Meet My Yard: An Outlandish Idea?

Okay, so today we’re talking about a concept rather than a thing that exists already in the yard of The Professor Haus, so please bear with me.

I had this idea yesterday and I legit can’t stop thinking about it.

So, we have a pretty good frontage at the Professor Haus, yeah? We’re on a main road, we get a decent amount of traffic. Heck, some people even use it as a landmark, I’d think. I know I would if I didn’t live in it myself.

I chose a pic before we starting landscaping. (Well, “landscaping”.) I wanted y’all to see it with open eyes, not whatever we already did to it.

To the left there is a small-ish side yard and our driveway, which turns right behind the house and comes out the side.

To the right there is another yard, this one wider and broken in half by a white picket fence that we have since taken most of down, because you can’t contain US!

Here is what my brain is thinking:

Separate the front of our house into three sections.

One would be the side left yard, one would be the side right yard, and the other would be smack in the center with the Professor Haus.

This offers three options for sun/shade:

The left side yard is like half sun/half shade, if I remember correctly. The right side yard is mostly shady. And the front is sun crazy.

Okay, so now here comes the outlandish idea.

Wait, first. Let me explain something else to you.

My brain has been working on coming up with ways to make money with things I love. (Hence the sucker subscription offering.) My biggest problem is if I make something myself, I don’t really feel like it’s worth anything. I know, I know, more dumb brain stuff and childhood trauma to work through.

Oh here is something I have wanted to say but haven’t found the right place anywhere else. If your kid comes to you and wants you to talk through their childhood trauma with them, don’t get all offended and mad that they think they had a traumatic childhood.

We all did in our own ways. It’s just a matter of recognizing it, feeling it, and moving through it. Your child has a much harder time doing that when you refuse to accept their version of their childhood (the traumas, etc). And you’ll have an even harder time yourself. Listening with an open mind goes a long way toward healing.

Okay, back to the topic at yard.

What I’m getting at is I really only want to make money doing things I believe in. Like, with my whole heart, my whole brain, and my whole body.

One of the things I believe in wholly is The Professor Haus. We bought it with the intention of eventually creating a space where artists can come have lil retreats. The colors here are out of this world.

I love taking care of the yard at The Professor Haus. It is my main source of exercise and I guess I am pretty good at growing flowers, which I didn’t expect to discover at this point in life.

However, I know with some professional landscaping, the front of this house could look impeccable. But, as someone who is unable to picture things in her head, planning and executing it doesn’t seem to work.

I’m doing great in the backyard with my chaos though, and having very much fun at it.

Another thing I believe wholly in is human-owned businesses.

And then my brain mashed those two things together, it had an idea.

What if I literally separated the front yard into three sections with, like, chains or a red velvet (weatherproof) rope or something?

And then I approached some local landscaping companies about landscaping a section each in exchange for a sign advertising their company in their section. Plus, they would give us, like, 10% from all the customers they got from this project.

It might not even be that much money at first, but I think it’s great advertising.

Just think about it – you’ll find out a lot about three local landscapers in a single yard:

• How frequently they take care of the yard
• Their design aesthetic
• How good they are at keeping plants alive
• How pretty the flowers that they pick are
• And probably some other things

I would have requirements, though. As of this posting, they are as follows:

• Whoever has the right section must keep both paths intact.
  • We have one path that it y-shaped and leads straight through the back yard, by the squirrel tree, the Nadga garden and my lilac bush.
  • The other path is on a corner so that those walking on the sidewalk through to the side street have a lil short cut
• Whoever has the middle section should have a place for three very important things:
  • Victor
  • The twinkly lights lining the path to the sidewalk
  • My pinwheel thingies (the butterflies enjoy riding them)
• Whoever has the left section can do what the hell ever they want to. However they do have some chicory to contend with.

I would be happy to water plants daily or weekly or whatever it is that they need… as long as they provide detailed instructions. But all the other upkeep in their section is 100% up to them.

I will let them all know that I am not interested in a golf course grass lawn. We’d much prefer a clover or other ground cover that isn’t boring.

I would take care of the entire rest of the yard – except the weed whipping because my arms just can’t do it, y’all. They are limp noodles.

What do y’all think? Is this idea outlandish? Or does it have legs?

What are some barriers to success that y’all can think of that I might not have considered?

I already have two local places I’m ready to approach.

But I just have to make sure that it’s not dumb first, you know?