Backyards

This is what your backyard might look like, if you had a few billion dollars and a full time staff of gardeners, can you imagine how fun it would be hiring the garden boys! I grew up with an unusual back yard. In the middle of World War II my Grandfather bought an 80 acre farm about 60 miles north of Detroit.  It was cheap, it was paid for shortly after the War, not the best farm land but he really didn't care.  He was looking for a place outside of the city to keep bees.  In the 1950's my parents moved to the farm, followed a couple of years later by my Grandparents.  I was born while my parents lived on the farm.  My Grandfather farmed a few acres of the farm for a few years, mostly tomatoes and strawberries. But for the most part it was his dream back yard.  30 acres of meadows and 50 acres of trees.  Eventually there were two homes, a pond and over 5 acres of grass to be mowed. My Grandfather's health failed when I was a teenager, and I assumed mowing duties, a riding mower and five acres to be cut all summer.  I hate mowing grass, I don't care if I ever have a back yard again, unless I can hire the lawn-boys.