Hey, you're listening to Outside In, a show where curiosity and the natural world collide.

I'm Nate Hedgy.

This past weekend, I went down to see the in-laws.

They live in the suburbs of southern New Hampshire, in a neighborhood with emaculately cared-for green lawns.

I mean, the kind of lawns that a dad would spend hours in the summer tending to.

And it reminded me of this episode we produced back in 2022 on America's obsession with grass.

It's an oldie but a goodie, and we're going to play it today.

Enjoy.

It's the spring of 2020, the early days of the pandemic. It's the spring of 2020, the early days of the pandemic.

People are howling for health care workers.

Watching Tiger King on Netflix.

Hi, everybody.

My name is Jos Maldonato, otherwise known as Joe Exotic.

But mainly, like, being stuck at home.

I realized I had a lot of time in my hands, and I had a lot of thoughts.

That's where Malin Curry found himself.

20-something years old, back from college, living with his parents, North Carolina.

And he starts thinking, like, why the hell is my dad out almost every day working on his lawn?

You know, nobody's out.

There's no reason to want to make your lawn look perfect.

And, you know, have these, like, lattice, you know, fields and all that stuff.

There's no reason for that if nobody's going to be out.

...