Mowing the Lawn, For Reel

My second article is in today's Franklin Country Gazette! This one is on lawns. If you read the article and found it interesting enough to come here, just for you, I'll be doing a series of blog posts on lawn.


I giggled with glee when Chris surprised me with this. A human-powered mower! Hooray!

Being somewhat neurotic about owning things that I don't use, when folks warned me about how exhausting and miserable these reel mowers are to use, their discouragement kind of stuck. Have I ever mentioned that I own a violin? The stupid thing has haunted me for years, sitting under the bed, unplayed. I keep meaning to sell it, but it has more than just four strings attached to it.

But back to the mower! Thank you Chris! I'm just giddy to get out and do some more mowing. Although I am converting part of our lawn into meadow, a trimmed lawn does have a certain visual appeal that, frankly, my rather free-form style of flower beds need in order to not look like a mess.

But what about all the exhausting miserable work? Pish, I've been using the gas-guzzler *without* its self-propelled feature since we bought it. And why would I do such a silly thing? No, not to save the environment. As laudable a motive as that would be, I can't take credit. I actually push the whole weight of the monster because I hate exercise. Few things make me resent the sacrifice of my precious time more than some some unproductive activity that I don't enjoy. I would so much rather dig ditches than play soccer, or jog, or ride on the rowing torture machine rusting on our porch. The only good thing I could ever say about mowing the lawn was that it was good exercise.

The reel mower takes somewhat less effort for me to push around the yard. The only smell that comes from it is the summery perfume of cut grass. And best of all, now I'll be able to get my mowercise at sunrise without waking my neighbors!

Here is some additional information on reel mowers, including some quirky humor, and a section on their disadvantages.