As part of living a more self sufficient life, we abandoned our lawn service. I figured mowing was good exercise and would save us the money we threw at the lawn guys on a monthly basis. Initially, to lessen our impact on the environment, we ordered an old fashioned reel mower. No emissions, plenty of exercise. Awesome. When it arrived, Andrea tried it out first. I watched.
In about 10 minutes, it was obvious that some things don't work out as planned. Our southern lawns are coarse. Our grass isn't the fine bladed, cool and soft-on-the-toes stuff we grew up with in the north but rather a mat of running roots and tough green stems. Our soil is well....sand. Soft sand. The idea of effortlessly trotting from one side of the yard to the other using a human powered lawn cutter was quickly shattered. The blades bogged down in the runners and the sand swallowed the wheels. The result was not pretty. Every ten feet, the mower had to be upended and the blades cleared. I figured it would take about 14 hours to mow our 1/2 acre. Add to that the stifling heat and humidity and the scene quickly degenerates into a cursing, sweating nightmare.
I tried to tell myself "That's how it got done in the past." It didn't work. The intent was not to make us miserable, but strike a balance that worked for us. We disassembled the mower, packed it up and sent it back. While zero emissions and no noise would be great, the trade off was too much. We investigated electric mowers but the thought of being tethered by a cord didn't excite me. When we thought about it, there was no real gain, since electricity is typically generated around here using coal, which polluted the air. Next, we looked at battery power. Although promising, we noted that the battery capacity was only about 15-20 minutes. Fine for a small lawn, but inadequate for our tough grass and relatively large lot. It appeared we would have to return to the fossil fuel powered world if we were to keep our sanity.
Our new self propelled Toro seemed perfect for the job and it was easy to maneuver, but over time I realized our lawn was tougher on equipment than I had anticipated. Our soft sand still made for some tough going and the assorted detritus constantly raining from our trees didn't help. Our magnolias have tough leathery leaves and drop grenade-like pods that, when mowed over, are akin to hitting a piece of lumber. Our oaks didn't help either with their millions of hard acorns and tough leaves that don't shred easily. In one year, the underside of the mower had been thoroughly destroyed and the self-propel mechanism failed to operate. To make matters worse, we needed a weedeater to get into corners and around the garden fence....yet another investment in equipment that would require maintenance and be subject to our harsh yard.
With the mower now out of commission and the lawn now tall enough to hide most African predators I made a snap decision today. I called the lawn guys. "We can be there in an hour..." the voice crackled on the other end of the phone. "Do it," I replied. In exactly an hour the landscapers arrived and dispersed across our lot with their industrial grade arsenal of lawn taming equipment. Giant mowers and blowers whined in stereo and whizzing monster string trimmers made quick work of anything green that resisted a haircut. In 15 minutes, they were gone and the lawn and yard looked better than it had in the last year. We had come full circle.
As I stood outside, the dust of freshly shredded grass still settling, I felt oddly guilty. We had gone backwards with self sufficiency and settled back into our old default which was having someone else deal with the lawn. I caved.
I know many people who enjoy getting outside and mowing the lawn. I'm not one of them. I despise it, especially in the intense mid-summer heat and humidity. Mosquitoes and sprawling spider webs draped between tree branches don't add anything nice to the experience. Because I feel that way, I put off the job and as a result, our place often looks like shit...overgrown like one of those foreclosures you see in neighborhoods so often. My compromise is the lawn guys.
I justify the decision in two ways: My life?...well, now it's simpler. I don't have to mow. My life is also less cluttered in that I don't have to keep, store and maintain lawn equipment. The shed will be emptier (as will my wallet). I still feel guilty ...like I didn't try hard enough. I guess I'll take two out of three.
 | ||
| I tried. Honest I did. Let 'er rip guys. |
 |
| Now that might be the solution. Zero emissions too! |
That's why we keep the sheep.
ReplyDelete