Some people like their yard to look perfectly manicured. Other people prefer a more natural look.

Imagine having a natural looking yard, but a neighbor tries to cause trouble for you to force you change it.

Would you comply, or would you find a way to make it impossible for the neighbor to ever complain about your yard again?

In this story, one homeowner is in this situation and takes the second option.

Let’s read all the details.

I had my yard certified as a National Wildlife Habitat to spite a busybody neighbor

Our yard is wild.

I mean that in the real definition of “living or growing in the natural environment”.

We have no “lawn”.

We aggressively remove and prevent invasive and noxious species of plants and ensure that what grows is native to our area and drought resistant.

This yard sounds natural and beautiful.

The wildflowers that grow are things like Lupine, Blue Flax, Spiderwort, Black eyed Susan, and Sunflowers, among others.

We have natural elements like driftwood logs to retain water and we even have an elk skull in the yard to act as a shelter for critters.

There are a plethora of birds, bees, bunnies, and other wildlife. More wildlife than any yard in the area, as far as I can tell.

It’s beautiful and alive, but definitely not a manicured lawn with perfectly cut grass and landscaping.

Someone didn’t like the way their yard looked.

Last summer, we got a notice from the county that our yard was in violation of some county ordinance.

My husband called the number on the notice and got a very “over it” employee who let out a big sigh and said he had gotten like 30 complaints from one person for the entire strip of road that we live on.

Keep in mind, you can’t “batch” report an area. You have to file reports house by house.

So someone had the time and energy to pull up Google maps and file a report for about 30 houses for “overgrown weeds.”

She really made sure they were compliant.

I checked the county ordinance and made sure everything we had in our yard was in compliance. Things like “purposely cultivated,” which our wildflowers definitely were.

We planted specific species of seeds and we remove whatever’s not native.

None of the wild plants block any sidewalks nor do they hang over onto any other properties.

They found a way to make sure nobody can complain about their yard.

Now knowing that it was someone with way too much time on their hands, I did some reading and learned that my yard has everything needed and then some to qualify as a National Wildlife Habitat.

So, I filled out the form, paid the fee, and got my certificate.

My husband called the county employee back who said “Send me that certificate.”

He looked it over, thanked my husband for the new information he can use in the future, and closed our case.

I now have signs on my yard that announce the property as a wildlife habitat and the birds and bees get to keep living happily in the wild.

It sounds like it was pretty easy to get their yard certified as a National Wildlife Habitat.

More people should do that.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This is an interesting story!

Here’s more praise for this story.

I’m glad that HOA didn’t happen.

This person has some questions.

I’m tempted to turn my yard into a wildlife habitat.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.