A prairie builds soil by maintaining a balance between grass leaf and grass root. The more leaf there is the more root is grown. Then, when the buffalo come by and eat the leaf, the grass plant sheds root, and the roots decompose, and in the spring the decomposed roots hold the moisture to support the growth of new leaf and new root. In my place we honor that process. We let the grass grow each spring as tall as the moisture will let it – and then cut it once – and let it go dormant. The grass I cut is mulch for the garden. The grass plants that go dormant will shed root that will build soil that will support more grass next spring – and my interaction enhances the capacity of this place to produce grass – like the buffalo did before me.

Each part of this place interacts with every other part of this place. The place itself expands and contracts in the volume of life from season to season and, if I do my part, increases the opportunity for new life over the years. There was a time when our elm trees were badly infested with elm beetles – and I thought about cutting out all the elm trees – but this place adjusted and new bird species came to eat the beetles and they are no longer a problem. There was a few years without late frosts when the ash trees were severely infested with ash saw fly – but we have had late frost recently and no saw flies. Nature will balance itself – one way or another.

I do not use poisons in my place. It is clear to me that using poisons diminishes the capacity of this place to produce life. And the more life the better. People talk about using beneficial insects instead of poisons in their garden. They think of it as if they could hire a sentry and have them stand guard. It doesn't work that way. The only way to have lady beetles is to grow aphids. The only way to have a full and healthy array of living things in a place is to welcome all life there.