Mario absolutely hated yard work of any sort. He’s always said he hated it because he was “forced” to do it when he was younger. He was also just incredibly lazy when it came to manual labor.

When we bought the house, the previous owner left what was, at the time, a practically new John Deere lawn tractor. So we were basically all set as far as what we needed to maintain our 2 acres (of which probably 1.5 was mostly field grass).

The first season, I kept suggesting we should probably mow the grass when it started noticeably growing. One month passed, then two. I thing it was June before he decided to make an attempt to cut the “grass” … which by this point had grown into 3 foot high hay grass. Of course the little battery in the lawn tractor was dead. We tried to charge it but it wouldn’t hold the charge, so I had to go off into town and buy another one (which consequently delayed the project a day).

So next day we had the new battery in, were were all gassed up, and off he rode on the lawn tractor down the slopping hill. The grass was as tall as the tractor and it was slow going. There were many breaks taken. At one point near the garden, there was some sort of wire left on the ground so Mario ran over that and fearing the worst, came and got me to access the situation.

The wire was wrapped slightly around one of the mower blades. So we had to push it and wedge a block under a wheel so I could get under there and get it off.

There was also a point where he rolled the mower (and somehow jumped off of it before it fully rolled) while taking a bad angle up one of the embankments.

It ran out of gas 2x.

In the end it took about 6 hours and Mario said he felt like he’s been jostled around on a roller coaster all day.

I also wish I had taken pictures of the “path” he chose to mow because it was like abstract art.

All in all, a complete disaster, but also a learning experience.

We realized that the field grass grew multiple times a season. We also realized that I was completely allergic to grass pollen because I tried mowing the next time and could barely breath an hour into it. I also confirmed that riding around the property was definitely like getting jostled around on a roller coaster.

We tried getting someone else to mow it, but after being charged $450 for it, we decided that was not going to be in the cards either.

Bottom line, we both hated it, but had to get through it.

The mower itself was the most temperamental piece of equipment I ever had the displeasure of using. It took many attempts to get it running in the first place and then would often stall out. If the conditions weren’t perfect, it would not even cut the field grass great. We even had it serviced … blades sharpened, all that.

At one point I joked that the previous owner cursed the thing.

Then in 2018, Mario’s dad moved up here and actually offered to mow for us! We were both relieved. But he had no less issues than we did. One day it up and quit in the middle of the field and I couldn’t figure out how to get it running. I left it there to think about what it had done to us and that if it didn’t start it was going to the junk heap and wouldn’t you know, when I went out there the next morning, the thing started right up. Maybe threats and intimidation does work on mechanical things??

Because we’d basically invested what would have been the price of a new mower into the thing we kept it and struggled with it. But Mario never had to mow again, which I’m sure pleased him to no end.

Warp up to 2025 and the mower’s day of reckoning had finally come. I had absolutely had it and it quit on me the last time. I posted it on Facebook Marketplace as a “fix it” project and was able to unload it for a couple hundred bucks to a young guy who was mechanically inclined. Then I went deep down the “lawn tractor research rabbit hole”.

One key bit of info I found out during all this was that our previous lawn tractor was just a glorified mower for nice, flat suburban grass lawns and basically not at all cut out to do what we were asking of it. So in hindsight, the poor thing did the best it could.

So after learning all about lawn tractors and the pros and cons, reading reviews all over the internet and ruling brand out one by one, I went down to the local Husqvarna dealer and took some test rides.

The price I paid for the new lawn tractor was ludicrous but man, the difference is night and day between that and the old one. It’s a larger tractor, made for cutting fields like I’ve got, starts right up and is basically a dream. It still is a bit of a wild ride when I’m on it (and I actually have to put on my weighted work out vest because it’s got a safety feature, presumably so kids won’t get on it, where if you don’t weigh like 130lbs it might not even start for you), but Mario’s dad still helps out with the mowing too. When he gets too decrepit to do it, at least I know I’ll be able to with this new machine.

So the grass still grows, but now after all these years, I finally have a better way to deal with it.