Mowing the lawn


Many urban home owners are looking for ways “go green” when comes to mowing their lawns.

In the “old days” prior to using gas powered mowers, Saturday morning meant that “someone” in the family would be out pushing the rotary lawnmower….usually Dad if he didn’t have a child old enough, or strong enough, to push the mower. The newer models available now are made of light metal or sometimes plastic…the originals were heavy and hard to push….especially if the yard was not level. Mowing downhill was easy, but pushing it up the hill was not so easy

The cutting mechanism of the reel mower consisted of several blades mounted on a circular frame. The blades spun around cutting the grass as they passed over the lawn. The mower was fairly quiet but you could hear the light click, click as the blades passed each other.

Occasionally the mower would have a canvas catcher on the back to collect the grass clippings. But more often they were just left to fend for themselves. The 1950s version of mulch.

They are wonderful for the environment….they do not use gasoline or oil (money saving right there), are silent and the possibility of having a severe accident with a reel mower were much less. Plus, you saved money on exercise equipment, jogging shoes and clothes….a morning spent mowing the lawn “by hand” was guaranteed to give you all the exercise you needed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It would make your neighborhood much quieter on a Saturday morning! Sometimes the old ways are the better ones.