Cutting Grass

Well we have almost been here for one year. I don't feel we have accomplished an awful lot but when people visit, make a delivery, or inspect the property people are amazed at what we have done. The grass is short in the paddocks, the house is now clear of trees and the potential for fire hazards, the drive way is no longer over run by native trees, and we have visible fruit trees.

The new tires

The paddocks used to have extremely long nasty grass that the animals could not eat. We naively thought that putting animals on the land would shorten the grass - thus keeping away the many snakes. WRONG! The sheep and goats hated the grass. Myles bought a ride-on mower from eBay - usual I know but he did get it 2K cheaper than retail. The unfortunate part was that this mower could not go up slopes, actually unless the ground was completely flat you would get stuck. This pretty much made the mower a white elephant and was only used to make the grass around the house look pretty. A neighbour told us to employ the services of a slasher (tractor with massive blades on it) but we had thought that was going to be pretty expensive. Myles called in March and we were surprised to learn it would cost a meagre $200. Why didn't we do that in the beginning? - 'cos we were dumb!

Nicely Mowed

So after the slashing the grass was still a little mangy and we knew that slasher would be required in the next few months to ensure we had great grass for summer. Mick, Myles' father visited last month and looked at the problem and advised that if we changed the tires on the mower we could get the traction we required. Mick used to run a retail lawnmower business so he must know what he was talking about. We had been advised earlier that changing tires would not make a difference. Anyway we took his advice and changed the tires - and what would you know - I can now mower the paddocks with the ride-on. While $200 wasn't much - neither is $10 worth of fuel. Thanks Mick!