My favorite tool this Summer

At least the one with the greatest daily effect…

It’s been a summer of wonderful tools. I got into my first 18v cordless set, and picked Makita as they still make some in Japan, and I’m a big fan of things made on that island. I’ve added a cordless chainsaw, compact drill, and pole saw, all Japanese-built.

None have made such a positive impact on our day-to-day on the farm as a basic, homeowner lawnmower. Specifically, a cordless electric lawnmower purchased on sale at our nearest Menards has proven to be the most useful thing we’ve added to our arsenal.

It has proven worthy of the task we purchased it to solve: shredding paper, cardboard, and other fibrous material before adding to our composting with chickens process. This, along with daily tilling using yet another awesome Makita tool, officially made our composting process no longer fully manual in the last couple months. As I would say we’ve got it nailed, I’m looking forward to detailing our recipe in another post soon.

Mulching was the purpose for getting this machine, though we quickly realized another wonderful use. We regularly move our chickens so they can forage fresh goodness. Unfortunately, we do not have any ruminates yet, so we must trim the grass along the electronetting to keep it from shorting out.

This evening I prepped for a move early tomorrow morning, and despite it being after dark, I had no reservation to use the mower to clear our path. It sounds like a vacuum cleaner, though a lot quieter, and is remarkably good at cutting through thick grass and shrubbery. There is also no smell, and no more than pressing a button for all the starting and stopping.

This is the best thing you can use to cut a small residential lawn, and an amazingly versatile tool to have on a small urban farm.