Grandma Leora mowed her own grass with a push reel mower, similar to this one. There was only a wisp of lawn in the front, although it slanted to the sidewalk. The back yard had a pretty steep hill, but Leora was a sturdy little woman and not afraid of hard work.
She finally hired a neighbor kid to take care of the grass, but she still did all the gardening, and digging and hauling plants to the basement for the winter.
Farmers don’t mow lawns, but their wives do. Mom mowed at first with a push mower probably like this one, but the yard and side yard were good sized. For some reason they bought an electric lawn mower, with a very long cord. I was tall enough to push it so I soon had the mowing job. No self-propelled mowers in those days, so I had to plan how to go about it while keeping the cord out of the way.
Push mowers with gas engines were handier, then self-propelled made everything easier.
At some point Mom got a riding mower. She enjoyed mowing more and more of the farmyard well into her eighties, maybe longer than that. By the time she was 90, my sis Gloria was living with her. Gloria trimmed the ditches and tricky areas with a gas push mower.
The only time I’ve ever used a riding mower was after Mom’s hip replacement surgery. Already deep into fibromyalgia, I enjoyed mowing with it but it set up a pain response (so does riding in a car) so that I could scarcely walk afterwards. Bummer, huh! I don’t think I’ve mowed grass since then.
Favorite Guy has always enjoyed mowing the lawn. When we lived in the trailer court in Idaho, the owner hired him to mow empty lots (push mower). Now our Iowa house sits on 3/4 acre of lawn, so he’s owned a riding mower for a long time.
It’s now held together with a little Duct Tape, but at least he pretty well stayed with the JD color scheme.
Son Dan lives in the Twin Cities. A year ago they moved to a handier house and bought a gas mower. But the lawn with their first bungalow was small enough that he used a reel mower, just like his great grandma Leora.
I always enjoyed mowing the grass. I love the sound of the engine and the smell of the freshly cut blades of grass. These days I’m not able to do it, but when the boys do it for me, I’m on the back porch reminiscing and enjoying that new-mown aroma.
Thanks, Jim. Yes, the aroma!
I have had a series of mowers, reel push, power reel, power circular, electric, and gas. Now, I have a zero scape yard and zero mowers.
Zero feels great, huh, John!
I’ve given up a lot of jobs, but I still love mowing our lawn. We’ve lived in our current house more than 30 years, and I’d never had an accident until this year. We have a large yard and the ground slopes pretty severely in a couple of spots. I was going up one and rolled the mower. Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt in the subsequent fall. The mower ended up on its side with oil going everywhere, including the carburetor. It was an expensive adventure. I’m still mowing, just a little more cautious.
I’m thankful you weren’t hurt!
Your themes always tickle my fancy. The first photo in my tribute to Aunt Ruthie is one of her at age 89, mowing her one-acre of grass on a riding mower.
https://marianbeaman.com/2013/10/09/birthday-95-a-tribute-party/
Oh, Aunt Ruthie! What a delight!
I mowed the grass plenty of times when my husband’s ship was deployed. Now that he’s retired, I don’t!
No surprise, huh!
Nope!
My son has a neighbor who is 101 years old and still mows her own lawn. I suppose that’s why she’s 101. 😁🚜
Aha!
I have lived in apartments for years now, but I certainly mowed the lawn a lot of times in my life. However, I had a love-hate relationship with our pull start lawn mower. It took a lot of attempts to get it going.
I remember those days, Diana. Maybe part of the reason my right shoulder needed replacing?
I haven’t had a lawn of my own, ever! I did mow a little when I was still young at home. I enjoyed it a little, but have never missed it.
Eilene, that would be idyllic!
It’s fantastic that your grandmother mowed the lawn so long, Joy, and very nice of you to do it for when she was so old. When we lived on 11 acres, I had a riding mower. Now that we live on a much smaller land after GM moved us, I use a self-propelled 22-inch mower.
Thank you, Tim.