Buy a Mower, You Hippy

We are in the middle of an experiment at our little farm.  We are trying to figure out how long we can go without a tractor or a mower.  I actually have two tractors, one a little two cylinder Yanmar diesel the other an old Ford 8N.  Both are presently broken, and I just don’t want to fix them. I actually hate both of these stinky noisy — and on our hilly property — dangerous contraptions.  Oh, it’s not as bad as it seems.  We actually have about twenty very efficient mowers.  They are of varying colors and ages.  Some are older and some are less than a year old, but if you ask our neighbors, I’m sure that they would find our mower collection odd. 

 

I consider them perfect mowers.  They are fueled with the same free grass that I want to cut, sunlight and water.  These wonder mowers also fertilize the lawn as they mow.  They trim to the very edges, under fences and around rocks and they will even trim the bushes — a little too much if you aren’t careful.  

 

As you’ve probably figured out by now, these mowers aren’t made of steel.  These mowers are our herd of dairy goats.  These goats can mow a half-acre yard in about two days, depending on the height of the grass. The grass will be clipped evenly and neatly.  I hear sheep also do a good job of mowing, but for us goats are the ticket.

 

When the goats can’t keep up we have a scythe as a back up.  It’s hard to describe how it feels to have a quality tool like a scythe in your hands.  This is a tool that is impossible to improve upon.  The blade, when sharpened properly, cuts through grass almost effortlessly with the momentum of your swing.  The action of the grass after it is cut reminds me of the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote when he falls of a cliff. There is always that little hesitation before the fall.  Tall grass reacts the same way.  As the blade cuts through the grass, there is a slight pause like the grass can’t believe that it has just been sliced off at its base. The grass continues to stand for a split second before falling over all neatly aligned in opposite the direction of your swing. Taller grass can then be left to dry for a few days and put in the barn as hay, or most often we just throw it over the fence for the goats to feast on. 

 

In the meantime my neighbors are buzzing around their yards on their zero- turning- radius mowers, shaking their heads, and wondering how in the world they ended up living next to somebody like me.