Increase your aggravation and Lose Weight!

[savingdogs]

We have one of those mowers. It has a hard time when the lawn gets longer, you have to keep it trimmed. When it gets too long, you need a more powerful mower to get it to where the reel mower works again. I keep a small area mowed with it, the rest has gotten long. I'd like to get rid of most of my grass anyway.
I have found I get a backache from using the thing before I lose any weight. But I'm in good shape, you are right, round is a good shape! lol

 

[big brown horse]

We have one too. I only have a small bit of grass that isn't used for animals. It takes me about 30 minutes to mow with my push mower. (I also weedeat by hand too with a grass clipper. Everything gets raked up and fed to the animals. ) The whole time I'm pushing that puppy I think "The Biggest Loser".

 

[Leta]

They don't have to be sharpened that often. DH grew up on a 38 acre sod farm and they used reel cutters that they sharpened once every three years. They were bigger, and towed behind a tractor, but the same principle applies.

Come the revolution, when I rise to power (please, please, please read with tongue in cheek) powered mowers will be banned from the land. If you have more grass than a reel mower can handle: 1) get livestock, or 2) plant something else.

Yes, we have a reel mower, and we love it. We have very little grass, though. Mowing takes about 15 minutes.

 

[Wannabefree]

Come the revolution, when I rise to power (please, please, please read with tongue in cheek) powered mowers will be banned from the land. If you have more grass than a reel mower can handle: 1) get livestock, or 2) plant something else.

MWAHAHAAAAa Can I be your VP?

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[k0xxx]

savingdogs is right about having to keep on top of the grass and not let it get long. We had one is south Louisiana, and the thing cut wonderful. The only problem was that the grass has to be cut at least twice a week (sometimes three times during the height of the rainy season), or you had to break out the power mower. In NORMAL areas of the country it might not have been too bad.

 

[Marianne]

In a perfect world, I'd say 'screw mowing!' Every year take part of the lawn, do something different with it and take part of the mowing out of the equation. http://lesslawn.com/ has some great ideas and tips on how to get rid of typical lawns and have a beautiful yard in an eco friendly way. I agree with Neko, too. A lot of edibles appear ornamental, like peppers. We used landscape timbers to outline an area with angled paths in a geometric design and did compact gardening so there was always something growing. We just mulched in the walkways..really was pretty.

Or consider an island in the middle of the lawn and plant cherry bushes. Or an herb garden with a pretty walkway meandering around and some garden art, bird bath. Or a group of small trees. Mulch, mulch, or you'll spend more time weeding than you did mowing before.

Now I'll get off my soapbox and admit that we bought a new Toro ZTR riding mower this year. Our old one just couldn't be repaired any more. This place was nothing but weeds when we bought it (fireweed 6' tall is NOT fun to walk through). I tried to let it go back to natural prairie, and just mow next to the lane, but alas...I gave up after three years when I realized this situation/area was different than my plans. 2+ acres to mow just in the front is more than I want to deal with using a reel.