A green way to trim the green
While many dream of acres and acres of sprawling land, I'm perfectly content with the postage stamp better known as my backyard.
One of the advantages to living in the city is a very manageable lawn size: the back and forth shuffle behind a lawnmower can be a relaxing pastime, but not when it takes the better part of a day to do the job.
The size of our estates gives us some choices in how we cut our grass, no need to have a John Deere tractor for this task.
One of those options is the old-fashioned push reel lawnmower.
Outside of doing nothing and letting the lawn grow into a jungle, there is not a greener, and healthier, way to cut your lawn. My push reel mower has been a faithful yard companion for over 15 years. No loud gasoline engine disturbing the neighborhood tranquility. The smell of fresh air, not smelly fumes accompanies a leisurely workout.
The price is hard to beat - you should not have to spend much over $100 to get a new machine that will serve you well for many years. A little oil on the reel and blade over the winter, and sharpening the blade every few years is all you need to do to keep your baby purring happily..
Perhaps the idea of pushing a reel mower is not too appealing. Another way to mow green is a rechargeable battery-powered mower. It's not as high on the sustainable scale as the push reel mower, because energy is still required to charge the batteries. And, it costs more.. But it's still well ahead of the gasoline-powered version.
Either way, you are doing your body and Mother Earth a big favor.
One of our local businesses, Northeast Mower on E 156th street can put you behind a rechargeable mower, and Home Depot carries push reel mowers and rechargeable mowers.