Sassafras Land Care LLC is a small company dedicated to improving the health, beauty, and resiliency of our local landscapes through ecologically supportive design, installation, maintenance and education. Specializing in working with New England native plant species and other durable perennials, Sassafras Land Care works to enhance the ecological function of landscapes while also enhancing the experience of people within them.
Sassafras Land Care
is NOW Looking
To Hire Part-Time
Land Care Maintenance & Installation Staff
for The 2022 Season.
Interested applicants should email sassafraslandcare@gmail.com for further information.
Email today and join the Sassafras crew, where we help bring back some beauty and function to the landscape one yard at a time.
Listen to my radio interview about pollinator supportive practices below
Originally aired on the WSBS program 'Religious Roundtable' in Feb 18th, 2018. This particular episode was hosted by Viviam Orlowski, and was titled 'Pollinator Friendly Communities and Congregations.
Sassafras Land Care is an Ecological Land Care service provider dedicated to working with, and for the natural processes and relationships that make a healthy landscape function and sing.
But What is Ecological Land Care? And how can it help the environment?
Ecological land care is in essence a landscape philosophy that looks to emulate the way that nature organizes itself in an environment to provide food and water to all of the many plants, animals, fungi and microbes that reside there, all without the need of outside fertilizer, pesticides or irrigation. Ecological Land Care is all about recognizing and nurturing the positive relationships that exist between the many living things in a landscape, while also creating a living, artistic expression that inspires and satisfies the innate need for beautiful textures, colors and forms. By following the Key Principles of Ecological Land Care, it is possible to transform any landscape from a barren and bland resource-sink into a living, productive, symphony of organic interaction.
Key Principles of Ecological Land Care (in a nutshell):
-Know your place, every scenario is different and context is key
-Soil is the foundation, know the soil, love the soil, grow the soil
-Don’t amend the site, pick the right plant
-Nurture appropriate and functional diversity
It is estimated that in the united states, over 40 million acres of land is devoted to lawn, that All-American symbol of suburban landscaping that offers little to no function other than to require regular inputs of water, chemicals, and labor. But what if we did something more with those 40 million acres? What if instead we planted all of that land to a diverse selection of plants that were adapted to the specific conditions of a place, that provided beauty, but also supported a diversity of other species that all had their place and function in supporting the overarching community? With such a transformation we would be converting more atmospheric carbon dioxide into stable forms stored in the soil and as woody biomass, enhancing the water storing capacity of the soil to buffer against times of both drought and flood, enhancing the viable habitat of pollinators and other crucial beneficial insects, as well as providing cleaner air, cleaner water, and more places of beauty to draw inspiration and delight from.
I believe that this is an attainable vision, but it is only attainable if we all work together to bring it to fruition. It can be easy to take small steps towards creating a more resilient and healthy landscape in our own backyards
