Farmbrarian

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In July 2005, artist Fritz Haeg arrived in Salina, Kansas to create an exhibition commissioned by the town’s art center. Haeg proceeded to replace the tough Bermuda grass of a selected Salina lawn with a completely edible landscape. Thus began the Edible Estates series.

Haeg warns in the preface that “this book is not intended as a how-to or technical resource for making your own Edible Estate” (11). A scrapbook is a better term.

The book (2008) begins with a series of essays condemning the front lawn, including excerpted text from Michael Pollan’s Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education.  Each essay presents a different perspective, but all of the authors agree that traditional lawns are a useless monoculture. The second portion profiles the Edible Estates Haeg designed throughout the United States and beyond. Reflections from the homeowners who volunteered their lawns are also included here. The next section of the book is comprised of testimonials from others who have transformed their front lawns independent of the Edible Estates project. A planting calendar for each climate zone, a selection of statistics, and a helpful bibliography conclude the book.

The hodge-podge theme is reinforced through the book’s style: matted black and white pages are followed by vibrant, glossy ones, which are proceeded by undyed, textured pages. Just as Haeg’s text combines varying styles and stories to create one-cohesive text, Edible Estates are created by fusing climates, communities, personal preferences, and other influences.

Collectively, lawns comprise more than 30 million acres in the United States (118); and just like lands used for conventional agriculture, most of this acreage is doused yearly with chemicals.  Although this book is far from comprehensive, it serves as an accessible introduction to alternative landscapes that are more productive and more environmentally friendly than the green that likely encircles your home now.