The EFSS Filter for A Better Yard

Your yard is not a static backdrop. It’s a stream of decisions you make all season long: what you plant, what you spray, what you mow, what you water, what you pull, and what you tolerate. Today we share a simple lens that helps you make those decisions with less stress and more impact, without getting trapped in perfection culture or the idea that you have to overhaul everything at once. 

We call it the EFSS Filter: eliminate unnecessary chemicals, feed birds and pollinators, save clean water, and store carbon. We talk honestly about chemical dependency in the traditional lawn system, including why “automatic” seasonal treatments have become normalized and how to step away from that routine in realistic ways. We also dig into the joy piece, the moment your yard starts acting like habitat again, with caterpillars, native bees, butterflies, songbirds, and the whole web of life showing up where there used to be a sterile green carpet. 

Then we zoom out to the bigger impacts: fertilizer runoff, irrigation, erosion, and how deep-rooted native plants can change water flow and rebuild soil on properties where topsoil was stripped during construction. We also highlight the underrated climate angle, how healthier soils and deeper roots store carbon, increase resilience, and reduce the constant input cycle of mowing, bagging, and synthetic fertilizers. 

To make all of this doable, we introduce Rebel Gardens: a small, dense native garden installation designed as an easy entry point, typically 150 to 250 square feet, built to deliver a visible win and lasting ecosystem function. If this sparks ideas, subscribe, share the episode with a neighbor, and leave a review so more people can trade “status lawn” pressure for a better yard that’s actually alive.

Learn more about getting your own Rebel Garden at ABetterYard.org.

Transcript

The FESS Filter Explained

The Myth Of The Perfect Lawn

Eliminate Chemicals Without Perfection

Feed Birds And Pollinators

Protecting Clean Water From Runoff

Store Carbon By Building Soil

Rebel Gardens As The Entry Point

Pricing Details And How To Sign Up

Closing Questions And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello and welcome my friend to a better yard podcast. I am super excited to have you here with us today. It is actually a little quite a personal privilege. First year it's my birthday. So uh 47 today, and I'm really excited about where things are going in life and how things are happening. So it's been a rough two years, and so we are just really excited about where things are going and what's happening personally in my life in the Minnesota legislature, as well as at a better yard. So having switched over to a better yard for Minnesota Gardening has just been a really great thing and excited to do it all together with you. So thank you so much for being here. So today we are going to talk about F's. And uh F's is a framework that we put together, a filter may be a better word for it. But F's stands for eliminate chemicals, feed birds and pollinators, save clean water, and store carbs. So E F S S F syns. Now technically could call this a framework, but I think that framework is not really the right word anymore. As in to practice, and as we've been taking and using this in the real world, it isn't really a checklist. It's not like do 12 things and congratulations, you've completed environmentalism. It's it's that's just not real life. So most people are busy, most people are overwhelmed, and most people inherited yards that were built around very different priorities than what we are trying to achieve and get to together. So instead of thinking of S as a rigid system, I would like you to think about it more as a filter, maybe a lens, a simple way to evaluate decisions in your yard without needing to become a perfect native plant expert overnight. And that shift really, really matters because perfection is how people get stuck. That's where where we start to deny moving forward on things and where we start to question ourselves. And so, just perfection gets people stuck. And actually, this whole idea is a big part of why I'm so excited to finally start rolling out something that we call now rebel gardens. And I'll tell you a little bit more about that toward the end of the episode. But the short version here is what would happen if we stopped treating our yards like status symbols? It's a caste system, a class system, and started treating them like ecosystems again. So, what if a small section of your yard could eliminate chemicals, support pollinators, save water, and store carbon needing to completely rip up your entire property without uh becoming a full-time gardener and taking small manual steps to move forward on things. So that's where this whole thing is headed. And first, let's start talking about the F's filter itself. So, one thing I really want to clarify before we go is F's is not a checklist. It's not a do these 10 things perfectly or you fail. That's not how the real world works, as we talked about. And this kind of thing is part of the reason why so many people feel overwhelmed trying to build a healthier yard in the first place. A lot of people just give up with after the thought, but you're not that person. You're not the person that's going to give up. We're going to do this all together and we're going to put this, move this forward. So F is a much better as a filter for decision making instead of a checklist, instead of a framework, because every single week, whether you realize it or not, you're making decisions about your landscape. You are deciding what to plant, what to spray, what to mow, what to pull out, what to water, what to tolerate, and how you are going to spend your money, especially in this economy today. We need to be very careful as to how we spend our money. And so most of us were taught to make those decisions based on habit, convenience, what we've learned from our parents, from our in-laws, whatever the lawn industry normalized for us. And all those commercials on Hong Depot and all those social media commercials, the perfect lawn and dudes spraying in their flip-flops, which you should never ever do. The S filter gives you a different lens to work from. So instead of asking, what does the perfect lawn industry want me to do? Start asking, does this help eliminate unnecessary chemicals? Does this feed birds and pollinators? Does this save clean water? And does this store carbon? And no, every decision does not have to be perfect. It doesn't need to hit all four categories. That is just not realistic. And so the point is simply to interrupt the autopilot, to interrupt how we've been making decisions and start making slightly better decisions over time. Because once you start viewing your art through that filter and through that lens, you can't really unsee it anymore. You start noticing how many landscape practices are designed around constant total inputs and dependency instead of on healthier ecosystems that support clean water, that support birds and pollinators, that support eliminating chemicals and support storing carbon. And that awareness changes everything. So I think one of the biggest reasons people never start building out healthier landscapes and they stick to this perfect look of a lawn that is just green, no weeds, constantly growing where you're constantly working on it, constantly putting chemicals on it, is I think they have to go in immediately. So you have to pull out all your lawn, never use chemicals again, or only plant native plants, or every species must be perfectly matched. And if they can do all of that, you do nothing. You get stuck in this analysis paralysis kind of world. Meanwhile, the traditional lawn industry has spent decades convincing you that the only good yard is one that looks like a golf course or center field, a target field, perfectly trimmed, perfectly green, perfectly controlled, even if that requires constant fertilization, constant use of herbicides, constant use of fungicides, constant use of insecticides, lots and lots of water for irrigation, gas powered equipment, and tons of your time where you could be spending your time with your family. And that system has become normal. Normal doesn't automatically mean healthy. And in this case, it absolutely does not. And so many of us are just exhausted by it. Uh spent way too much money and financially exhausted, mentally exhausted, and physically exhausted, and would rather, you know, be on a lake instead of uh working on your lawn. So the S filter is about opting out of that pressure, not from guilt, not for perfection, just with better decisions over time. So here we've got an idea. So we have uh four things again F E F S S. Eliminate chemicals, eat birds and pollinators, save clean water, and store carbon. So the first one here is eliminate chemicals. And now, before anybody gets upset, this is not a purity test. This is not uh something that you have to be 100% all in. I am absolutely not in the 100% uh yes or no. It's not a switch that you flip on and off. It is not a again, a purity test on things. I think that's really important. Here at Abeta Yard, we are not pretending chemicals never have a place. I use chemicals to kill thistles. I use chemicals to kill off lawn areas in order to uh plant uh native and helpful plants. I use them in those strategic untime kinds of uses to help solve a problem. They're there and they're important for it. And some people don't believe that's okay. I get it. Um but our job here and our goal here is to eliminate chemicals wherever we possibly can. And sometimes to eliminate chemicals, we have to use them. It's a paradox, it's uh it's a mind shift. I understand if everybody doesn't agree with that, but that's where I am, is that they are useful upon occasion and sparingly. So we uh yard are not pretending again that chemicals never have a place. Sometimes they do. Sometimes targeted use is reasonable, sometimes you inherit situations where you need tools to transition away from a larger problem. But what I am challenging is the idea that routine chemical dependency should be modeled, that every spring automatically means you put down pre-emergent, which is so dangerous. Fertilizer, weed killer, insect killer, fungicide, mosquito control. Most people were never even taught to ask why. It's just what we do. They were sold a system. So the ask become becomes how can I reduce dependency over time? And so maybe that means mowing higher, maybe that means overseeding with uh bee lawns, improving your soil, reducing your lawn size, tolerating some weeds, planting dense native plant gardens, and skipping cosmetic treatments just for aesthetic reasons. And so we're not going for perfection, we're just going for progress. And so that's eliminating chemicals wherever we possibly can. The F in the F's framework is feed birds and pollinators. So this is one that really gets people excited because once you start noticing life returning to your yard, it changes everything. It is really great for your family. Watching your kids find caterpillars and look for chrysaliss and those those kinds of things, and seeing birds is really awesome. And so I have uh gotten to the age where birds make me very excited. So saniel cranes are one of my favorite things to see. It's just cool dinosaurs that are so fun to see in the wild. And my youngest for my birthday today gave me a weaving tapestry kind of thing of a Saneo crane she made in school. And it's the coolest thing ever. So I'll put that on Instagram and uh show you guys because it's uh it's baller, that's for sure. So that's a little side note here. So getting families and other people involved in your uh obsessions and the things that you care about with this framework is really important. So my family is really excited about uh birds and pollinators, and so it changes everything. You stop seeing your landscape as a decoration and you start seeing it as a habitat. So you start bringing in pollinators, songbirds, flies, native bees, airflies is a huge one. Most suburban landscapes are ecological deserts. And and people think because there's green and because there's uh life with the grass there, it doesn't support anything or anyone. There is nothing that feeds on our grass that is uh supporting uh pollinators and birds and other things. And so most suburban landscapes are an ecological desert. And it's not because people are bad, it's mostly because people are never taught another way. And so we were taught that a successful yard is control, is a class structure. But living systems aren't controlled, they are supported. So even a small rubble garden in 150 or 200 square feet can suddenly become nectar, shelter, batat, nesting spaces, food, insects, and then the birds show up, and then more insects show up, and suddenly your yard is alive and send us sterile, like a uh controlled lawn is. That is super, super powerful. The first S of the F's framework is safe, clean water. So this one matters a lot here in Minnesota and the upper Midwest, and honestly everywhere, because the amount of water pollution connected to lawns and landscapes is staggering. So fertilizer runoff, nitrates, pesticides, erosion, overwatering, nutrient loading, all of those things. In so on a farm kid, as uh you may have heard in previous episodes. So grew up on a farm and row crops and those kinds of things. Lawns use so much more fertilizer, so many more chemicals, exponentially more chemicals on lawns. And lawns are the largest irrigated crop in the nation. And so we are equally responsible for this runoff and we can do our work together. So we need to make sure that we are protecting clean water. And so participating in a system designed around inputs instead of ecology, if if we do that intentionally and make sure that we're making these changes, we will have a healthier yard that slows down that water from entering the system and causing more erosion. The absorbed water, it filters that water and it uses significantly less irrigation. So we have native plant roots alone can completely change how water moves through your property. Many suburban uh lawns and landscapes were taken all the topsoil was removed and sold off, and you're just left with clay and junk and whatever the side layer was on top. And so we need these native plants to start digging deep and uh adding new soil, adding new organic material to our soil in order to make it work better for everyone. So every time you replace unnecessary lawn with deeper rooted plants, you're not just making your yard prettier, you are helping protect lakes, rivers, groundwater, and downstream ecosystems and aquifers. And that really, really matters. So the last S and the S framework is store carbon. So we've had eliminate chemicals, feed birds and pollinators, save clean water, and now we're at store carbon. This is probably the least talked-about one, but it is super, super important. So healthy landscapes store carbon in the soil. They store carbon in the roots of plant material, they store carbon in organic matter, they store carbon in trees and shrubs and perennials and grasses, and traditional lawns, especially heavily managed lawns, do not store carbon in those lawns. And so if you look at any of those pictures, and I'll post some of these as well, of the differences between turf grass root systems and a well big blue stem or a little blue stem, it is vastly different. So blue stem grasses have roots that go down literally four to six to eight feet, depending on the soil. And Kentucky bluegrass will have a and our turf will only go into the soil two or three inches, and that mostly dies off every year. And so with that, um, we have lawns that require constant mowing, synthetic fertilizers, leaf camp removal, bagging clippings, removing organic material, and this is just the way we do it. It's not the way we have to do it, and we can learn a better system. Meanwhile, nature is over here trying to build soil. Think about a forest war here at a veteran yard. We try and emulate nature wherever we possibly can. So that means cycling roof nutrients are encarding underground where it belongs. And one of the most rebellious things you can do in modern landscaping is actually work with natural systems instead of constantly fighting them. So leave the leaves, mulch the clippings, build soil, like perennials, produce unnecessary lawn. These little actions have big cumulative impact. And so we have to make sure in our lawns that we're doing everything we can on a personal, uh homeowner level to reduce the impacts of climate change. So we have so many big freak storms, we have uh significantly more hail, especially in the upper Midwest, and these nasty storms, big rain events that were previously 100, 500-year events that are now happening on a yearly, decade-wide basis. And so those are really important that we are doing everything we can, both in our homes and also encouraging our government to make larger changes for how we are handling and moving forward with climate change, and storing carbon on our properties is a really great way to do that on our own. So, again, this F framework, S framework is not about being perfect. I really want to emphasize that part. The S filter is not about perfect environment. Becoming a perfect environmentalist, perfection culture is part of the problem. You get overwhelmed, feel judged, feel left behind, different from your neighbors, and then you disengage entirely. And that's just really not useful. What matters is taking the next best step. What matters is building some momentum so that maybe this year you will reduce your chemical applications. Maybe this year you will plant one native bed. Maybe this year you will stop bagging those leaves and clippings, and maybe you'll stop doing that removal, which isn't a thing in our area. And one keystone shrub. Maybe this year you'll also let your lawn grow a little taller and be a little feral, and those things count. And if enough people start making those shifts, then neighborhoods change, expectation change, demands change, culture changes, and that's how we really make things happen in our neighborhoods, in our communities, in our state, and in our nation. And it won't happen overnight. It won't happen through perfection. We need to make this accessible. We need you to use the F filter so that you are able to make the best possible decisions that work for you and your family and meeting you where you are at to start making those decisions and head down a path that is safer for your family, safer for the environment, and helps support pollinators and songbirds, support our future, our kids, our grandkids, and lots of really great things. So this has all led me into a product that I call Revel Gardens. And so that thinking is exactly what led me to create Revel Gardens. And because one thing I've realized over the last few years is that a lot of people want a healthier yard. They just don't have a realistic entry point. So most people are not going to rip out their entire lawn, they're not native plant experts overnight. They're not going to spend the next five years turning their property into a prairie reserve. And so that, and that's okay. But they are open to something meaningful. And when we started uh Minnesota Gardening and then a better yard, with this understanding, we're going to give people the abilities to do those on their own. And I've very much come to realize that people want to do these kinds of changes and want to make the kind of changes, but they're not able to really get it going. So we have this Rebel Garden new offering for folks that is going to help make sure to reduce that friction and make sure to reduce that entry point. And so people are open to doing something meaningful. The problem is the landscape industry tends to give people two choices. Either you maintain the perfect traditional lawn system forever that is really easy to replicate, which is the acceptable way of moving things forward, or you completely overhaul your entire property immediately. And there's a really big gap, I think, in the middle in that entry point. And that's what Rebel Gardens are meant to solve. So Rebel Garden takes a relatively small section of unnecessarily long, um unnecessary lawn around 150, 250 square feet, 250 square feet max, and transforms it into a densely planted native garden designed to support pollinators, birds, clear water, healthier soil, long-term ecosystem function, all the things with the F framework that we talked about here at a better yard. And the size matters. We max out a 250 square feet with a rebel garden because it's intentionally manageable to make a real small enough that it doesn't feel overwhelming, small enough that people can actually say yes to it, and that is important. So a lot of environmental messaging unintentionally asks people to change everything all at once. That's not what we want to do. We want to give people a very small, easy entry point, but behavior change actually works differently than changing everything at once. Most people need a visible win first, so something beautiful, something manageable, something that proves this will actually work. And once people experience that, once they see the monarchs start showing up, the goldfinches, the native bees, the fireflies, and realize they're watering less, spending less time managing a dead section of lawn, their relationship with the landscape will change naturally. So a yard stops feeling like a chore you constantly fight against and starts feeling like something that is alive. And that's the bigger vision here at a better yard behind Rebel Gardens. And so it's not just prettier landscaping, it's a different relationship with our yards entirely. And one that asks, what is the space contributing? What is it supporting? What would it become? How safe is it for my family? And how safe is it for my pets to be running through? Because the gardens are built around the S filter. Every installation is designed to do multiple things at once. So we take 250 square feet of your yard, reduce chemical dependency, feed pollinators and birds, slow and absorb that water, build healthy soil, store carbon, and build increased biodiversity. Consumes resources. A rebel garden gives something back. And I think a lot of people are ready for that shift. Not because they want perfection, not because they're tired of spending time and money maintaining a system. So if this resonates with you, I'm officially starting a rebel garden installation this season at a betteryard.org. And so this is 100% completely done for you rebel garden. So it's somewhere 250 square feet and less. Minimum uh cost of$17.50. So it's$1,705. We install really dense plantings that are uh one square foot uh on center, so it's got a lot of plants to it, so that shades the ground out earlier, and it is a really, really cool thing. We are starting this gym. So if you want to be one of the founding uh Rebel Guards, you can sign up today and pay a deposit. There's a deposit of 750. We talk through the plan, we install everything, and then it's yours. You get three, three months of a Better Yard membership. So you can subscribe to a Better Yard and learn best how to take care of those plants and make sure that this is successful in the long run. So head to a betteryard.org and learn more and sign up for your Rebel Garden today. So this is the first UN podcast phones. This is the first that I have announced this and talked about it publicly, and I'm really, really excited about it. So, so in closing, that is uh a rebel garden is the S filter where we want to eliminate tentacles, feed birds and pollinators, safe clean water, store carbon. And I want you to use this not as a rigid checklist, but as a way to evaluate your decision. So as you're reaching for a chemical to uh kill off tenth caterpillars, do you need to do that? Is that something that's important? Usually not. It is okay to skip killing off all those tenth caterpillars. It's okay to skip a chemical application of uh pre emergent. It's okay to do those things. I just want you to ask those questions. Is this helping build a better yard or just maintaining the status quo? And that question alone can change a lot. So if you have enjoyed this episode, I really would love to have you join us next time better yard. Membership. If you uh want to make these changes but don't have the time or nervous about doing it yourself, make sure you can contract today to get a better rebel garden installed at your home. You have to be, just so you know, within uh 20 or 30 miles from Shockabee, Minnesota. This is an in-person service that we provide, and so it's not uh all over the upper Midwest. You just have to be mere Shockabee and we can figure that out from there. So head to aboutteryard.org and uh pay and pay a deposit today, and we'll get everything started. We have a very limited number of things that we're going to do because this is a pretty high value service and it will take a ton of time. And I'm just excited to get this started for everyone. So head over to aboutteryard.org and I will talk to you again next week. Have a great day.