October 25, 2022 • 27 mins
My husband, Dave, wants thick, luscious, green grass without weeds or insects.
I, as an Eco Mama, refuse to put chemicals anywhere near our home, even on our lawn.
Today's episode is a conversation between Dave and me about seeking solutions we can both live with.
Does he get his way? Do I get mine? Or do we compromise on a win-win?
Take a listen to find out.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jaime (00:35):
Hello Eco Mamas.
Welcome back for another episodeof the Eco Mama Podcast.
I am super excited today to talkto you about a topic that my
husband and I sometimes disagreeon, it's just because we have
different end goals.
And this topic, of course, hasto do with chemicals and it's on
(00:59):
pesticides.
I have here with me today myhusband Dave, and we're gonna
have a little conversation aboutwhy we disagree on pesticides.
At the end of the day, myhusband wants a beautiful green
lawn, and as an eco mama, I wantno chemicals near my home, on
(01:20):
our grass, on our land, in ourhome, anywhere near us or our
family.
And to achieve what he wants toaccomplish in the grass is a
really difficult, difficultthing to do without using
chemicals.
So before I continue to rambleon, I'm gonna introduce Dave.
Dave (01:38):
So hello everyone.
I'm Dave, I'm Jamie's husband.
Jaime (01:43):
Welcome Dave.
Dave (01:44):
Thank you.
Jaime (01:45):
My husband is super supportive in all that I do.
He's not someone that will goout of his way to find the
safest ingredients or the safestproducts.
However, he trusts my judgment.
He trusts my perspective, myopinion, and he kind of just
lets me roll with it.
When it comes to our lawn care,though, we live on half acre, Is
(02:07):
that right?
Yeah.
But yeah, but half acre, But Iwould say only half of that has
grass.
The other half is kind of verynatural in the back.
So a quarter of an acre reallywe're looking to manage.
Dave (02:19):
Right.
Jaime (02:20):
Neither of us are into, we'll, we'll mow the lawn, we'll
pull some weeds, we'll plantsome flowers.
But we're not super guru lawncare people.
Dave (02:30):
No, we, we don't expect to have a, you know, a lawn, a golf
course as a lawn.
Jaime (02:36):
I don't know.
Some days I think you do
Dave (02:37):
Well.
Jaime (02:37):
He sees that artificial turf.
He's like, Oh, if only this werereal.
Right.
So, Dave, explain to them likewhat you want, what you wish you
had in a yard.
Dave (02:47):
Just consistency within the the grass itself.
Right now we got, it looks likewe got variations of different
types of grass in the front wegot probably what we call a poor
man's fescue, which is kindalike that light green rye
looking fess.
And I wouldn't mind it if it wasconsistent throughout the whole
lawn, but when you got that andyou got patches of I don't know
(03:09):
if it's a we or what, but itmight have a little bit of a
zosia, a little bit of Bermudain certain aspects.
But that's my biggest point.
So when Jamie mentioned, youknow, obviously, you know,
doesn't want anything chemicalbased in our lawn.
Do I compromise a little bit,probably.
Maybe I'm a little impatient.
I just want that long looking,you know, just, yeah, just
(03:32):
consistent, you know?
Jaime (03:33):
Right.
So are there, their weeds are inthe grass, right?
Dave (03:36):
Right.
Jaime (03:37):
So there's there's a weed that's in there that's very
invasive, the penny wart.
Penny wart is in our grass andit's very invasive and it grows
fast and it's kind of a trailingweed.
And it's difficult to pick myhand, right?
Dave (03:51):
Cuz it's, think about a little, looks like a little
small lily pad, right?
Very small.
And so it's very flat to theground.
It's, it's invasive.
It's when it's there, there's noother grass around it.
Jaime (04:06):
Correct.
It kind of kills the, the rootsof the grass around it.
So keeping that penny word undercontrol without using a
pesticide is a bit difficult.
Dave (04:15):
Right.
Jaime (04:16):
And then there, so there's the pesticides, which
kills the weeds, and thenthere's the herbicides, or is
that, I got it backwards.
So sorry.
The herbicides kill the weeds.
Mm-hmm.
and the pesticides kill theinvasive creatures,
Dave (04:27):
Right.
Jaime (04:28):
And insects that could get in the air and eat the grass
or run under the yard and killthe roots of the grass.
And so those kind of thingswould be, we have moles.
Dave (04:38):
Yeah.
Jaime (04:38):
And that's why I got cats last year and we do still have
one cat and he's not as activeas he used to be with the moles.
But I don't, maybe there's notas many out right now cause the
weather is changing
Dave (04:49):
You know, I thought so, but, going back along a couple
days ago, I still felt thatit's,
Jaime (04:53):
Still soft?
Dave (04:54):
It's still, Yeah, if you have moles,
Jaime (04:56):
Is it moles or voles?
I think it's moles.
Moles.
Okay.
So moles, they dig tunnels underyour grass and they basically
like push.
Push the grass up.
They cut uprooted a little bit,
Dave (05:07):
Right.
Well, they eat the they eat thegrubs that are,
Jaime (05:09):
so that's one of the insects.
So the moles are there becauseof the grubs, which is one of
the insects that the pesticideswould bill if I let him use
them.
But I'm very particular abouthaving that in there because we
do have pets.
We have, we have three childrenas, as you may have heard from a
previous podcast.
And we have one cat and one dog,and they free roam on our yard.
(05:30):
My concern with having any kindof chemicals on there is that, I
don't know, the, to me, thepurpose of having a, a
beautiful, expansive sound ofmusic grass is so that you can
enjoy it physically.
Or is it only?
David, do you want that grassbecause you wanna roll in it and
feel good, or you just wantsomething pretty to look at?
Do you wanna actually be able togo in the grass?
Dave (05:51):
No, I, I kind of a combination of both, you know.
Yeah, that's
Jaime (05:55):
So you want it safe to go in, but you want it to look
good?
Dave (05:57):
Right.
Okay.
But what was your model beforeis if if you drop a sandwich,
Jaime (06:03):
Oh yeah.
Drop a sandwich in the grass.
I wanna be able to pick it upand eat it.
I wanna be able to walkbarefoot.
Our, our feeder, like the soulsto our organs.
Right.
So if you walk on pesticides,all you're doing is just
inviting chemicals straight intoyour body.
You're walking barefoot, I'm aFlorida girl.
I am barefoot all the time.
I am barefoot when it's like 50,40 degrees outside, not in the
(06:26):
snow, but I'll walk the dogbarefoot when it's 40 outside
and my neighbors will likechastise me, put some shoes on
girl, and I'm like, I'm aFlorida girl.
I'm just used to being barefootand I will take calluses over
blisters any day.
But that's besides the point.
I wanna be barefoot in thegrass.
I wanna sit outside.
I want the kids to be able topractice their gymnastics in the
grass in the.
and if it's sprayed withchemicals, I don't trust that.
(06:48):
Even if they say, Oh, once itdries it's safe.
I don't, It's just, It's not inthe cards for me.
Dave (06:54):
Right.
You know, and I know when I talkto the lone guy, you know, Is
this safe?
Well, I would just make sureyour pets are inside for 30
minutes or now or so.
I mean that, you know?
Yeah.
But once it rains or theirsprinklers go off, it gets wet
again.
And how much is it reactivatingby that moisture?
I just don't know enough aboutit.
I will tell you some of theresearch that I've done
(07:17):
glysophates is one of the mostcommon ingredient, in lawn care
services used by lawn care,master lawn care services, and
even in the do it yourself stuffthat you can get from your local
hardware store, Home Depot orLowe's.
And the glysophates are what isknown for causing issues with
humans.
(07:37):
It's not safe for humans.
It's meant to kill whatever itcomes in contact with.
What happens is it the toxins ifwhen we come in contact, whether
we breathe it or touch, it getsinto our systems and the most
acceptable are newborn babiesand children.
And that's where they're findingincreased cases of cancer,
leading directly back toglysophates in children.
(07:58):
So, I mean, that's just oneexample of why I don't want it
there.
But we have young kids andthey're getting older now, but
they're still developing.
And especially when pubertyhits.
I mean, that's when hormones aregoing wild.
Jaime (08:10):
Newborns and puberty is like the most susceptible
because their bodies arechanging so much and you don't
want any disruptors or otherharmful toxins to mislead the
body into developing the way itshould because when you have too
many toxins in your body, orendocrine disruptors, your body
can overproduce and underproduce, critical hormones to
(08:31):
develop properly mentally andphysically.
So I just, just don't wantanybody exposed to that.
Our animals, our animals walkoutside barefoot and they'll
come back in the house.
I'm not gonna wipe my dog's feetevery time.
I mean, gosh, we're probablyoverdue for the dog's bath, to
be honest with you.
It's been a couple weeks, fewweeks I should say.
It's just not a maintenancething that is my forte.
(08:52):
So having something safe outthere.
Now that being said, we've beenin this house for five years.
Five years, and how did thegrass look when we moved here?
Dave (09:02):
It was nice actually.
Yeah.
Jaime (09:04):
Yeah, it was nice.
Now the people that we boughtfrom I believe the husband was a
master gardener, so
Dave (09:11):
Oh.
From what we heard from ourneighbors, he was, he was out 12
hours a day.
Jaime (09:15):
Yeah.
They called our backyard thespringtime of,
Dave (09:19):
of the masters.
Jaime (09:20):
The masters because it was just so beautiful the way
everything bloomed and I'm sadto say I've kind of put that to
shame.
When we moved in, I told myhusband he was in charge of the
grass, But I had to approve ofanything you put on it and that
I would take care of all of thebeds where the flowers and the
gardens and things were.
And they are so overgrown withweeds.
(09:41):
And that just has to do with thefact that we're busy people and
because of my no chemicallifestyle, it's gotten a little
more natural than we wouldprefer.
Dave (09:52):
Right.
Jaime (09:53):
So if you could have it your way, David, how would.
Dave (09:55):
As far as the, the lawn care?
Jaime (09:57):
Yeah.
Dave (09:58):
Yeah.
Yeah, I, I would love natural,you know, natural lawn care, no
chemicals.
Maybe complete nice greenfescue.
Now it's tough in South Carolinabecause we're probably at the,
the sub most port that youreally could have fess any below
us.
It's, it's just not gonna.
Out of all the types of grass,that's what I would love.
You know, it's just uniform, butit's, it, I get admit, it's been
(10:20):
tough finding a lawn care thatdoes completely don't use
chemicals.
Jaime (10:25):
Yeah.
In order to eradicate thoseweeds, it's very difficult
because, you know, some do ityourself solutions.
We'll say, okay, to kill weeds,use a vinegar mixture with a
mild dish soap.
But vinegar also kills grass.
So you don't wanna use that onthe weeds that are mixed in with
the grass.
And then the other solution isto just use dish soap, which I
(10:49):
haven't tried that yet, but theysay the dish soap will kill
weeds, but not grass.
A mild dish soap or a Castilesoap.
I've read that.
Okay.
Have you read anything like thenatural solutions?
Dave (11:00):
That part, but that's something we can, you know,
maybe just take a, maybe alittle area that we really don't
care about too much.
Jaime (11:06):
Now what about resodding?
Dave (11:08):
Well, the problem if you resodding, I mean, think about
what we have.
We have a front lawn that isconnected the side, and then is
also connected to the back.
If it wasn't the case, if it wasthe, the front of the lawn was
completely separate mm-hmm.
then yes, I would completelythink about reso.
You know, well, what if we didit in phases?
And then I think the reason hedoesn't wanna do it all at once
is because it would be veryexpensive.
(11:30):
Even though I say it's only aquarter of an.
It is still a lot of grass andit might be more than quarter an
acre.
It's over seven significantthousand square feet,
Jaime (11:37):
7,000 square feet and resorting.
That would would be a prettypenny.
We have other, if we had thatkind of cash flow to play with,
I think I'd rather do somein-house repair and maintenance
to keep the house up to date asopposed to the yard.
Dave (11:52):
Right.
I agree.
Jaime (11:53):
So some other tips that I had listened to in preparation
for today's podcast, though withlawn care, other ways to help
keep the grass.
So something I wanted to sharewith you, David, that I had
read, and it's not somethingthat to my knowledge, we have
never tried before.
And I'd like to propose it andthen we can do a follow up and
see, share with the audience howit works.
Cuz I, you know, I still don'twanna use chemicals.
(12:15):
I think he's in a place where herespects why I don't want to use
them.
However, we don't wanna give upon this grass solution.
How to get the best grasswithout using chemicals and we
can't afford to.
So one of the things that I hadread for a suggestion was using
epsom salts as a fertilizer inthe yard.
So this one particular article Ihad come across with Archer
(12:36):
Services that epsom saltenriches your soil to help grow
a greener grass.
I'm just gonna read this (12:42):
epsom salt is not just a good
fertilizer for flowers orvegetables.
If you want your front yard turfto look lush and stay healthy
all year long, spray along withan Epson salt solution once a
month.
This treatment helps grass seedsgerminate and develop into
strong blades.
The treatment ensures that theturf keeps its roots strong and
(13:03):
healthy, despite weatherchanges, mowing stress, or even
physical damage.
So I, I wanna find out thesolution for the Epson salt.
Mm-hmm.
like what you mix it with.
In addition, I also read thatyou're supposed to replace your
lawnmower blades often.
Dave (13:19):
Hmm.
Jaime (13:20):
I never knew that.
Yeah.
So I grew up apartment, livingapartment to apartment to
apartment.
The first house that I everlived in as an adult that was
owned was when David and Ibought our first house like
seven years ago.
So I never had to deal with lawnmaintenance.
And I think David is kind of thesame as fam, but his family
(13:44):
always lived in homes, but Ithink they had lawn services,
didn't you?
Dave (13:47):
No, no.
When I grew up, No, when I grewup we, I did a lawn pretty much.
But you did the, How did, howdid it stay?
How did it stay green?
Well, don't forget, we, we livedin the north, so I'm from
upstate New York and.
I don't think you get many weedsas out there as you do down
here.
Jaime (14:01):
So less weeds?
Dave (14:02):
Less weeds.
It's pretty much, I think upthere mostly fescue.
You don't have zoysia, right?
Jaime (14:08):
Mm-hmm.
Dave (14:08):
You didn't have Bermuda.
There's a couple other differenttypes of grass that you have
down here that you don't have upthere, right?
And but also one thing is, is toalso use a bag.
Now dumb me.
When our last house we hadbackyard that was filled, that
was mostly a, what would youcall that?
Like more like a foresty typething?
Jaime (14:27):
Well, it was, it was all natural, right?
There was no real grass.
It would have like little seedsof grass pop up here and there,
but
Dave (14:33):
Right.
And to bag it, you know, wasmostly bagging leaves instead of
the grass itself.
So I thought, you know what,I'm, I'm not using one of the
bags, so I just got rid of it.
I totally regret it coming uphere because what we're doing,
we, the lawn, especially whenyou mow all and you go over
weeds, is that you are spreading
Jaime (14:54):
Exactly.
So you're not only chopping theweeds, but then you're just
redistributing the weeds and theseeds of the weeds.
Right.
So something that I've alsolearned in, in relevance to that
is that, Weeds will die in thewinter, but if you don't pick
the dead pieces of the weedsbefore they like go back into
the ground, they're seating fornext year to grow back twice as
(15:17):
big, twice as strong, twice aswide.
Dave (15:19):
Mm-hmm.
So yeah, it's important eventhough the weeds may die off to
get rid of them, otherwise theyjust come back full force.
They make this in your yardbeds.
They make this screen that youcan lay down that's supposed to
keep weeds from growing through,and it just doesn't work as well
because we've put it down inseveral areas and we've had
(15:39):
weeds just pop right back up thevery next season.
But I learned from anothergardener in our community that
doing like four or five layersof paper bags in between your
soil and your mulch is the bestway to do it.
Then raised garden beds forgardening, and that will help
minimize the weeds in thoseareas.
(16:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So just a suggestion on thosethings.
We're gonna put this up and saltsolution to the test and see if
it's any help, but we've gonethrough just a little, little
scenario.
So we've been here five years,we've gone through how many
companies?
I think I'm third, fourth rightnow.
Jaime (16:16):
Third or fourth company.
The first one that we had, hewas absolutely amazing.
He had all the ideas that I did,but he could not figure out how
to make it like really work,right?
He did not believe in using anychemicals.
He believed in hand pickingweeds.
He came out once or twice amonth and literally would go in
our yard and pick out weeds, andhe was amazing.
(16:39):
And you know, we paid for theservice.
It was a little high end,however.
It got to a point after a yearof service that he showed up one
day with another friend.
He looked around, he's like, Idon't think I can keep you on
account anymore, because it justkept growing back so fast.
His ideals are there.
He's just gotta find the sciencebehind it to not use the
chemicals and still get rid ofit because the manual labor
(17:01):
required for the yard isridiculous.
Dave (17:03):
Oh yeah.
Jaime (17:03):
And I know a lot of people are like, just let it go
natural.
And they let weeds grow in theiryard and that's great.
But, you know, I, I do respectmy husband with his desire to
have a green grass.
Of course, I would love thispicture.
Perfect.
Dave (17:15):
Mm-hmm.
You know, front yard.
Yeah.
And, and I have, you know, Ihave lawn envy because our next
door neighbor, and they have,you know, their front lawn is,
there's really no.
And they have FES and it'sgrowing really thick and green.
That dark green.
Jaime (17:30):
Mm-hmm.
And in the back there's someshade and it grows very the
same.
Yeah.
They also use Roundup.
They go around the yard and theyuse Roundup to kill the weeds.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
They're out there spraying itand I'm like, Kids stay off
their yard for a couple days.
Because round ups just like, Idon't know.
I think it was invented by thedevil.
I mean, if you've ever read anystudies about children who grew
(17:50):
up large commercial farms.
Dave (17:53):
Mm-hmm.
Jaime (17:53):
They have skyrocketing cases of childhood cancers,
childhood illnesses,debilitating things that prevent
them from growing up healthy.
And it's because of all of themonsato GMO stuff that's been
sprayed on the crops because thewind spreads it to the
neighboring yards and farms andhomes and in the windows.
(18:17):
There's no escaping it becauseonce it's in the air, once those
molecules are floating around,they just keep blowing.
So if you're in the vicinity ofa farm that uses conventional
methods
Dave (18:25):
mm-hmm.
Jaime (18:25):
You're kinda screwed rude.
I mean, I've read these articlesand these studies and these
parents were like, Oh my God, Ididn't know.
I thought we were living next toa farm and it was nature and it
was beautiful, but no, it'shorrible.
Dave (18:38):
I have a question.
The Epson salts.
When I think of epsom salts, Ithink of Epson salts that you
put in the bathtub?
Jaime (18:45):
Yes.
Yes.
That is also used for that.
Dave (18:47):
Right?
So those are more like the bigcrystals.
Jaime (18:50):
Yeah.
Dave (18:50):
What you mentioned, what is it a spray?
It's an epsom salt solution.
Yes, you are correct with epsomsalt.
That is something that you'veseen me take baths before.
It's a natural detoxifier.
You can also drink EPS salts asa natural laxative cuz it has
magnesium in it.
However, don't drink too muchcause then you, you will not
feel good, trust me.
(19:11):
But EPS salts in the tub.
The trick to using eps saltsthough is to make sure that you
do not have any artificialscents in there.
I suggest just getting epsonsalts with no scents.
And then you can add your ownessential oils to it just to
keep it safe for you.
Otherwise, you're just puttingtoxins back into your body.
And the other thing with Epsonsalts, if you're gonna soak in
the tub, don't stay in the tubmore than 20 minutes because the
(19:34):
Epson salt will help extractimpurities from your body.
However, after 20 minutes,you're, you're gonna start
reabsorbing those.
So 20 minutes and out.
All right, let's look at thesolution.
In our neighborhood we havevarious types of laws or
something.
When I take my daily walk.
And I'm like, Wow, that what acool lawn that is.
(19:54):
I mean, that's just nice andgreen.
And, and I do have this littlejealousy, you know, we live in
this nice house, niceneighborhood in both sides of
our neighbors have really nicelawns.
And here it is that I can't getmy lawn to look what I wanted to
look.
And you know, I get frustratedwith that, but but I understand
where Jaime's coming from.
(20:15):
You don't think of it more orless, It's outside.
Out of mind is my, probably mymo.
And you know, if I, we can't seeit.
It's out, it's outside, youknow, it's not inside where
it's.
It's more that touchy feelything where you get, you're
coming in contact with toxins.
When I'm outside, I don't thinkabout it as much because, you
(20:38):
know, it's, it's the nice freshair
Jaime (20:40):
Thanks for seeing where I'm coming from, so I absolutely
love that.
And you're right.
Out of sight, outta mind.
I see it.
I hear it all the time.
I will tell you that 98% of myfamily could care less about the
chemicals in their products orthe chemicals in our
environment.
This is something that wasinstilled in me from some other
(21:00):
place, some other foreign placethat brought my attention to it.
And so it's not like I wasbrought up on this.
This is something that I wasgravitated towards and started
learning on my own.
So the things that I've sharedwith David, I was already on
this journey before he met me,but since we had kids, it's been
10.
And like I said, thankfully hesupports me on this journey.
(21:23):
He doesn't go out of his way tosee what's what, but he does
respect my wishes of certainfoods for the kids and certain
products for the kids, etcetera.
All right, so the Epson saltsolution for the art, it says
here once a month.
It says for every hundred squarefeet of lawn you apply a half a
pound of epsom salt.
Now, if you don't have asprinkler system, you want to
(21:45):
mix that with water.
If you do have a sprinklersystem, then you can just
sprinkle it on the lawn and letthe sprinkler run.
For each gallon of water, it'sjust two tablespoons of salt.
So if you were gonna put it in aspray bottle, if you have a
small yard, right?
Two tablespoons of pure Epsonsalt.
(22:08):
Okay.
And one gallon of water.
So it's just a big spray bottle.
Big spray bottle.
Yeah.
A small yard.
We do have a sprinkler system,so I think what we could do is
get the essence salt in one ofthose, What do you call that
thing?
You push and seeds for you?
The seeder?
Dave (22:23):
Seeder.
Jaime (22:23):
Oh, seeder.
Okay.
There you go.
So you get the cedar and thenyou can put again, pure epsom
salt in there and seated aroundthe yard once a month before
before you run the sprinkler.
Yeah.
Dave (22:37):
Well, I'm willing to try it.
Jaime (22:39):
You know, it's, I mean, there's, there's mixed things on
this, but I'd say let's try it.
Right?
So every hundred square feet,you want a half pound of EPS and
salt.
We can do the math for that.
That's how much we buy.
We'll try it.
Okay.
We'll do it once a month forthree or four months.
You can't hurt our grass as itis.
We have literally, when westarted with the very first guy,
he came out and killedeverything naturally and then
(23:01):
seated to bring it.
And it worked, but we had a mudpile in our backyard for like
six months.
Dave (23:07):
Oh yeah.
Jaime (23:07):
Do you remember that?
There was nothing out back.
Dave (23:09):
Well, yeah, that was a combination of you know, with
the moles eating the grubs sothere's no grass foundation.
Jaime (23:14):
Yeah.
Dave (23:14):
I remember every time we would take the lawnmower and
I'd, you know, do one line andturn it, it was like completely.
Making a huge dent of the lawn.
Jaime (23:25):
Yeah, I remember it was almost like four-wheeling it
with a lawn mower.
Dave (23:28):
Right.
Jaime (23:28):
Alright, well it sounds like we might have a possible
solution.
I just wanna share my gratitudetowards my husband there.
Dave (23:34):
Well, one thing I wanna say is, and, and it is tough
because we, we want thatimmediate gratification when we,
when we do something, you know,just like working out.
Right?
But I forgot what we were, Whatwas that?
There was somebody, if you do alittle bit, you know, each day.
It's like changing like a littlehabit.
Jaime (23:54):
Mm-hmm.
Dave (23:54):
But you do that just a little thing and you'll see the
rewards tenfold.
It could be the same thing whereI need, as far as the lawn, you
know, I mean, it's gonna takesome time and you know, you do
if you do maybe the epsom saltor,
Jaime (24:08):
and fresh blades.
Dave (24:09):
Right.
Jaime (24:09):
We've never replaced the blades and we've had the
lawnmower seven years we boughtit at the, when we bought the
first house.
Dave (24:16):
Right.
Jaime (24:16):
And we've never replaced them or sharpened them or
anything.
Dave (24:18):
No, I know..
Jaime (24:19):
So that's, that's another lesson we're learning, guys.
This is life.
We're learning how to do things.
Dave (24:25):
Yeah.
The last house everybody'sfamiliar with the, whatever they
call it, the Carolina Reapers?
What was that?
It's kinda like a,
Jaime (24:33):
The thorny things?
Dave (24:34):
Yes.
Yeah.
You know, and here I, we had allover the place and they were,
you know, the small ones.
You know, I'm too tired to kindof go around because we got so
many, I'm just taking the lawnmower and....
Jaime (24:45):
Oh gosh.
Yeah.
So those blades are definitelyold and tired.
Dave (24:49):
Right
Jaime (24:49):
Right.
It looks like we've got some,some things to do to sharpen our
tools.
You know, one of the things thatI learned, and this was actually
in a garden setting.
My Aunt Kathleen, I absolutelylove her.
She was helping.
Work on our yard to sell ourfirst house.
When we decided to move up toSouth Carolina, and actually at
the time we didn't know where wewere moving, but we knew we
wanted to sell.
So she came over, she washelping me in the yard and she
(25:11):
was teaching me so much aboutthe plants and the shrubs and
how to replant them and cut'emback and stuff.
And she made a comment.
She goes, You know, you're onlyas smart as your sharpest tool.
Okay, so it was great analogycause we're working in the
garden and we needed sharpshears and clippers and stuff.
And a good shovel, definitelywith a nice sharp point on it.
(25:34):
But she goes, But you know whatyour, your sharpest tool should
be?
And I'm looking at all the toolsin front of us and I'm trying to
figure out what she's saying.
And I start naming off the yardtools and she's like: No, your
sharpest tools should be your.
And I loved that because thatapplies to everything in life.
So right now we haven't beenusing our sharpest tool because
(25:55):
we've just been wanting it to befixed and we haven't really been
seeking the solutions that wecan do on our own.
But we're gonna go down thatpath now.
Try still trying to avoid thechemicals go more natural.
I think we're gonna just take asection of the yard and test out
the epsom salts.
Dave (26:09):
Sounds like a play.
Jaime (26:10):
All right.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday.
I am just super grateful thatyou took the time to listen to
the Eco Mama Podcast.
Dave (26:21):
And I echo Jaime's sentiments.
Thank you so much for listening.
Jaime (26:24):
Thank you, Dave for taking the time to spend with me
and sharing your perspective onthe lawn and finding a common
ground.
Dave (26:31):
You got it, hun.
Jaime (26:32):
I hope you enjoyed this conversation today, listening to
my husband and I go back andforth about solutions that we
are seeking for our lawn carewithout using pesticides or
chemicals that are harmful toour health.
Be sure to subscribe to mychannel so you don't miss any of
these conversations.
This Friday, be sure to tuneback in as I do our deep dive on
(26:54):
Focus Friday, and we discussingredients.
Will we will be coveringparabens.
I'm looking forward toconnecting with you again soon.
Thank you so much, and have awonderful week.
Hello Eco Mamas.
Welcome back for another episodeof the Eco Mama Podcast.
I am super excited today to talkto you about a topic that my
husband and I sometimes disagreeon, it's just because we have
different end goals.
And this topic, of course, hasto do with chemicals and it's on
(00:59):
pesticides.
I have here with me today myhusband Dave, and we're gonna
have a little conversation aboutwhy we disagree on pesticides.
At the end of the day, myhusband wants a beautiful green
lawn, and as an eco mama, I wantno chemicals near my home, on
(01:20):
our grass, on our land, in ourhome, anywhere near us or our
family.
And to achieve what he wants toaccomplish in the grass is a
really difficult, difficultthing to do without using
chemicals.
So before I continue to rambleon, I'm gonna introduce Dave.
Dave (01:38):
So hello everyone.
I'm Dave, I'm Jamie's husband.
Jaime (01:43):
Welcome Dave.
Dave (01:44):
Thank you.
Jaime (01:45):
My husband is super supportive in all that I do.
He's not someone that will goout of his way to find the
safest ingredients or the safestproducts.
However, he trusts my judgment.
He trusts my perspective, myopinion, and he kind of just
lets me roll with it.
When it comes to our lawn care,though, we live on half acre, Is
(02:07):
that right?
Yeah.
But yeah, but half acre, But Iwould say only half of that has
grass.
The other half is kind of verynatural in the back.
So a quarter of an acre reallywe're looking to manage.
Dave (02:19):
Right.
Jaime (02:20):
Neither of us are into, we'll, we'll mow the lawn, we'll
pull some weeds, we'll plantsome flowers.
But we're not super guru lawncare people.
Dave (02:30):
No, we, we don't expect to have a, you know, a lawn, a golf
course as a lawn.
Jaime (02:36):
I don't know.
Some days I think you do
Dave (02:37):
Well.
Jaime (02:37):
He sees that artificial turf.
He's like, Oh, if only this werereal.
Right.
So, Dave, explain to them likewhat you want, what you wish you
had in a yard.
Dave (02:47):
Just consistency within the the grass itself.
Right now we got, it looks likewe got variations of different
types of grass in the front wegot probably what we call a poor
man's fescue, which is kindalike that light green rye
looking fess.
And I wouldn't mind it if it wasconsistent throughout the whole
lawn, but when you got that andyou got patches of I don't know
(03:09):
if it's a we or what, but itmight have a little bit of a
zosia, a little bit of Bermudain certain aspects.
But that's my biggest point.
So when Jamie mentioned, youknow, obviously, you know,
doesn't want anything chemicalbased in our lawn.
Do I compromise a little bit,probably.
Maybe I'm a little impatient.
I just want that long looking,you know, just, yeah, just
(03:32):
consistent, you know?
Jaime (03:33):
Right.
So are there, their weeds are inthe grass, right?
Dave (03:36):
Right.
Jaime (03:37):
So there's there's a weed that's in there that's very
invasive, the penny wart.
Penny wart is in our grass andit's very invasive and it grows
fast and it's kind of a trailingweed.
And it's difficult to pick myhand, right?
Dave (03:51):
Cuz it's, think about a little, looks like a little
small lily pad, right?
Very small.
And so it's very flat to theground.
It's, it's invasive.
It's when it's there, there's noother grass around it.
Jaime (04:06):
Correct.
It kind of kills the, the rootsof the grass around it.
So keeping that penny word undercontrol without using a
pesticide is a bit difficult.
Dave (04:15):
Right.
Jaime (04:16):
And then there, so there's the pesticides, which
kills the weeds, and thenthere's the herbicides, or is
that, I got it backwards.
So sorry.
The herbicides kill the weeds.
Mm-hmm.
and the pesticides kill theinvasive creatures,
Dave (04:27):
Right.
Jaime (04:28):
And insects that could get in the air and eat the grass
or run under the yard and killthe roots of the grass.
And so those kind of thingswould be, we have moles.
Dave (04:38):
Yeah.
Jaime (04:38):
And that's why I got cats last year and we do still have
one cat and he's not as activeas he used to be with the moles.
But I don't, maybe there's notas many out right now cause the
weather is changing
Dave (04:49):
You know, I thought so, but, going back along a couple
days ago, I still felt thatit's,
Jaime (04:53):
Still soft?
Dave (04:54):
It's still, Yeah, if you have moles,
Jaime (04:56):
Is it moles or voles?
I think it's moles.
Moles.
Okay.
So moles, they dig tunnels underyour grass and they basically
like push.
Push the grass up.
They cut uprooted a little bit,
Dave (05:07):
Right.
Well, they eat the they eat thegrubs that are,
Jaime (05:09):
so that's one of the insects.
So the moles are there becauseof the grubs, which is one of
the insects that the pesticideswould bill if I let him use
them.
But I'm very particular abouthaving that in there because we
do have pets.
We have, we have three childrenas, as you may have heard from a
previous podcast.
And we have one cat and one dog,and they free roam on our yard.
(05:30):
My concern with having any kindof chemicals on there is that, I
don't know, the, to me, thepurpose of having a, a
beautiful, expansive sound ofmusic grass is so that you can
enjoy it physically.
Or is it only?
David, do you want that grassbecause you wanna roll in it and
feel good, or you just wantsomething pretty to look at?
Do you wanna actually be able togo in the grass?
Dave (05:51):
No, I, I kind of a combination of both, you know.
Yeah, that's
Jaime (05:55):
So you want it safe to go in, but you want it to look
good?
Dave (05:57):
Right.
Okay.
But what was your model beforeis if if you drop a sandwich,
Jaime (06:03):
Oh yeah.
Drop a sandwich in the grass.
I wanna be able to pick it upand eat it.
I wanna be able to walkbarefoot.
Our, our feeder, like the soulsto our organs.
Right.
So if you walk on pesticides,all you're doing is just
inviting chemicals straight intoyour body.
You're walking barefoot, I'm aFlorida girl.
I am barefoot all the time.
I am barefoot when it's like 50,40 degrees outside, not in the
(06:26):
snow, but I'll walk the dogbarefoot when it's 40 outside
and my neighbors will likechastise me, put some shoes on
girl, and I'm like, I'm aFlorida girl.
I'm just used to being barefootand I will take calluses over
blisters any day.
But that's besides the point.
I wanna be barefoot in thegrass.
I wanna sit outside.
I want the kids to be able topractice their gymnastics in the
grass in the.
and if it's sprayed withchemicals, I don't trust that.
(06:48):
Even if they say, Oh, once itdries it's safe.
I don't, It's just, It's not inthe cards for me.
Dave (06:54):
Right.
You know, and I know when I talkto the lone guy, you know, Is
this safe?
Well, I would just make sureyour pets are inside for 30
minutes or now or so.
I mean that, you know?
Yeah.
But once it rains or theirsprinklers go off, it gets wet
again.
And how much is it reactivatingby that moisture?
I just don't know enough aboutit.
I will tell you some of theresearch that I've done
(07:17):
glysophates is one of the mostcommon ingredient, in lawn care
services used by lawn care,master lawn care services, and
even in the do it yourself stuffthat you can get from your local
hardware store, Home Depot orLowe's.
And the glysophates are what isknown for causing issues with
humans.
(07:37):
It's not safe for humans.
It's meant to kill whatever itcomes in contact with.
What happens is it the toxins ifwhen we come in contact, whether
we breathe it or touch, it getsinto our systems and the most
acceptable are newborn babiesand children.
And that's where they're findingincreased cases of cancer,
leading directly back toglysophates in children.
(07:58):
So, I mean, that's just oneexample of why I don't want it
there.
But we have young kids andthey're getting older now, but
they're still developing.
And especially when pubertyhits.
I mean, that's when hormones aregoing wild.
Jaime (08:10):
Newborns and puberty is like the most susceptible
because their bodies arechanging so much and you don't
want any disruptors or otherharmful toxins to mislead the
body into developing the way itshould because when you have too
many toxins in your body, orendocrine disruptors, your body
can overproduce and underproduce, critical hormones to
(08:31):
develop properly mentally andphysically.
So I just, just don't wantanybody exposed to that.
Our animals, our animals walkoutside barefoot and they'll
come back in the house.
I'm not gonna wipe my dog's feetevery time.
I mean, gosh, we're probablyoverdue for the dog's bath, to
be honest with you.
It's been a couple weeks, fewweeks I should say.
It's just not a maintenancething that is my forte.
(08:52):
So having something safe outthere.
Now that being said, we've beenin this house for five years.
Five years, and how did thegrass look when we moved here?
Dave (09:02):
It was nice actually.
Yeah.
Jaime (09:04):
Yeah, it was nice.
Now the people that we boughtfrom I believe the husband was a
master gardener, so
Dave (09:11):
Oh.
From what we heard from ourneighbors, he was, he was out 12
hours a day.
Jaime (09:15):
Yeah.
They called our backyard thespringtime of,
Dave (09:19):
of the masters.
Jaime (09:20):
The masters because it was just so beautiful the way
everything bloomed and I'm sadto say I've kind of put that to
shame.
When we moved in, I told myhusband he was in charge of the
grass, But I had to approve ofanything you put on it and that
I would take care of all of thebeds where the flowers and the
gardens and things were.
And they are so overgrown withweeds.
(09:41):
And that just has to do with thefact that we're busy people and
because of my no chemicallifestyle, it's gotten a little
more natural than we wouldprefer.
Dave (09:52):
Right.
Jaime (09:53):
So if you could have it your way, David, how would.
Dave (09:55):
As far as the, the lawn care?
Jaime (09:57):
Yeah.
Dave (09:58):
Yeah.
Yeah, I, I would love natural,you know, natural lawn care, no
chemicals.
Maybe complete nice greenfescue.
Now it's tough in South Carolinabecause we're probably at the,
the sub most port that youreally could have fess any below
us.
It's, it's just not gonna.
Out of all the types of grass,that's what I would love.
You know, it's just uniform, butit's, it, I get admit, it's been
(10:20):
tough finding a lawn care thatdoes completely don't use
chemicals.
Jaime (10:25):
Yeah.
In order to eradicate thoseweeds, it's very difficult
because, you know, some do ityourself solutions.
We'll say, okay, to kill weeds,use a vinegar mixture with a
mild dish soap.
But vinegar also kills grass.
So you don't wanna use that onthe weeds that are mixed in with
the grass.
And then the other solution isto just use dish soap, which I
(10:49):
haven't tried that yet, but theysay the dish soap will kill
weeds, but not grass.
A mild dish soap or a Castilesoap.
I've read that.
Okay.
Have you read anything like thenatural solutions?
Dave (11:00):
That part, but that's something we can, you know,
maybe just take a, maybe alittle area that we really don't
care about too much.
Jaime (11:06):
Now what about resodding?
Dave (11:08):
Well, the problem if you resodding, I mean, think about
what we have.
We have a front lawn that isconnected the side, and then is
also connected to the back.
If it wasn't the case, if it wasthe, the front of the lawn was
completely separate mm-hmm.
then yes, I would completelythink about reso.
You know, well, what if we didit in phases?
And then I think the reason hedoesn't wanna do it all at once
is because it would be veryexpensive.
(11:30):
Even though I say it's only aquarter of an.
It is still a lot of grass andit might be more than quarter an
acre.
It's over seven significantthousand square feet,
Jaime (11:37):
7,000 square feet and resorting.
That would would be a prettypenny.
We have other, if we had thatkind of cash flow to play with,
I think I'd rather do somein-house repair and maintenance
to keep the house up to date asopposed to the yard.
Dave (11:52):
Right.
I agree.
Jaime (11:53):
So some other tips that I had listened to in preparation
for today's podcast, though withlawn care, other ways to help
keep the grass.
So something I wanted to sharewith you, David, that I had
read, and it's not somethingthat to my knowledge, we have
never tried before.
And I'd like to propose it andthen we can do a follow up and
see, share with the audience howit works.
Cuz I, you know, I still don'twanna use chemicals.
(12:15):
I think he's in a place where herespects why I don't want to use
them.
However, we don't wanna give upon this grass solution.
How to get the best grasswithout using chemicals and we
can't afford to.
So one of the things that I hadread for a suggestion was using
epsom salts as a fertilizer inthe yard.
So this one particular article Ihad come across with Archer
(12:36):
Services that epsom saltenriches your soil to help grow
a greener grass.
I'm just gonna read this (12:42):
epsom salt is not just a good
fertilizer for flowers orvegetables.
If you want your front yard turfto look lush and stay healthy
all year long, spray along withan Epson salt solution once a
month.
This treatment helps grass seedsgerminate and develop into
strong blades.
The treatment ensures that theturf keeps its roots strong and
(13:03):
healthy, despite weatherchanges, mowing stress, or even
physical damage.
So I, I wanna find out thesolution for the Epson salt.
Mm-hmm.
like what you mix it with.
In addition, I also read thatyou're supposed to replace your
lawnmower blades often.
Dave (13:19):
Hmm.
Jaime (13:20):
I never knew that.
Yeah.
So I grew up apartment, livingapartment to apartment to
apartment.
The first house that I everlived in as an adult that was
owned was when David and Ibought our first house like
seven years ago.
So I never had to deal with lawnmaintenance.
And I think David is kind of thesame as fam, but his family
(13:44):
always lived in homes, but Ithink they had lawn services,
didn't you?
Dave (13:47):
No, no.
When I grew up, No, when I grewup we, I did a lawn pretty much.
But you did the, How did, howdid it stay?
How did it stay green?
Well, don't forget, we, we livedin the north, so I'm from
upstate New York and.
I don't think you get many weedsas out there as you do down
here.
Jaime (14:01):
So less weeds?
Dave (14:02):
Less weeds.
It's pretty much, I think upthere mostly fescue.
You don't have zoysia, right?
Jaime (14:08):
Mm-hmm.
Dave (14:08):
You didn't have Bermuda.
There's a couple other differenttypes of grass that you have
down here that you don't have upthere, right?
And but also one thing is, is toalso use a bag.
Now dumb me.
When our last house we hadbackyard that was filled, that
was mostly a, what would youcall that?
Like more like a foresty typething?
Jaime (14:27):
Well, it was, it was all natural, right?
There was no real grass.
It would have like little seedsof grass pop up here and there,
but
Dave (14:33):
Right.
And to bag it, you know, wasmostly bagging leaves instead of
the grass itself.
So I thought, you know what,I'm, I'm not using one of the
bags, so I just got rid of it.
I totally regret it coming uphere because what we're doing,
we, the lawn, especially whenyou mow all and you go over
weeds, is that you are spreading
Jaime (14:54):
Exactly.
So you're not only chopping theweeds, but then you're just
redistributing the weeds and theseeds of the weeds.
Right.
So something that I've alsolearned in, in relevance to that
is that, Weeds will die in thewinter, but if you don't pick
the dead pieces of the weedsbefore they like go back into
the ground, they're seating fornext year to grow back twice as
(15:17):
big, twice as strong, twice aswide.
Dave (15:19):
Mm-hmm.
So yeah, it's important eventhough the weeds may die off to
get rid of them, otherwise theyjust come back full force.
They make this in your yardbeds.
They make this screen that youcan lay down that's supposed to
keep weeds from growing through,and it just doesn't work as well
because we've put it down inseveral areas and we've had
(15:39):
weeds just pop right back up thevery next season.
But I learned from anothergardener in our community that
doing like four or five layersof paper bags in between your
soil and your mulch is the bestway to do it.
Then raised garden beds forgardening, and that will help
minimize the weeds in thoseareas.
(16:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So just a suggestion on thosethings.
We're gonna put this up and saltsolution to the test and see if
it's any help, but we've gonethrough just a little, little
scenario.
So we've been here five years,we've gone through how many
companies?
I think I'm third, fourth rightnow.
Jaime (16:16):
Third or fourth company.
The first one that we had, hewas absolutely amazing.
He had all the ideas that I did,but he could not figure out how
to make it like really work,right?
He did not believe in using anychemicals.
He believed in hand pickingweeds.
He came out once or twice amonth and literally would go in
our yard and pick out weeds, andhe was amazing.
(16:39):
And you know, we paid for theservice.
It was a little high end,however.
It got to a point after a yearof service that he showed up one
day with another friend.
He looked around, he's like, Idon't think I can keep you on
account anymore, because it justkept growing back so fast.
His ideals are there.
He's just gotta find the sciencebehind it to not use the
chemicals and still get rid ofit because the manual labor
(17:01):
required for the yard isridiculous.
Dave (17:03):
Oh yeah.
Jaime (17:03):
And I know a lot of people are like, just let it go
natural.
And they let weeds grow in theiryard and that's great.
But, you know, I, I do respectmy husband with his desire to
have a green grass.
Of course, I would love thispicture.
Perfect.
Dave (17:15):
Mm-hmm.
You know, front yard.
Yeah.
And, and I have, you know, Ihave lawn envy because our next
door neighbor, and they have,you know, their front lawn is,
there's really no.
And they have FES and it'sgrowing really thick and green.
That dark green.
Jaime (17:30):
Mm-hmm.
And in the back there's someshade and it grows very the
same.
Yeah.
They also use Roundup.
They go around the yard and theyuse Roundup to kill the weeds.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
They're out there spraying itand I'm like, Kids stay off
their yard for a couple days.
Because round ups just like, Idon't know.
I think it was invented by thedevil.
I mean, if you've ever read anystudies about children who grew
(17:50):
up large commercial farms.
Dave (17:53):
Mm-hmm.
Jaime (17:53):
They have skyrocketing cases of childhood cancers,
childhood illnesses,debilitating things that prevent
them from growing up healthy.
And it's because of all of themonsato GMO stuff that's been
sprayed on the crops because thewind spreads it to the
neighboring yards and farms andhomes and in the windows.
(18:17):
There's no escaping it becauseonce it's in the air, once those
molecules are floating around,they just keep blowing.
So if you're in the vicinity ofa farm that uses conventional
methods
Dave (18:25):
mm-hmm.
Jaime (18:25):
You're kinda screwed rude.
I mean, I've read these articlesand these studies and these
parents were like, Oh my God, Ididn't know.
I thought we were living next toa farm and it was nature and it
was beautiful, but no, it'shorrible.
Dave (18:38):
I have a question.
The Epson salts.
When I think of epsom salts, Ithink of Epson salts that you
put in the bathtub?
Jaime (18:45):
Yes.
Yes.
That is also used for that.
Dave (18:47):
Right?
So those are more like the bigcrystals.
Jaime (18:50):
Yeah.
Dave (18:50):
What you mentioned, what is it a spray?
It's an epsom salt solution.
Yes, you are correct with epsomsalt.
That is something that you'veseen me take baths before.
It's a natural detoxifier.
You can also drink EPS salts asa natural laxative cuz it has
magnesium in it.
However, don't drink too muchcause then you, you will not
feel good, trust me.
(19:11):
But EPS salts in the tub.
The trick to using eps saltsthough is to make sure that you
do not have any artificialscents in there.
I suggest just getting epsonsalts with no scents.
And then you can add your ownessential oils to it just to
keep it safe for you.
Otherwise, you're just puttingtoxins back into your body.
And the other thing with Epsonsalts, if you're gonna soak in
the tub, don't stay in the tubmore than 20 minutes because the
(19:34):
Epson salt will help extractimpurities from your body.
However, after 20 minutes,you're, you're gonna start
reabsorbing those.
So 20 minutes and out.
All right, let's look at thesolution.
In our neighborhood we havevarious types of laws or
something.
When I take my daily walk.
And I'm like, Wow, that what acool lawn that is.
(19:54):
I mean, that's just nice andgreen.
And, and I do have this littlejealousy, you know, we live in
this nice house, niceneighborhood in both sides of
our neighbors have really nicelawns.
And here it is that I can't getmy lawn to look what I wanted to
look.
And you know, I get frustratedwith that, but but I understand
where Jaime's coming from.
(20:15):
You don't think of it more orless, It's outside.
Out of mind is my, probably mymo.
And you know, if I, we can't seeit.
It's out, it's outside, youknow, it's not inside where
it's.
It's more that touchy feelything where you get, you're
coming in contact with toxins.
When I'm outside, I don't thinkabout it as much because, you
(20:38):
know, it's, it's the nice freshair
Jaime (20:40):
Thanks for seeing where I'm coming from, so I absolutely
love that.
And you're right.
Out of sight, outta mind.
I see it.
I hear it all the time.
I will tell you that 98% of myfamily could care less about the
chemicals in their products orthe chemicals in our
environment.
This is something that wasinstilled in me from some other
(21:00):
place, some other foreign placethat brought my attention to it.
And so it's not like I wasbrought up on this.
This is something that I wasgravitated towards and started
learning on my own.
So the things that I've sharedwith David, I was already on
this journey before he met me,but since we had kids, it's been
10.
And like I said, thankfully hesupports me on this journey.
(21:23):
He doesn't go out of his way tosee what's what, but he does
respect my wishes of certainfoods for the kids and certain
products for the kids, etcetera.
All right, so the Epson saltsolution for the art, it says
here once a month.
It says for every hundred squarefeet of lawn you apply a half a
pound of epsom salt.
Now, if you don't have asprinkler system, you want to
(21:45):
mix that with water.
If you do have a sprinklersystem, then you can just
sprinkle it on the lawn and letthe sprinkler run.
For each gallon of water, it'sjust two tablespoons of salt.
So if you were gonna put it in aspray bottle, if you have a
small yard, right?
Two tablespoons of pure Epsonsalt.
(22:08):
Okay.
And one gallon of water.
So it's just a big spray bottle.
Big spray bottle.
Yeah.
A small yard.
We do have a sprinkler system,so I think what we could do is
get the essence salt in one ofthose, What do you call that
thing?
You push and seeds for you?
The seeder?
Dave (22:23):
Seeder.
Jaime (22:23):
Oh, seeder.
Okay.
There you go.
So you get the cedar and thenyou can put again, pure epsom
salt in there and seated aroundthe yard once a month before
before you run the sprinkler.
Yeah.
Dave (22:37):
Well, I'm willing to try it.
Jaime (22:39):
You know, it's, I mean, there's, there's mixed things on
this, but I'd say let's try it.
Right?
So every hundred square feet,you want a half pound of EPS and
salt.
We can do the math for that.
That's how much we buy.
We'll try it.
Okay.
We'll do it once a month forthree or four months.
You can't hurt our grass as itis.
We have literally, when westarted with the very first guy,
he came out and killedeverything naturally and then
(23:01):
seated to bring it.
And it worked, but we had a mudpile in our backyard for like
six months.
Dave (23:07):
Oh yeah.
Jaime (23:07):
Do you remember that?
There was nothing out back.
Dave (23:09):
Well, yeah, that was a combination of you know, with
the moles eating the grubs sothere's no grass foundation.
Jaime (23:14):
Yeah.
Dave (23:14):
I remember every time we would take the lawnmower and
I'd, you know, do one line andturn it, it was like completely.
Making a huge dent of the lawn.
Jaime (23:25):
Yeah, I remember it was almost like four-wheeling it
with a lawn mower.
Dave (23:28):
Right.
Jaime (23:28):
Alright, well it sounds like we might have a possible
solution.
I just wanna share my gratitudetowards my husband there.
Dave (23:34):
Well, one thing I wanna say is, and, and it is tough
because we, we want thatimmediate gratification when we,
when we do something, you know,just like working out.
Right?
But I forgot what we were, Whatwas that?
There was somebody, if you do alittle bit, you know, each day.
It's like changing like a littlehabit.
Jaime (23:54):
Mm-hmm.
Dave (23:54):
But you do that just a little thing and you'll see the
rewards tenfold.
It could be the same thing whereI need, as far as the lawn, you
know, I mean, it's gonna takesome time and you know, you do
if you do maybe the epsom saltor,
Jaime (24:08):
and fresh blades.
Dave (24:09):
Right.
Jaime (24:09):
We've never replaced the blades and we've had the
lawnmower seven years we boughtit at the, when we bought the
first house.
Dave (24:16):
Right.
Jaime (24:16):
And we've never replaced them or sharpened them or
anything.
Dave (24:18):
No, I know..
Jaime (24:19):
So that's, that's another lesson we're learning, guys.
This is life.
We're learning how to do things.
Dave (24:25):
Yeah.
The last house everybody'sfamiliar with the, whatever they
call it, the Carolina Reapers?
What was that?
It's kinda like a,
Jaime (24:33):
The thorny things?
Dave (24:34):
Yes.
Yeah.
You know, and here I, we had allover the place and they were,
you know, the small ones.
You know, I'm too tired to kindof go around because we got so
many, I'm just taking the lawnmower and....
Jaime (24:45):
Oh gosh.
Yeah.
So those blades are definitelyold and tired.
Dave (24:49):
Right
Jaime (24:49):
Right.
It looks like we've got some,some things to do to sharpen our
tools.
You know, one of the things thatI learned, and this was actually
in a garden setting.
My Aunt Kathleen, I absolutelylove her.
She was helping.
Work on our yard to sell ourfirst house.
When we decided to move up toSouth Carolina, and actually at
the time we didn't know where wewere moving, but we knew we
wanted to sell.
So she came over, she washelping me in the yard and she
(25:11):
was teaching me so much aboutthe plants and the shrubs and
how to replant them and cut'emback and stuff.
And she made a comment.
She goes, You know, you're onlyas smart as your sharpest tool.
Okay, so it was great analogycause we're working in the
garden and we needed sharpshears and clippers and stuff.
And a good shovel, definitelywith a nice sharp point on it.
(25:34):
But she goes, But you know whatyour, your sharpest tool should
be?
And I'm looking at all the toolsin front of us and I'm trying to
figure out what she's saying.
And I start naming off the yardtools and she's like: No, your
sharpest tools should be your.
And I loved that because thatapplies to everything in life.
So right now we haven't beenusing our sharpest tool because
(25:55):
we've just been wanting it to befixed and we haven't really been
seeking the solutions that wecan do on our own.
But we're gonna go down thatpath now.
Try still trying to avoid thechemicals go more natural.
I think we're gonna just take asection of the yard and test out
the epsom salts.
Dave (26:09):
Sounds like a play.
Jaime (26:10):
All right.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday.
I am just super grateful thatyou took the time to listen to
the Eco Mama Podcast.
Dave (26:21):
And I echo Jaime's sentiments.
Thank you so much for listening.
Jaime (26:24):
Thank you, Dave for taking the time to spend with me
and sharing your perspective onthe lawn and finding a common
ground.
Dave (26:31):
You got it, hun.
Jaime (26:32):
I hope you enjoyed this conversation today, listening to
my husband and I go back andforth about solutions that we
are seeking for our lawn carewithout using pesticides or
chemicals that are harmful toour health.
Be sure to subscribe to mychannel so you don't miss any of
these conversations.
This Friday, be sure to tuneback in as I do our deep dive on
(26:54):
Focus Friday, and we discussingredients.
Will we will be coveringparabens.
I'm looking forward toconnecting with you again soon.
Thank you so much, and have awonderful week.
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