Central Florida Green Guide

In Florida, everyone wants a green lawn. But did you know that 42% of a homeowner’s water is used outside the house? That’s a lot of water being used to get us looking as green as our neighbor! I once had a salesman for a “lawn care” company ring my doorbell, wake my sleeping baby, let my dog escape onto the street - all to point out that I had a small dry spot on my lawn he could fix by dropping some toxic chemicals onto it. After shutting down the three-ring circus he had unleashed in my foyer, I proceeded to tell him that my lawn could be pink with purple polka dots, I wasn’t letting him put chemicals on it.

I did, however, call Florida Organics, since I don’t think that a pink and purple lawn would go over well with the HOA. Run by Dave and Patricia Jackson, Florida Organics offers homeowners a beautiful green lawn by the use of natural soil amendments, minerals and fertilizers that are free of synthetic chemicals and carcinogenic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. They claim that their treatments will build a stronger root system, which will ultimately require less water.

Now this news couldn’t have come at a better time, since we hadn’t yet figured out how to use the automatic sprinkler system. Surprisingly, the lawn has flourished with almost no watering at all. We’ve been in the house for over two years and have only watered in drought conditions - maybe two or three months total (usually after a somewhat frantic note from Dave). Not only are we keeping toxic chemical out of the ground, we’re saving water and money. Talk about going green!

Five years ago, Jessica traded “making green” for “going green” becoming a stay-at-home mom who likes to save the planet in her spare time. This two-time Ironman finisher finds that years of triathlon training prepared her well for the endurance sport of motherhood. She spends her days changing cloth diapers, preparing organic meals for her family and teaching family nutrition as a Juice Plus health educator. At night, she dreams about the introduction of the first hybrid minivan and moonlights as a technical writer so she’ll be able to afford it.