What's Green?

Can it be called "Gardening" if I'm just pulling out plants?

I have a very not green yard. Which is to say, I have a huge lawn. I love the lawn. It's one of the reasons we bought this house. It's not the most lush thing. A lot of it's dry and there are bare patches. But just being a lawn supposedly is not good. I mean, it's not natural. It's man made. And it needs care - like watering (which we don't do) and mowing (which we do with a rider mower, and it takes over 2 hours.)

I guess I'm supposed to just let it grow in.

But I like having a space for my kids to run on. I like the view of the brook flooding over, and the deer and other creatures that wander through our yard.

Also, there is an awful plant that threatens to take over the world, starting with our home. It's this kind of horrible thorny brush. It grows up and winds itself around trees, pulling down branches. It snakes through the grass and reaches out and snags you as you walk by. The thorns are so sharp they punctured the tire in the rider mower.

So every year I go out and take down as many as I can. I pull out as many roots as I can. And today I started in earnest.

But am I being.... un-green?

Not that I'm planning on changing, mind you. I'm willing to push-mow my lawn eventually, but these thorny invaders Must Go.