by Melissa Ozawa
There’s a movement growing and we, at Perfect Earth Project, are thrilled to be a part of it. More and more people want to do something to help end the biodiversity crisis, stop poisoning wildlife (us and our pets!), and use fewer natural resources. But wanting to do good is just the start. Part of Perfect Earth Project’s mission is to share hands-on knowledge about what you can do in your yard.
Pictured Above: Edwina von Gal’s Marshouse in East Hampton, NY, provides habitat (food, shelter, and water) for wildlife and aims to minimize harm and maximize biodiversity. “I like to look at a property this way: What is for me and what is for everything else? If wildlife can’t eat the everything else, what will they eat?” she says. | Photo Courtesy of Perfect Earth Project
When Eileen Abramovici moved into her house in East Hampton several years ago, she was shocked that first spring to see no birds. Her property was surrounded by woods, featured a conventional lawn with a few crepe myrtles and rhododendrons—and no birds.
“I was so disappointed,” she said. “I didn’t want to live there.”
New to gardening, she wasn’t sure what to do. She planted some non-native hydrangeas because that’s what “everybody wants in the Hamptons.” And still nothing, so she started researching. She met Edwina von Gal, Perfect Earth Project’s founder, toured her property, Marshouse, which bustles with native plants and wildlife (including birds), and signed up for a free Living Lands site visit. She started making changes.
“I became very enthusiastic about no longer buying non-native plants,” she said.
She reduced her lawn, planted native pine and dogwood trees and native shrubs like bearberry, viburnum, mountain laurel, and shadbush. She stopped using synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, added a birdbath, and began closing the loop on her property by composting all organic material and keeping dead trees and leaves on site.
Her property burst into life. When the hoots of the Great Horned Owl first rang out at night, she quickly gathered the rodent traps the previous owner had installed on the property and threw them away.
“My husband and I can now sit outside for hours listening and ID’ing birds with the Merlin app,” she says.
She marvels at the goldfinches, titmice, red-winged blackbirds, and cardinals that frequent her yard.
“Our property has changed so much,” she says. “It’s all music to my ears.”
Liz Sloan had a similar experience after moving into her new home in Southampton. Inspired by a visit to Marshouse, she replaced much of her front lawn with a wildflower meadow and seeded the rest with nitrogen-fixing clover. Her garden became “100% more alive.” It also requires fewer fossil fuels to maintain. (Every hour you don’t mow saves around 20 pounds of CO2).
She’s thrilled by the fireflies that sparkle up the summer night sky and admires the hummingbirds sipping nectar and even the bunnies who nibble on the clover in her lawn.
When she was concerned about the health of her meadow, she asked Tim Wheeler, Perfect Earth’s Living Lands director, about it during a Living Lands visit. “He said, ‘let’s just wait and listen for a minute,’ and we could hear insects, and he said that means you’re doing great.”
Now that her landscape has fewer maintenance needs, she can focus on more fun projects.
“I was worried about our landscaper not having enough work for me because we’re mowing and watering less and not using fertilizers and pesticides, but we’ve found other jobs, like planting more natives, which we work on together,” she says. “It all balances out and it’s so much more pleasurable.”
Perfect Earth Project has put together three simple promises that everyone can make to help get started:
I refuse to use pesticides and fertilizers.
I will plant natives or 2/3 for the birds (for every three plants you buy, make two native).
I will close the loop, nothing in (ie. no imported mulch) or out (ie. no clippings or organic material to the landfill), except more plants.
We encourage residents of the East End who are interested in learning more about how to be more sustainable in their yards, to sign up for a free Living Lands consultation.
A Perfect Earth staff member will walk your property with you and talk to you about what you’re growing, how you’re caring for your landscape, and what you can do.
Starting this May, we’ll begin hosting several Landscape Therapy Workshops in the area. People are encouraged to come with lots of questions.
We also have an event, “Grounded Conversations: Killer Lawns,” at Guild Hall on May 3 at 4 p.m., where a panel of experts will discuss the dangers of conventional landscaping and the healthy and joyful alternatives.
Sign up for our newsletter so you’ll know where and when. And lastly, download for free, or order a print copy of our Nature-Based Gardening booklet.
We can all make a difference to help heal the earth and bring beauty to our yards. Every yard counts.
Melissa Ozawa is the director of content and communications at Perfect Earth Project, the nonprofit founded by Edwina von Gal to promote ecological, toxic-free land care for the health of people, pets, and the planet. She has been writing and editing stories about gardening and sustainability for more than two decades.
Climate Local Now is a partnership between the East End Beacon and leaders of a grass-roots group inspired by the science of Project Drawdown to advance local climate solutions.
