Editor’s Desk: Buzzkill episode 4 — the lawn war

By Brent Cunningham

In episode 4 of Buzzkill, our new podcast series on the pollinator crisis, reporter Eve Abrams tells the story of how one Maryland couple’s dispute with their homeowners association sparked a mini-political movement that is helping protect pollinator habitat.

When Janet and Jeff Crouch bought their house, in 1999, their front yard was grass, like the others on their street. But Jeff started the garden and kept adding beds until almost the entire yard was covered and no longer matched the cookie-cutter look of the neighborhood. As Eve describes it:

This is what the Crouches’ yard is all about. Creating a habitat, a home, really, for the plants and animals our ecosystem needs. The Crouches’ yard is buzzing with pollinators. Butterflies, sure, but also birds, bees, wasps, beetles, you name it. All browsing on a native plant buffet. 

One neighbor, though, complained, and their HOA told the Crouches to cease and desist — their pollinator-friendly yard was deemed a threat to their neighbors’ property values. A long and expensive legal battle ensued, and even though the Crouches wound up settling, the ordeal eventually produced a new state law — the first of its kind in the nation — that enshrined a resident’s right to landscape their yards for biodiversity.

But the story doesn’t end there. As word spread about the Crouches’ fight and the new Maryland law, lawmakers in other states began to push similar legislation. All because one couple refused to cave. Buzzkill is an ambitious undertaking for a small media organization like FERN. But we know this kind of explanatory journalism about food and agricultural issues that affect us all is as important as it’s ever been. And we can’t do it without your support. Please consider a donation today.