Of Mowing Fields and Meditation
It’s been raining pretty much every day or so for the last two weeks. In fact, on “Tornado Warning” day, we got 8 inches in something like 4 hours; therefore, even though yesterday was not the dryest of days, I was compelled to mow: grass and weeds in the back field was over two feet tall. I had not mowed that in a month. And the side field that I mowed before the rain had already grown 6 inches. Generally it takes me about 2 1/2 hours to mow both fields with a riding lawn mower with a 48" deck. If I let that back field go much longer I’d have to use the bush-hog and the tractor — which is not ideal for a number of reasons. One, the tractor is heavy, and a heavy tractor on soggy ground just makes for a mess. Also, it’s a pain to hook up the bush-hog — generally speaking, I’m not good enough at it to where I can do it myself, yet. And there is the fact that it needs a new battery, so I would have to jump start it to get it going. Which is not difficult — just another thing. So there I was, faced with spending over two hours on a lawn mower. Gee, darn — not!
I love mowing fields. It’s not like mowing a lawn where you want all your lines to be exactly parallel and beautiful looking. And, you can go 200 feet or more before you turn around in either of my fields. There is some prep-work, though, before you can meditate while in the driver’s seat — all fallen branches, dog toys, blown in trash and other debris needs to be removed from the fields. In the parts of the field near the woods, that means walking around in tick country in muck boots and gloves and picking it all up. I used to try and account for all the dog balls, but I’ve given up. I have the mower blade set to the highest setting, so usually they will skate by unscathed.
Once the prep work is done, it’s time to gear up and go sit for a bit. Ball cap to keep flying grass and miscellaneous insects out of my hair. Sun glasses to keep the same out of my eyes. Noise-cancelling headphones — a total must. To keeps grass, insects and noise out of my ears. I suppose you could use air-pod like headphones, but although it looks flat, the field is bumpy, and I’d be afraid of them popping out and becoming one with the Earth forever. I should wear jeans or other pants made of tough material to avoid scratches from the wild blackberries that line both fields — but I prefer shorts. And t-shirts. Real shoes are a must, though. I don’t wear boots, but I do at least wear sneakers. Also, most of the time I wear work gloves — to absorb the vibrations in the steering wheel — and because there is always something that I missed picking up in the middle of the field. Phone and a bottle of zero sugar Gatorade and I’m set.
Turn up the tunes or put on my favorite podcast, start engine, up the engine revolutions, engage mower blades. 20 or so passes North to South on the one field. Similar number East to West on the back field. Make circles around trees. Make a lovely sweeping curve around the garden area. No thoughts of day job, no someone needing me for something. Just the wind in my face (along with bugs and grass clippings), the rumble of the mower beneath me, and rows of grass parting before me. Sometimes I let the chickens out before I mow. They have learned that following the mower means easy insect prey and windrows of clippings to scratch through. They won’t go all the way into the open with me (they know all about the “hawks in the sky” thing), but they will follow when I’m close to the coop, under the two giant black walnut trees, or along the edge of the woods.
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| I leave some strips unmown, especially in the back where yarrow (Achillea millefolium) and other herbs have naturalized. |
Later I will rake up a few of those windrows of weeds and grass, turning them a few times for even drying. They will make the next layer in the compost pile or become a giant pile in the chicken run for them to play in. I never use all the clippings and I kind of rotate where I pull clippings from. I like most of it to go back into the earth and enrich my soil. And then it will rain again, and the cycle will start over.
Author's Note:
Wild Blackberry Apothecary is the dream of a one-woman homesteader in the middle of Middle Tennessee, USA. I currently work full time and homestead part time with 4 dogs, 12-30 chickens, several domestic blackberry and raspberry plants - and thousands of wild blackberry vines that are trying ot take over every inch that they can. My husband of 30+ years does not homestead, but indulges me. As we look towards our retirement years, we hope to further develop our property and perhaps add more rescue dogs, more blackberries and trees, and have me move to homesteading full time.
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