I am getting so sick and tired of the weird comments from New Yorkers about anything related to the natural world. Nature is seen as a nuisance or an obstacle. I wonder what the alternative is. Paving over everything? Actually, it’s surprising how many gardens are neglected when outdoor, natural space is so limited. Okay, so I’m about to go off on a rant, but I will try to organize my thoughts by using some examples.

The Daily News just ran a story about urban chicken keepers. Nothing groundbreaking about the article. You can see it here. It was mostly about how chicken keepers have networked here to share experiences and knowledge. What was so weird was the comment section. Some people *hate* the idea of chickens in the city. Here’s an example of one of the comments:

i would not be happy if i had to wake up to a rooster every morn at crack of dawn. also would not be happy about all the Extra rats these chickens would attract w/ their feces,eggs and feed. WTF! go move to the farm and do this, how on earth is it ok to inconvenience your neighbors like this for a 20 cent egg?

Besides the fact that most people were opposed to roosters, which aren’t even allowed in the city, they seemed opposed to the idea of farming. You know those evil places where they till the soil and grow (here’s the scary part) VEGETABLES. You know. That we eat. Horrors!

There was just an article in the New York Times called Allergy-Free New York. In it the writer talks about the bad allergy season and how cities are planting very highly allergenic trees. Male trees don’t produce pesky fruit, so they are usually the ones planted. Trouble is they produce pollen. New York City is working hard to plant One Million Trees, which is absolutely wonderful. But all I’m hearing lately is everyone complaining about how the city trees are making their allergies horrible. The people talking about that article seemed to be saying that the trees are responsible for the allergies, which is true in part. What the article went on to say was that we only plant about 10 varieties of trees, which can also aggravate allergies. Having a large variety is better. But the underlying feeling I get is that people are having fantasies of these city trees and chain saws.

I keep hearing people complaining about messy trees. And by messy I just mean pollen and leaves. Not the 2 weeks of horror dropped down on our yard by the giant mulberry tree behind our yard. I’ve gotten requests to chop down an “old” maple tree in the yard of my childhood home. 40 years in the life of a maple makes it about a teenager, sheesh.

Our neighbors are taking down all the ivy that covers the side of their building (that faces my garden). We’re sad to see it go because it is much prettier than looking at a building. But I was informed by one of the workers that the ivy harbored millipedes. “And you don’t want those around, especially if you have kids!” Huh?

People here complain if it’s cold, hot, rainy, too many mosquitoes, humid, there are ants, etc. What are they all saying?? NATURE = BAD!

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