in with 'manpower' ed mower, out with the gas guzzler

flowers are bloomin', longer days, greens are a sproutin' and the grass is growin'. now, i know that this may sound crazy, but i love mowing grass. it is meditative, physical and just plain fulfilling. it is like clean laundry or clean floors throughout the house. it makes you feel good and it looks pretty. yup, i'm nuts, just ask my husband.

so, when i declared my hatred for our damned lawn mower for the thousandth time, my husband couldn't say no to me wanting a new mower. our old one was self propelled, which means that it is heavy, cumbersome and huge. our yard is tiny, not square and has nooks and crannies that you have to get into. big mower means pain in my butt and a lot of frustration. plus, i had to find the gas can, get it started, and risk waking the little one while trying to do all of the above. no fun. not to mention that it is hard to store, takes gas, oh, did i mention that it takes gas and yes, it takes gas.

you ask, 'what are your other options?', if you don't want a gas guzzler. well, simple, inexpensive and i think lots of fun...old school reel mowers. yes, there are electric mowers, but once again i'd have to maneuver it, store it and still deal with a bigger piece of 'equipment'. plus, most options have to be maintained: filters, oil, tuneups, etc.. not the reel mower, it is pretty low key. lube up the blades to prevent rust and lube up the wheels and blade spindle. so, the reel mowers pack a punch in a small but green package, light, a good workout, enviro friendly, do a great job and they are tiny compared to their motorized counterparts. so, i must gloat, I WON! i got to pick out a new mower with the agreement that i'll do the mowing without complaining. duh, a no brainer all considering my love of lawn maintenance.

off we headed to home depot in hopes of finding the model that i came up with. i did the research, looked at the reviews, priced them out and the model that won was....scotts elite push reel mower at the depot. 16" blade cutting area, probably around 30ish pounds, under $100 and i think that it is cute. i couldn't wait to try it out.

today it put that bad boy together, in under 10 minutes, mowed the grass with ease and was ecstatic with the results. the lawn looked great! just as good as when we did it with the ole guy. well, the old mower will be sad to know that last season was it's last with us, but we'll be passing that one on to a new home. just put a sign on it at the edge of the driveway and hope for a new home for ole gasey.

there you have it; old school reel mower bumps out new school gas mower. a happy ending for all, well maybe not the old mower, but someone else may have patience for that thing. not me, too conflicting with my ways, but boy do i have a new found love for something so old that it is new, the reel mower.

the fam's urban farm...beach style

here we are again, it is finally getting warmer and we are feeling like there is a light at the end of this long winter tunnel. though we go through it ever year, for a lifetime, it still feels like forever. yes, winter is out and spring and summer are in. this means time to plant indoors and outdoors, tunnels over the beds, some new fruit trees and blueberry bushes on the way.

the fam is ramping up for a good summer bounty. we had a great crop last year that even carried us into this january with kale and collards, but we are making some permanent additions this season. now more than ever the importance of sustainability is knocking on the door, especially self sustainability. we are looking a ways to be less in line with the consumer flow and more in line with the mother flow. why not? it is the safest, most economical and most enlightening way to feed your fam. our food supply isn't what you would call safe nor honest nowadays. so, do your own thing and get out there and claim a plot either on site or off site. by this i mean in your yard, at a friends house or even in a community garden site. there is always a way...so my father says!

with that said, who said that you can't make a teeny tiny yard produce veggies and fruit for your family? just because space is tight, doesn't mean that you are limited. and, if space is abundant for you, awesome, roll with it and go wild. consider it the price of therapy included in your mortgage. a garden no matter how big or small is a wonderful way to chill out, grow goodies and make your yard look like the garden of eden.

and...the garden of eden isn't complete without fruit. yes, that sweet and juicy oh so yummy stuff that is usually super pricey and not to mention sprayed beyond belief with the stuff that monsanto peddles to every conventional farm in america. yes, i am talking about pesticides and junk. no good! so, grow your own. we planted a santa rosa plum 2 1/2 years ago and it has proven to be a beautiful tree, but it is getting lonely in the fruit yard. well, last week amidst the rain and yucky weather arrived 3 new dwarf trees to keep ole rosa company. we decided to go with all dwarf varieties for obvious reasons (they only grow to about 8 feet tall) and the shiro plum is a companion to rosa for cross pollination and the 2 apricots moorpark and chinese are companions. today with shovel in hand, we planted all three, staked them, mulched them and gave them a new home at the beach. now, we just have to what a few years, but it is all worth it. those 4 trees will be plenty for the fam.

that isn't all that is going on around here. we have some organic blueberry bushes coming from indiana that will take residence in the front yard. too exciting, i know, but we couldn't resist the thought of blueberries on hand in july and august. thanks to a friend of mine, who was kind enough to give those ole rose bushes a new home, we are getting some raspberry canes in exchange. gotta love it. you never know what you'll be able to swap. speaking of swapping, take a look for local plant exchanges or even plant sales in your area. we have one here every year and the prices are wonderful, the selection is outstanding and your know that it came from close to home.

on the veggie front we have a bunch of stuff under plastic at the moment. we are still getting super chilly nights with windy and somewhat warmer days. so, everything is under hoops or in raised boxes under cover. we have spinach, mustard greens, peas, dinosaur kale, vates collards and golden and silverado chard outside all doing well. this week is time for the beets, some more greens and a few more inside things like parsley and basil to get started. it all feels so good. so liberating and so fresh.

now, it is your turn. get out there. get creative. get on motherearthnews.com and do some exploring on varieties to plant, when and where, ways to extend your season and more. it is inspirational to see what you can do with a little bit of research, some time and some ingenuity. oh, speaking of that, we are looking at our options for a passive solar greenhouse to be built this fall to keep the fam feed all winter. yup, no more fall and winter breaks. the possibilty of fresh greens and cool weather crops all winter long sounds too good to be true, but it is totally possible and totally inexpensive for the do it yourselfer. we've done the reasearch and now we are sorting through our options, but keep an eye out for a late summer post on our newest project.

happy planting, much love and luck to your sprouts and seedlings and happy gardening. enjoy, embrace and most importantly indulge. treat your yard to something special this season. maybe your yard needs a little lovin' and a blueberry bush or a fruit tree or 2 may make it happy.