Reel Love

I am still moving through The Potting Shed Papers, enjoying the various essays related to gardening. The author highlights some helpful advice such as keeping a gardening journal or at a minimum, a map of planting so one does not remove a Latin name I cannot remember thinking it was another Latin name I cannot remember. Important stuff.

One of my favourite chapters was "Machines" which highlights some of the tools the author uses in his garden. Several years ago when selecting a lawn mower for the small patch of grass which we called our yard, I pushed for an eco-friendly, quiet version something like this. My boyfriend at the time was not thrilled (understatement) with my selection, noting the manual labor required for use. He was also thinking ahead at the time of purchase; he would be using that mower a lot more than I would be. In addition to the aforementioned reasons, I also thought this model would be less likely to be stolen. At the time, the neighborhood was a bit rough around the edges. Anyway, though my mountain bike was one day lifted, this lawn mower was never a target. Elliott also shares a similar story of theft in "Machines" where only his hand tools were left untouched.

Moral: old school tools will not let you down.