We have a meadow on the side of the house, in front of the chicken coop. I’ve been seeding wildflowers there since we moved in, and when the blooms are done and the seeds have formed I trim down the whole meadow with a string trimmer. It usually takes over two hours and two tanks of gas before I’ve had enough! This year we invested in a trimmer mower, which has thick replaceable plastic “string” like a trimmer, but is mounted on three wheels and pushed like a mower. The trimmer mower and I are now friends. It does a much neater job on the meadow than I did swinging a trimmer back and forth, and I ran out of gas before it did. I was also able to get more done in those two hours.

I did leave some of the Standing Cypress near the road so it will reseed, and I found an ironweed, which I mowed around because I haven’t seen one before and it had pretty purple blooms. I am hoping that it will also reseed.

We have a lovely patch of buffalo grass happily spreading near the coop. In order to keep it from dying I took a rake to the trimmings to keep them from matting up and killing the roots. A little brownsnake kept me company.

When any kind of yard work is going on, my flock usually hides in the coop. But one brave hen ventured out and discovered that all sorts of tasty things jumped into the runs to escape the mower. I saw her chasing a snake and at least a couple grasshoppers!