The right tool for the job

Normally I take care of my own yard, but with my feet staying in the salt water that has been a challenge that I have hired out.

It is nice to come home and not have to mow a second lawn.

Of course there are some things that haven't gotten done, like the grass on the edge of our bank.

I have always tried to keep it knocked down when I trim with the weed eater.

This week the grass back there had gotten to the point that something needed doing and using a weed eater to do it would have been the hard way to solve the problem.

I got out my trust weed whip which I had been my primary tool for clearing hiking trails.  I found my flat file and sharpened the weed whip to the point that could the head off a snake with a flick of the wrist.

According to the time stamps on the photos, it took me less than fifteen minutes to cut what I needed to cut on my slope.

I didn't use any gasoline.  I was actually going to have to do a double dip on gasoline since my two-cycle can was empty and getting the weed eater going would have required a gas burning trip to the gas station.

With the weed whip, I made almost no noise.

I also got a little exercise, worked up a sweat and had the pleasure of using the right tool for the job.

The grass was actually a little too long for normal weed eating anyway.

The bluegrass since it has very fine stalk was a little harder to cut than the annual rye grass that I had used to cover our former bamboo forest, but it wasn't too bad.

I couldn't help but remember how our cows would pick through hay to munch on some of the fine stuff.  There was truly some gourmet cow food made from what I cut on our bank.

The grass on the trimmed bank is now well down the slope.  It's too bad the bank is so steep, I was just getting in the rhythm of it.  It might not be as neat, but at least I enjoyed what I was doing.  I can't often say that for the times when I am using a weed eater.

I can still remember when I was farming in the horse drawn world of New Brunswick in the mid-seventies that some older farmers would use a scythe to cut any standing hay left after the tractors and their PTO powered mowers had finished cutting the fields.

I bet using a scythe is almost a lost art.