I leave the leaves and pine needles in my backyard because it beats having a giant dirt patch.

I don’t really want grass back there, but what else is comfortable to walk barefoot on and can hold up to large dogs, growing kids, and a small flock of miniature dinosaurs running allover it every day?

And I’ve spent an obscene amount of money on grass seed the past couple of years only to be told that I can’t water it, between droughts and water bans from the city trying to balance water between the high-PFAS reservoir and the low-PFAS resevoir. Ugh. Can’t win even if I try.