could put her baby finger and thumb in her mouth and create a call loud enough that we could hear her half way across town. I could, however, put a blade of quack grass between my thumbs and if I blew at just the right location, I could produce a remarkable call that sounded like… just a minute, I’ll go outside and see if I can still make that sound.

Yes, I can still do it. It makes a sound that is a cross between an angry moose, a scared duck, and the first toots of a horn in the hands of a novice.

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Going to Seed – Grasses eventually produce seed, most of which is a desirable food for some animal I suppose. I like the look of seed heads, especially since they linger long into the winter to provide a welcome relief from endless piles of snow.

Lawn Follies – This spring I embarked on a cunning plan to turn my back lawn into something other than an expanse of mowedness. I chose a simple form which I call a Grassy Path. I’d like to call it something more interesting, like “Wig Wag”, but that word has already been used for other things.

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The Car Guy, who is also the Mower Man, has been very good about mowing between the lines, as it were. This is the Path as seen from the west end of The Red House.

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Here is the path as it heads towards my garden and the playground.

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And here is one border of the path in all it’s seedy glory.

Now the interesting part of this experiment is how people have reacted to it. Adults always ask me what it is and why is it there. Children ask me nothing. They just use it. It is a raceway from the house to the playground. It is a set of hurdles. It is a place to hide when they play camouflage. I use it like a measuring tape when I practice chip shots…

Next year I will undoubtedly create another grassy path. I’d like to do concentric circles, but I don’t know if Mower Man has enough patience to keep that shape mowed for me!

A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.
– Michael Pollan –

Last photo –  grass seed:

17 thoughts on “Grass Paths From Here to There”

    1. Thanks CE – The greatest thing about this grass is that all we do is mow it. No fertilizer, no water, the odd zap of weed killer on individual thistles or dandelions. If there is enough rain, the grass is green. If there isn’t enough rain, the grass is brown.

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  2. I love your grass paths! When we were kids, living in town, we used to make a house with leaves in the front yard in the fall – a living floorplan. They were about the size of your grass walls. We’d rake them into place on the grass, with paths crossing the sidewalk, then put piles of leaves for beds in the bedrooms.

    I did the same with my kids, but since we didn’t have nice, ordered squares of grass out in the country, they were just meandering paths that lead to a big pile of leaves. I was the tickle-monster who chased the kids down the paths at a Frankenstein pace and dumped them in the leaves when caught.

    If the mower man won’t do your bidding, ask those aliens that are always making crop circles.

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    1. Hi Pegoleg – Your comment about the leaves reminded me that when we were kids, we used to take a stick and scratch out rooms in the dirt in our yard. Or we’d outline a hopscotch, or a game of fox and geese tag. Which gives me the idea that next year we could mow a fox and geese tag game on the lawn.
      Do you have the phone number for the aliens who make crop circles – they will undoubtedly enjoy my mowing project more than the Mower Man will!

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  3. You have a beautiful yard. I like your grass paths. They’re so creative and fun. I enjoyed your description of the questions and the uses. Your photos are wonderful and make your thoughts come to life. 🙂

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  4. Hi Margie,
    What a great idea, and it looks fabulous, I love the way you have made the paths, and I can see how the kids would use this to their advantage as well. You really have a beautiful yard, and I think the paths add to it as well.

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  5. What exquisite beauty!! Amazing how the grass changes..depending on the point-of-view. Especially love the dreaminess of that first image.

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  6. What a creative idea, and it’s so beautiful! I echo your no fertilizer, no water, … . I bury vegetable/fruit peels and use as fertilizer for my flower bed and recycle water by pour kitchen water into a small barrel (by the sink), and then carry to the front or back yard to water my plants. Water is not plentiful in Texas as in Canada.

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    1. Hi Amy – Like you, I also bury all my compostable kitchen scraps in my garden.
      While water is plentiful in many parts of Canada, we still do a lot of things to conserve it. Because our water comes from our own well, and we have to dispose of it in our own septic field, we are very aware of the issue of ‘water in, water out’!

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  7. That’s fun. When my kids were little I used to do the opposite. In one of our fields I’d let it grow real high, then cut paths through the tall grass. In some areas it would get close to 4 feet high. They loved running around through those paths!

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    1. Hi BRC – Your grass paths sound like a lot more fun than mine!
      A number of farmers in our part of the world cut mazes through their corn fields and charge the public an admission fee to navigate around the maze.

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    1. Hi JSD – Next year I plan on making the grassy path go elsewhere. From there to here instead of here to there, perhaps…

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