Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Grass Powered Mowing

The wife is forever advocating that we get some sort of additional creature to cuddle with on the interior of our house and another creature to take care of the mowing (and provide hair for yarn, I suspect).  On both counts, my resistance is durable, but I was intrigued tonight to see an article on the NYTimes describing how some small farmers are putting away the tractor (and its fuel requirements) and putting the stick to the ox.  The oxen do require fuel, but is fairly abundant.  The wife likes the idea of a goat.  Do you like the idea of a goat in our yard?  Hmm.

8 comments:

Deana said...

Do you see the overwhelming response is "Yes"!!! There are goats for sale on craigslist. . .

John Nelson said...

Voting is still open. No campaigning! Hey you with the "Goats Rock!" t-shirt! No picketing!

Chad said...

I vote pro-goat!

April said...

I vote pro-goat! (Sorry--I was unknowingly signed in under Chester's email, but it's April. His vote is probably "yes" too though, I'm sure it must be.)

John Nelson said...

He'll just have to vote on his own. NO proxies!

I hope everyone thinks about this. Do you want goats in YOUR back yard? It's one thing to be pro-goat. It's another thing to live among them. We're not Peruvians!

Biking Librarian said...

"We're not Peruvians!" Sounds like an old goat talking...

John Nelson said...

Well, BL, it takes one to know one. I see an old goat in my future.

Anonymous said...

Another technology would to use Producers Gas to literly use the lawn as fuel.

Cut your grass once with the mower and rake up all the grass. Then let the grass dry before burning it in a low-oxygen fire to produce carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide can then be burned in the mower's engine to mow the lawn.

Yes, sounds like a lot. What are all the costs of a goat these days. Remember you will have to feed it during the winter and it will have to have an array of shots to meet health standards and then also you need to find a place for it to stay and a way to get rid of it's excrament.

I'll just go with a Push Reel Mower. There's no engine to put gas in and it burns calories so my fat ass can go the way of the Dodo.