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Lawns

Until today I used to be able to say that I had never mowed a lawn in my life. And that would be a completely true statement. I grew up on a farm where mowing the ‘lawn’ consisted of getting a horse or pony and a book and laying out on the grass for a couple hours. As an adult either I lived somewhere that didn’t have a lawn to maintain or someone else took care of it and it just wasn’t my deal.

I now live in a house, with a yard, a sad dust bowl weed infested yard but there is some grass. Someday the grass will be replaced with something useful but for now it has to be cut occasionally or my landlord will complain. Not being a fan of noisy mowers or the whole ‘lawn care’ industry in general I have managed to pick up a second hand push reel mower! I was so excited I mowed the ‘lawn’. All 5 square feet of it and it was long.  It definitely took some force to push but the grass got cut. I have nothing to compare it to so I really couldn’t say what the difference is labour wise.

My yard is flat. No big hills or inclines. The person who sold it to me could not say the same for their yard which consisted of several steep grassy slopes. I’ve always thought that lawns were for playing lawn type activities on which sort of negates the grassy hill but I digress. Flat yard with grass + push mower = easy and awesome. Hilly yard with grass + any mower = difficult.

There was a time that you could get a rebate if you purchased a push mower new. I am generally not about the new things and if there is someone out there who can imagine how you might modify a gas mower into a push mower you need to start a business! Until that time go buy a push mower and cut down your grass!

1 thought on “Lawns”

  1. Hello, I see you managed to achieve goal #1 already. Cool.

    We found out the harder way, that push mowers (aka reel mowers) need to have their blades sharpened each year. This is easily done with a lapping (sharpening) compound. I know LeeValley.com sells the kits (a kit will last many years) but there must be other places (more local) that offer the same thing too. For 5 square feet there is probably no rush to sharpen the kit, it is better for the grass though because as the blades dull, they tend to tear rather than cut. Take care, Deanna.

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