My household, when we moved to our present home, did not own a lawnmower. The man of the house, who claimed the job of mowing the lawn as his, decided he wanted a push reel mower. Me?
I figured this fell under the role of Designated Control Freak (or DCF). He wanted to be The Mower of the Lawn, he could get whatever he wanted to accomplish the job. It seemed a bit goofy to me, but since it wasn’t my problem, I didn’t figure I needed a say.
Well, it was a few years before I used it. You see, it took that long before the lawn got too high for me to want to tolerate, so of course that made me the lawn DCF. (The usual lawn DCF being in the throes of an insanely busy work schedule). I hauled it out without much enthusiasm, but with great curiosity, as I’d never tried it before. Since it was a gadget rather than a big, indimidating noisy machine like the snow blower, I figured it was worth a go.
I found out something. Push reel mowers are fun! They do make a low-level rattling noise, and there is an art to keeping the blades spinning to get the appropriate cut, but they’re more fun than the gas thing I occasionally used as a kid. (My theory is that like the man of the house here, my father liked mowing the lawn, so I was rarely asked to do it).
We got one mostly because they’re cheap to buy, they don’t use gas, so they’re cheap to use, and they’re not noisy. While yes yes yes, they’re pretty environmentally sound, the choice was more about saving money than saving the environment. Though as I often maintain, conservation and such is often the more economical way to go.