[cmpb]

And be prepared to interact with many other animals. This includes the ones we all seem to love, like birds and bees and fireflies, but also those that are typically considered vermin, like spiders, snakes, mice, wasps, roaches.

Not that there's anything really bad about that. It just requires a change to how you approach your outdoor spaces.

[kjs3]

Friend of mine has 2 neighbors who have gone full don't mow back to nature and all that. No, it doesn't look 'natural' or anything else nice. It looks like what is: overgrown weeds, sprawling vines (kudzu, poison ivy), several years of desiccated branches and stems (glad we aren't in a fireprone area), and scraggly, non-native trees trying to take hold.

But the best thing for my friend is how much rats like it. Not mice, rats. Lots of rats.