The abyss, our lawn!

For the three years we have lived in this house, we have been struggling with what to do for our lawn care.  We have SUCH a disaster of a lawn: weeds, dandelion, just plain ugly.  We live in a neighborhood of pristine lawns so we feel the heat even more, but luckily we are at the end of a cul de sac so other than our immediate neighbors, we aren't really too exposed by traffic.  We've also been trying to talk to our neighbors (who ALL have kids) about the chemicals they are exposing their kids to, so we are slowly noticing that some people are doing less to chemical-treat their lawns.  Maybe this year we won't be the only lawn on the block with the all-natural look.

Last year we just avoided dealing with it and it got bad, really bad, as in knee high dandelions overnight.  This year, we are researching ahead of time and calling "green" lawn care companies to see what they can offer.  There is a lot of work associated with doing it ourselves, so we would LOVE to find a green lawn care company to do it for us, but every time I look at the MSDS sheets for the "green" herbicides they apply "only once a year" they include risks like damage to the liver and thyroid, carcinogens that cause tumors, danger to marine life when it ends up in the water table.  I am not prepared to put our environment and children at risk to have a perfect lawn.  I just don't know how these lawn care companies can call themselves green when they are putting chemicals into our earth, even if they are just "one application" per year (with each product I might add) with "1/3rd of the dose of chemicals".

So what if we decided to just give our kids one application of 1/3rd of the mercury in a typical vaccination....?  No thanks.  That doesn't work for me when I know there are other options out there.

Part of the problem here is people's expectations of what a lawn should look like.  Do we really need golf courses for lawns?  Why is clover unwanted?  It offers the ground nitrogen and it prevents weed growth, it's also soft and fluffy under the feet and grows slow and low so it doesn't require constant care.  Personally, I think this sounds fabulous!  Get over your golf-course image and consider natural alternatives.

We will be buying and applying organic non-GMO corn gluten first, then we will aerate the ground before over-seeding with organic seed including clover, fertilize a few times a year, then as long as we just maintain this plan annually for a few years, it should get to the point where it's very low maintenance long-term.

Natural grass-fed beef

Since we are so health conscious, many people are actually surprised when they learn that we are not vegetarians.  Heck no!!  I love a nice juicy steak and before we found organic grass fed beef, I didn't like burgers, but now YUM! Quality burgers definitely make the difference!

I'm not so sure I believe that vegetarian is the way to go, we are designed to eat meat.  Children, especially, need animal protein to develop healthy cholesterol (which we DO need by the way).  I think somewhere along the way, the health of our animal proteins got all mucked up.  Antibiotics, hormones, grain-feed (AKA - corn), these are all cause for unhealthy animals, resulting in unhealthy meat consumed by people.  You can't expect to put junk in and not get junk out....of anything!  And of course, you can overdo anything...everything in moderation.  We live on a rotation diet, never eating any one food for more than two days in a row, then we avoid that food for three full days.  Eating any food too frequently, even one that is good for you, can potentially cause a sensitivity.  Of all the studies out there linking red meat to health problems, I have to wonder, if they have ever done these same studies on healthy organic, grass-fed beef!

We have been eating organic/natural grass-fed meats for well over a year now and we have been on the search for the best local farm as our source.  We've tried a few different farms which usually resulted in decent cuts, but not always, and more often than not they were actually out of beef when we needed it. Making the drive to various different farms has been wearing on us too.  So the hunt continued.  You can imagine my excitement when I found this family-owned, 100% grass-fed Black Angus beef farm that delivers!!  Be still my beating heart.

Today we had our first delivery from Meadow Mountain Farm which is located in Robesonia, PA.  We were lucky enough to be JUST on the cusp of their delivery radius.  Their prices include delivery up to 50 miles and we might have been just past that, but they were generous enough to include us in the delivery radius anyway.  Mr. McNutt personally made the delivery this morning and he even visited with us for a bit while we learned more about them and their cattle.  We were impressed with his sincere demeanor and enjoyed his company.  He even gave us pamphlets and fliers with healthy recipe ideas and information about the cuts including cooking recommendations for those specific cuts...and you know, I am an information-hound!  Him and his wife pride themselves on quality and service, which was more than evident from the short amount of time we spent with him.  We hope to visit his farm in person some day soon and look forward to sharing this fabulous family farm find with others!

They specialize in Black Angus beef from what Mr. McNutt considers a genetically reputable source and they never "steer" from them even when other, better offers are made.  Sorry, couldn't resist the silly humor, hehehe.  I love the fact that they don't use any chemicals or pesticides on the grass that the cows roam and feed from.  You can get more information on their cuts and packages here.  They also belong to Facebook, so check them out.