The Beauty of Grass in Flower

August 11, 2022
Owl Feather Farm, San Juan Island

Grass is everywhere.
All seven continents. Every country on Earth… 195, by last count. There are 10,000 species. Grass plants? Quadrillions, not trillions.
Yet this mega-common being with which we share our planet is, to put it mildly, overlooked. We walk on it, slash it into submission, send our livestock out on it (including the two horses, Cereus and Cocoa, at Owl Feather Farm), pour oceans of water on it, devote countless hours and gallons of hydrocarbons to making it conform to our standards. Some communities strictly regulate how their residents have and maintain grass.
grass in a field

Beauty and meaning are sometimes right at our feet.

But do we appreciate it? Well, it’s great for croquet and picnics. Some philosophical musing has wondered why we find the sight of a green lawn or meadow so soothing. Perhaps it’s an atavistic instinct from millions of years ago when proto-humans found the rainy season African veldt lush and welcoming.
It’s unlikely that many people stop to consider this flowering plant whose blossoms bring great beauty if you just take a moment to look. Here at the farm we have about 14 acres of grass in dedicated pastures and meadows, not to mention grass at woodland verges, grass beside our house, grass in the median on Frog Song Trail. It all blooms if left unmowed. Pause a moment at dawn or sundown to see and appreciate the quiet, unassuming beauty of these graceful, lacy flowers and you may catch a thought about the nature of life itself. How much time do we spend trying to master the sight of Big Things… snowcapped peaks, say? How often do we brush right by something just as grand and gorgeous in its own right?
Grass growing

Bigger than a breadbox, smaller than a mountain

So try liberating a square yard of your lawn. Let its flower stalks reach 3 feet toward the source of all life on Earth. You can even cut your grass for bouquets. It’s not really just a tiny thing, is it? But is anything, really?

—Eric Lucas

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