Thetford selectboard ponders bee-friendly May. Tick-friendly, too?
To mow or not to mow? That is the question for many lawn owners as the No Mow May initiative gathers steam.
The Thetford Selectboard has an item related to No Mow May on tonight’s meeting agenda after at least one town committee endorsed the strategy, today’s Journal-Opinion newsletter reports.
What’s the logic behind No Mow May?
“By simply eliminating or sharply reducing the mowing of your lawn and allowing more flowers to bloom offers bees and other pollinators a wonderful playground of floral resources at a critical time in their lifecycles,” stated the Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s Apiary Program Manager.
But some say the strategy is misguided. They point to long grass as a playground for ticks which pose potential severe health threats to humans and animals alike. Others say tactical mowing produces better outcomes for pollinators than complete abstinence.
The debate is moving to public forums across the country, noted the Wall Street Journal. Earlier this spring, No Mow May took up 66 minutes of a 71-minute committee meeting of the Appleton, Wisconsin City Council.
“Debate can veer deeply into the weeds, such as when members speculated about the ideal height of grass for nurturing dandelions.”
You’re on the clock, Thetford.
Categories: Environment
You’re kidding me ? A local government contemplating telling their citizens when they can mow their lawn ? What a bunch of over reaching Fruit Loops ! Vote them out !
Sorry, now they put me in a position that I have to mow twice to make up for Thetford. Where is the fairness in that ???
I can only hope that more towns don’t step in to the fray otherwise I may be cutting multiple times a day.
What’s next “Stop Breathing June” to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted by Vermonters( the statehouse has been noted for a disproportionate amount of BoGas upsetting the delicate balance recently).
One step closer to the perfect dystopian society
How many liberals does it take to screw in a light bulb? No one knows. They’ve been arguing about it since 1997.
Breath taking isn’t it? You getting creeped out yet? We have neighbors who don’t even bat an eye when they discuss how they are going to manage our lives for us.
That should be a personal choice…period! That said, my lawn typically gets gets mowed quite late, because I don’t want to take my rototiller off to mow, only to have take the mowing deck off to do more rototilling. I frequently leave certain blooming swaths in my meadow until they’ve gone by…for the sake of pollinators who do hep me later in the year. Again, personal choice. If one would like to delay mowing, but worried about ticks…consider not doing a late fall mowing. In the spring you can burn your lawn during the dry time after thaw before greening. Prescribed burns are very effective at controlling ticks, I did extensive burnings this spring in my scrubby transitional areas so that I could clean out dead wood and debris…no tick issues. Look it up, controlled burns control ticks. Remember when everyone burned in the spring? I do.
Is this gonna be anything like “Just shelter in place for 2 weeks to stop the spread”?
How long will this be stretched to? And then when does Big Brother start sending their Commie minions to warn, the ticket those with too much or too long grass?
Anybody else wondering?