My Human Powered Lawnmower

My lawn is one of my areas of great pride. I really enjoy making things grow and having a relaxing yard to play in and live in. When I was growing up my Dad always talked about having an outdoor room, which incidentally he has achieved now in his new home.

My Dad is a Manager for a John Deere Dealer and has been the better part of my life so I have always had access to good quality JD mowers and snowthowers etc. through the philanthropy of my Dad.

I currently have a very nice John Deere JX75 walk-behind mower which was a gift from my Dad. See picture below.


While this is a great mower and a real treat to operate, I began to contemplate the possibility of using a human powered mower and thereby not burn any fossil fuels when mowing.

When I began researching them I found that there are a great many available, but I couldn't find anyone using one and thereby I couldn't try this expensive purchase out before jumping headlong into it. So here is the vouch for anyone else who might want to buy one.

I found a American Mower Company mower on Craigslist for $25.00 and could not pass it up. So I bought it and for the last 2-3 months I have been using it almost exclusively. And, Drum role please, I love it!!! It does a nice job, it is quiet, efficient, and capable. Believe it or not it actually takes me less time to mow with this human powered mower and it gives me a workout at the same time. You can check out a photo of the reel mower below. This is not the only brand but I can tell you this is a good one. And manufactured in the USA!!!

My treehugger pickup truck

I used to own a lovely Chevrolet pickup truck which I used to complete a great deal of the tasks around the house. Carrying: firewood, building materials, plants, mulch, furniture, etc. While I really did enjoy having this truck I could not justify the poor gas mileage any longer so I bought my 1999 Volkswagon Jetta TDI. For those of you who do not know the Turbo Diesel Jetta's get exceptional fuel economy. I average approximately 47-48 miles to the gallon most of the time and I use B20 fuel which is 20% biodiesel made from Soybeans, Canola, etc. But by doing this I lost my truck ability, so for approx. $150.00 I just had a reciever hitch and lights installed on my Jetta and now have what I call a treehugger pickup. By the way, the little thing has some pretty decent capacity as well. I wound up overloading this trailer with mulch at the Council Bluffs recycling center and pulled 1528 lbs of mulch home with no problem. It was awesome!

Here is the picture.