Poor Mr. Toad

This week while walking to the bus stop, Emma happened upon a dead toad lying on the sidewalk. The toad was covered in fertilizer and had apparently wandered through the lawn next door which, had just been fertilized. Luckily, Sue got stuck with the task of explaining what had happened to poor fellow. Emma wondered why someone would put something on their lawn that would kill toads and presumably, other animals. That's a good question and also one of the many reasons we've stopped using traditional fertilizers. Things like milky spore, corn gluten, and organic ferlizers may not get us the greenest lawn in the neighborhood but, not having to worry when the kids a rolling around in the grass seems like a worthy trade. As for the toads, we've added a toad house in the back yard to hopefully coax some of the beneficial little guys over to the side where the grass isn't quite as green.