AS PERENNIAL AS THE GRASS

Nothing makes me happier than the time I spend cutting grass.

I know that may sound weird to those who consider it a chore, but that’s not how I feel about it at all.  To me it’s a time of meditation and fresh air accompanied by one of my favourite scents – fresh cut grass.  What’s not to love?

I know what you’re thinking.  You are thinking that I must have a big, beautiful zero turn mower, and you are right about that, but I also have a push mower and I don’t mind doing the job that way either.  Although, with the size of our yard I would never get done if I had to do it all by hand, still the smell is the same, and the finished look it gives makes my heart happy.

The year’s mowing season has started off a little rocky.  There hasn’t been a really good rain to wash off the accumulated dust and mould, or to spur on lush green growth.  It left the yard looking shaggy and unkempt.  You know, that awkward stage when the quack grass hasn’t quite got the jump on the dandelions yet?  Only about 47% of the lawn needed to be cut but what did need it needed it badly. 

And then, the day I decided it was time to do something about the shaggy mess out there the battery on the mower was dead.  This kind of set back doesn’t stop me anymore.  I possess competent battery charger skills and I had that baby ready to go for the next day.  The trouble was that Day 1 had been a beautiful, sunny, warm, wind-free day and Day 2 there was a bit of a hurricane blowing (or as we say in Saskatchewan – there was a ‘slight’ breeze).  It’s been a week and I am still cleaning dirt out of my ears and eyes.

Regardless the benefits of being out there on my mower far outweigh the drawbacks.  Like I said earlier, mower time is a time for meditation and contemplation.  The job itself doesn’t require a lot of brain power – it’s pretty much just driving back and forth across the yard avoiding obstacles and trying not to be stabbed by branches when doing the tree line.  On the other hand, it’s important not to get too deep into thought – or I can end up too deep in the literal sense.  Our yard is prone to water hazards.

I also have had to become quite proficient at my self-towing skills.

So, keeping in mind that there are things I have to watch out for, this is when I contemplate Life’s problems – work related, marriage related, kid related.  Even when I worked full time and had very few hours to call my own I would always claim the mowing time – it’s not as if anyone interrupts what you’re doing when you are out in the yard on a noisy machine.  It may have been a loud solitude, but it was still solitude.

The job has developed a new nuance over the past decade or so, though.  There was a time when it was just a case of lawn care, but now there is more to think about than just how pretty your yard looks.  These days we are being asked to think about planet care.  People are experimenting with lawns of clover – low growing, green and lush, no maintenance yards.  We are encouraged to leave the dandelions for the bees and to plant more flowers for the butterflies and hummingbirds.  It is also wise to grow at least some of our own food – not only does it provide fresh, safe vegetables but it gives us all a better understanding of how Mother Nature works: small, grass-roots steps that can only do us all good as a species.

It was these very things I spent my first mowing session in 2019 thinking about.  The yard is unreasonably large to mow, and yet too small to farm.  I already have a huge garden so I won’t be expanding that; it looks like I will continue to mow this much grass.

On the other hand, there are a lot of dandelions out there.  Clover too; the flowering kind – very bee friendly. 

And as I whizz around the yard on my big, fancy zero turn mower this spring nothing makes me happier than seeing the butterflies are smart enough to get out of the way.  I’ve always had the kind of dandelions that are smart enough to duck the mower blades so they’re never going to run out of food