By Amy Voight, A Team Landscaping, Inc
Here are some elements to consider when creating sustainable outdoor solutions:
Shelter: Trees are a main supplier of shelter – from the wood products they provide once harvested, to the branches and leaf space critters hide behind and nest in, to protection from sun and wind.
Pollination: Bees, butterflies and even birds accomplish this all-important task that is crucial to production of food and plant life cycle.
Food and medicinal production: Plants providing health for our bodies through fruit, nut, seed, leaves and roots. Not very many generations ago people lived off their own land and were self-sufficient.
Mental Refreshing: In our busy, hectic and technologically-driven lives there comes a point when we must “unplug” and recharge our souls with the simple beauty that nature provides. When we slow down and examine the living things around us it has a therapeutic effect.
Regenerating the Soil: Inappropriate and wasteful building practices can change landscapes from their organic state through relocation or compaction. These changes can leave behind caustic and very poor growing conditions for plants. Proper planning with soil enhancements, appropriate plants and the process of time can regenerate the land that has gone through a major change. “Waste” shed by plants – or unused portions when combined appropriat
ely and given time – decompose and trigger another important cycle in the eco-system, which will also aides regeneration.
Elemental balance: Pure air to breath. The all-important task of converting carbon monoxide to oxygen to sustain all life on this earth relies on the world’s vegetation.
Pollution Filter and water cycle: The proper collection and disbursement of water, so that it regenerates aquafers and visible bodies of water such as lakes and rivers, should be a consideration in landscape planning. Managing water on your own site with a rain garden is both beautiful and environmentally friendly.
Exercise: Low maintenance does not mean no maintenance. Get out and move! A little sun and work will regenerate your spirit and invigorate your body. When you know how to take care of the landscape, you have and make it a lifestyle to balance the care of it with your priorities, then it won’t become a burden.
Start now! Try things, adjust your priorities, make new habits, change your lifestyle and educate yourself in the wonderful world of nature.
Amy Voight, owner of A-Team Landscape can be reached at ateam@vhiinc.com or 507/581-6886.
