This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
Two years ago, I decided to create more wild spaces in my own yard. Now, I feel like I’m a Disney princess, surrounded by wild life.
This is a short story about how small actions accumulate over time to create a bigger impact, and the importance of working with your environment rather than trying to force your will upon it.
The grass won’t grow
There’s a section of my yard where grass simply does not grow, despite a decade of my best efforts. There’s too many trees, too many acorns, poor soil, and not enough sun.
Two years ago, I decided to stop fighting it, and convert the space into a wild enchanted garden.
I created a strolling path of crushed gravel that loops around a cluster of four trees that share a root system. I dug up some massively heavy rocks that the folks who built our home tossed into the woods when the dug the foundation, and rolled them into the yard.
Then, I tossed around a ton of wildflower seeds, relocated some native ferns from along the woods, and stacked some fallen branches into a decorative pile.
It became a fun spot to sit and relax. We actually used it, unlike years past where it sat neglected. The flowers didn’t really take off, though.
Again, too much shade.
Leave the leaves
When the leaves fell in late fall, I raked many of them into the enchanted garden rather than removing them like most people do.
I used my electric mower to mulch what was left into the grass, putting all of that nitrogen back into the soil.
And in the spring, I left the leaves sit for a few weeks longer than folks usually do.
Part of this was laziness. But I’d also heard that a lot of bugs and small mammals rely on leave cover to stay warm and safe in the colder months (over-wintering, they call it).
Leaving them gives more of the bugs a chance to wake up or hatch.
I didn’t realize at the time just how transformative that would be to our entire yard space.
Becoming a Disney Princess
I noticed pretty early this year that we had a lot more bees and dragon flies than in years past.
The bees helped pollinate a lot of flowers and other plants. The dragon flies eat a lot of the pest bugs that are attracted to flowers and vegetables, keeping them from ruining the plants.
The increase in dragon flies and other bugs brought more birds into our yard.
This year, we even had a robin build a nest and successfully raise three chicks. We got to watch them leave the nest and take their first flight. It was magical!
I noticed once section of leaves had little perfectly round “hobbit holes” where small mammals (mice and/or chipmunks) has been coming and going. I left them, so that they’d still have a home.
Frogs seems to like the cool, damp shelter of wet leaves, too, because we have a ton of them, this year.
And with the increase in flowers (and clover, as a result of weeding less), bunnies took residence in our backyard. Our area is mostly populated by gray squirrels. This year, we had a red squirrel for the first time ever!
The increase in small mammals brought more hawks into the area.
Every time I step into my backyard, I feel like a real life Disney Princess. I’m surrounded by so many wonderful, magical creatures who make the space feel more vibrant and inviting and alive.
Small actions. Big impact.
In Taoism, there’s a concept known as wu wei, or effortless action.
Water can carve away massive rocks over time by moving around them instead of trying to flow through them. That’s wu wei. It’s not doing nothing, as I mistakenly understood it when I was younger. It’s doing more by doing less.
That feels a lot like what happened with our wild garden experiment.
A decision to stop trying to grow grass led to me stopping picking up the leaves which led to doing less weeding which led to more bugs which led to more mammals which led to more birds.
That once dead, desolate space is now more alive than ever.
There’s a bigger lesson here
They say writing is thinking, and that’s true here.
When I started writing this, I honestly just wanted to share how cool my wild garden turned out. But in the course of writing about it, I realized that my experience of wu wei, of working with what is rather than fighting it head on, maybe has lessons for the current hellscape we’re living in.
I’m not saying we should embrace fascism or just give into the destructive late-stage capitalism or any bullshit like that.
But those forces are too big, too entrenched, to fight head on. They need to be fought. But throwing ourselves into the woodchipper to symbolically resist doesn’t really help people.
Instead, lots of small actions, things you can control, that work within what currently is, can affect bigger change over time.
Small and local
I love social media, and I love tech.
But one of the worst things I’d done for us is entrench this idea that anything we do needs to global and at scale. At least, it has for me. That insidious idea has really burrowed into my brain over the years.
But if my wild garden has taught me anything, it’s that starting small and focusing locally can have an outsized impact an affect areas beyond your immediate ecosystem.
Help your neighbors. Take a trash bin up from the curb. Move that package off the front porch to somewhere where it won’t get stolen. Cook a meal, or have someone over for a drink and a conversation.
Help strangers. Give freely. Ask what someone needs, and get it for them. Ask people how they’re doing, and genuinely care about the answer.
Give and receive. Give your time. Give your attention. Give handshakes and hugs. Give love. And, if like me, you’re really into being independent, be willing to receive help, time, and kindness from others as well.
The state of everything right now kind of sucks. But we’re not powerless.
There’s almost nothing fascism hates more than deep, genuine joy. Cultivate it. Create it. Give it. Spread it.
Wild garden the fuck out of your life.
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This content originally appeared on Go Make Things and was authored by Go Make Things
Go Make Things | Sciencx (2025-08-30T14:30:00+00:00) Wild gardening. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/08/30/wild-gardening/
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