I am just a guy who cares about my lawn and the environment I live in, primarily the parts of the environment I am exposed to regularly. My background is not in lawn care or related industries, I studied engineering and computer science. Organic lawn care is something I'm very enthusiastic about and have devoted a lot of time studying, discussing, debating and since 2008 writing about on this website.

Some time before I started this blog I went through a difficult time in my life due to an illness in the family which took the usual tolls such events take on a person as far as time, money and the difficult to quantify reserves of emotional fortitude.

My lawn was not a priority during those years. It was neglected and it showed. I wanted to do something to change that. I began reading as much as I could find and began participating in online discussions like I do in many of the topics I'm interested in. I love to learn so I spend time learning about the things I care about. My reading made me come to the conclusion that I wanted to avoid synthetic fertilizers and chemicals. While the illness my family member had likely wasn't related it did make me want to learn more about the chemicals I expose myself to. What I read I did not like so I started learning about organic lawn and garden care.

I Like to Share

There are a few reasons but the main one is not only do I like to learn but I like to share what I've learned. The first time I used corn meal on a section of my lawn I was blown away. My area gets a lot of rain and many lawns in my neighborhood turn orange from disease. Mine turned from orange to green. I was so excited I wanted to share my experience. When friends and family commented on how much nicer the lawn looked and I told them what I did, they laughed and thought I was crazy.

I'm not the type to buy into what everyone is trying to sell me and I did quite a bit of research into corn meal and why it seemed to work. What I learned I thought would be valuable to others as well. As I learned and experimented more, I posted more.

To Promote Good Brands and Products

A lot of what organic lawn care and organic gardening is about has nothing to do with what you buy. It's about your approach. That said, there are products and services that can help.

Throughout the years I saw a lot of new products, services and plans being offered. Some at ridiculously high prices. Some I think were justifiably high priced since new technology and small scale production tends to lead to higher priced products. A lot of the times people were taking advantage of the popularity of people wanting to be more "organic" and charging more for those products. For example, I could buy a dishwasher for the price some people charge for composters but there are affordable composters on the market and I want to help people find them.

If there's a company or product I like I will try and promote it. I don't work for them and they don't pay me. They most likely don't know I exist. I like to help promote them because I think they are good and I want them to grow so that they continue to do more good things and provide more good products. 

Organica for example was a company I wrote about frequently. From what I remember they were a fairly small microbiology company that would develop biological products for water and sewage treatment and other bio-remediation projects. They also developed a line of organic lawn care products that included various beneficial bacteria and fungi. A couple of years ago, Espoma, which is also a good company, bought Organic'as lawn business and wound up getting rid of one of my favorite products. I don't want to see good products disappear.

This was more important earlier on but it still holds true today. These organic products had to not only fight for user acceptance but also competition from better known brands and services  that were selling synthetic lawn chemicals for years. I wanted to lend my support and I did so without them asking me to.

By adding my voice to products, brands and even just cultural practices I believe in I feel I can help counter false advertising and exaggerated claims coming from elsewhere. I couldn't afford to waste money on snake oil type products and I didn't want others to either. Maybe more accurately, I didn't want snake-oil salesmen to prosper.

To Make Money

Last but certainly not least I created this blog to make money and I haven't tried to hide that nor am I ashamed of that. The time it takes to create and gather the information on this site I believe has value and I should be able to make something in exchange for what I'm providing. Why should those who try and promote products and services because it's their job to do so be compensated for their efforts and not someone like me who genuinely believes in the products and retailers I use and recommend?

I'm not getting rich off this site but it does help me justify the time I spend sharing information and allows me to buy more products to review that I might not have been able to otherwise.

I participate in a number of advertising programs such as Google AdSense, Amazon's Affiliate program and Commission Junction. These are the largest and best regarded programs I am aware of. 

I have also received a small number of review samples. Products a manufacturer has sent me for free so that I could give my unbiased review. When that occurs I will point that out. In all cases so far manufacturers have not approached me to review any products, I have approached them when I thought that their product was good and would be something my readers would be interested in.

I also have some advertising on the site that I have less control over. These are easily identifiable ads from Google AdSense that I'm sure you've seen elsewhere. They're fairly on-topic and I take time to review them every so often to make sure there isn't anything I find objectionable.

The ads and affiliate links through Amazon and Commission junction I choose which products and retailers to promote based on my experience and confidence in their service.

I'm not sure I can pinpoint why, but people always seem to come to me for advice. Especially when it comes to decisions on how to fix things or what to buy. I've always had a very inquisitive mind. When I was a kid I would take things apart to see how they worked and sometimes even try to put them together in different ways. Probably why I got into engineering and computer programming.

I've left reviews on other parts of the web and have always received high feedback scores from other shoppers. So much so that last year I was asked to be part of a new program for a big online retailer that sends me products free for me to review. 

Whether I pay for a product or not, I always give my honest opinion. If I think a product is good I'll tell you so and why it's good and what it's good for. If I think a product is bad I'll do the same hoping the manufacturer will use that input to make improvements to the product. The reputable manufacturers do indeed do that. The disreputable manufacturers just try and buy more positive feedback.

If I had it in me I'd get all mushy and try to stroke your ego and tell you it's because I don't want to deceive a great person like yourself. :) Truth is I don't even know you. I have certain principles and I do my best to abide by them.

I think the content of my articles and reviews speak for themselves but for those of you unfamiliar with me or my site and to comply with FTC regulations regarding online advertising and testimonials I wanted to be as thorough as I can.

My hope is that you enjoy the site, find useful information and wind up with great looking, healthier, safer lawn. When you've gloated about how great your lawn looks to your neighbors for a year, tip them off on how you did it. Remember, you get exposed to what they apply too.