Yep. We have ourselves a new grass-clipping machine. It's a silent, gas-free, reel push lawn mower. No fumes, no noise, complete manual control. Luke calls it the ninja mower.
In deciding on the Fiskars brand, we were lucky to have quite a few trial runs. Luke's parents graciously, enthusiastically lent us their various gas-free lawn accoutrement. We began with the Brill reel mower. This lightweight little bugger was simply too slight for our lush grass. We found ourselves stuck often and reversing to chop at the grass in an aggressive, not-very-efficient manner. That made us pause in more ways than one. Do we really invest in a gas-free grass-clipper if it will take us twice the time? Oh, and the upkeep demand is much higher since the mower only works if the grass is already short. Twice the duration, twice the stints? No thanks. We're too lazy.
Then, they lent us the Fiskars. It's a heavy-duty monster weighing in at 47 pounds, but that is what gives it its power. Long grass? No problem. Stuck? No way. In fact, Luke cut the grass with the Fiskars faster than he did with our gas-powered machine. It also shoots the grass out the front of the mower, not at your feet. I put our baby down for a nap and left his bedroom window open. Then I went outside in my bare feet and mowed the grass while listening to Lara sing to the trucks in her sand box. What could be more enjoyable?
Anyone nearby - I encourage you to come on over to our place and take a few swipes with our reel mower. Green solutions aside, I purely love this contraption in all it's simplicity, strength and old-school sturdiness.
And its silence. Did I mention my baby slept while I mowed?
Our jovial but somewhat-skeptical neighbor laughingly bellowed at Luke the other night as he quietly clipped the grass:
“What, did you go all environ-MENTAL?”
Yes. Yes we did.
