I did this. I wouldnt call it making it shitty, but some people have scoffed and said I âRedneckâifiedâ the neighborhood. I moved to a suburb in 2009, itâs not HOA thankfully but older people acted like it was. I got cops called on me for my lawn being too tall the week I moved in, like 8 inches and such and they continued to do this often for my grass and my dogs being âtoo stinky and an eye sore to their viewâ
I have asthma and canât use a push mower. I donât own a riding mower. I canât mow my lawn timely. Iâm also not gonna pay a company to mow here 2x a week. I have a relative mow the front portion of my yard a few times a summer and we call it good. I then rewilded the property so the native plants manage themselves, my backyard is a meadow now. I have lots of trees.
People stopped fussing about the lawn eventually and these old huffy folks eventually moved away. I got chickens, turkeys, quail, rabbits in the meantime. My place is a hobby farm. I planted crops and gardens. My yard isnât immaculate but itâs okay. I have corn and watermelons growing in my front lawn.Â
From then on, a neighbor turned a spare acreage across the street into pasture and got a pair of donkeys. A herd of feral guineas roams the whole neighborhood. Iâm the poultry lady here. A guy talked to me about turning his property for pigs recently. Someone on another street turned extra lots they bought into a meadow for their herd of goats right in the middle of the suburb. On the other side of the neighborhood someone has horses in a nice big field. At the road entrance to the neighborhood, the first house you see is another hobby farm of a couple dogs, a 4 wheeler, some really happy kids and chickens. And their house is really beautiful too. Â
All of this because I stopped mowing my lawn regularly when I moved in. Â
Itâs truly a thing of beauty and the homes are getting more affordable! Because someone in a local fb group complained a few months ago about it âI canât sell a house here for the highest I want to because of all these places here! This used to be a decent neighborhood!âÂ
You donât have to make things downright shitty. You just have to stop mowing your lawn regularly.Â