# Lawn questions...???



## Newbie007 (Dec 11, 2012)

Hello all, 
Maybe there is a separate post for this but I'm not sure. If the Shtf happened and there was no access to gasoline or electricity; how would you keep your lawn, fields, and what not under control?

Thanks in advance for your answers, always appreciated!


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Push mowers for small spaces, scythe for larger areas. I've never had much 'lawn', just enough to dry some fruit on or sit on a nice day. Most of our green spaces have some kind of livestock on them. In the orchard we use geese or tether sheep. We have some bigger spaces covered in low groundcovers to keep the dust and weeds at bay.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

In a SHTF situation my lawn would be the least of my worries, however to answer your question, an old rotery push mower works well for lawns. as for fields, gardens etc, what did folks use before roto-tillers, tractors, combines etc? A good strong back and if they were lucky a couple of horses or mules, shovels, rakes, hoes,scythes. Anything that is done today with modern machines, electricity and gasoline can be done with man power, horse power and ingenuity


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## cedarguy (Nov 19, 2012)

Yep what camo said. For us after shtf the last thing I want is to draw attention to my place with a mowed yard.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Yep. Just let it go. You don't want to stand out.


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## sgtrunningfool (Dec 8, 2012)

I would definitely let mine go because I am not putting any energy into something I cannot eat, use for defense or shelter.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

sgtrunningfool said:


> I would definitely let mine go because I am not putting any energy into something I cannot eat, use for defense or shelter.


yep, let the dandelions grow. Easiest to grow green veggies in the world.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

You might consider trimming up for 30 feet or so around the buildings to reduce fire danger.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Good replies here. Just one question though ... How many already have a push mower or livestock to keep the grass down (assuming that doing so won't compromise security)?

Steve


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

At my yard right now I have no "lawn mower" I have weedwackers and mechanical things like scythes but the grass is wonderfully manicured by cows There are other places we mow with a ride on, and I do have an old ground driven sickle mower kinda like this









I used to be more careless about the grass around the house and in some areas I am guessing it is not much of a concern but grass fires are a big concern for me. What my great grandpa and his dad would do as well, and that I have done at times (VERY CAREFULLY) is to burn the old dead grass in the spring and fall under controlled conditions. If the fire is started right at the base of a building or fence it won't have enough heat to cause problems. I probably shouldn't even discuss this though because unless you have tons of experience with fire things could go very badly.


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## jeff47041 (Jan 5, 2013)

I figure I will use most of my yard as hay to be able to feed in winter. I've often thought that I would use a rotary push mower just for a small area.
I use a weed whip thing that kind of looks like a golf club but with a blade.
Like others, I'm mostly concerned about tilling without my tractors.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

you have much much much bigger problems than the lawn


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

There is a book called Edible Front Yard. It teaches you how to have a nice looking front yard that is both aesthetically pleasing and produces food. Ditch the lawn plant edibles.


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## jeff47041 (Jan 5, 2013)

ContinualHarvest said:


> There is a book called Edible Front Yard. It teaches you how to have a nice looking front yard that is both aesthetically pleasing and produces food. Ditch the lawn plant edibles.


Oh great idea. I forgot all about that book. Boy, I need to go through my books and re-read some of them. Just last week there was a thread that reminded me of one of my other books that I read years ago and put on the shelf.


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## Newbie007 (Dec 11, 2012)

Hello all again, my issue with the lawn is this; people can sneak up around the house in tall grass and brush. You can get plundered and if they work in a team the tall grass could work as cover. Where do you get the mechanical as in old fashioned tools to take care of the lawn. I know it sounds stupid but today we do everything either with gas or with electric tools. Thanks for all your input.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

My concern with long grass is bushfire. Here we work on a BIG clean area as a fire buffer. So sans gas lawnmower we will be looking at grass control with animals or old fashioned tools like scythes and push mowers.
I've picked up a stockpile of tools from farm auctions.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

Y'all be careful about using your lawns for feeding your livestock. Lawn grasses are too rich for most animals and if you gave them a diet of too much of it, they'll get sick.


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## Roslyn (Feb 20, 2012)

If you have an area that you want to keep people from approaching your house, brambles. They make fruit and no one wants to walk through them, especially wild blackberries. And chickens LOVE to hang out under brambles, it's like a chicken fort.

Also, a thistle patch in a controlled area can help keep intruders out.

I agree with using a scythe or other means to keep the area around the house cleared of high grass. Ticks and snakes are another reason to keep the grass down.

In my opinion, lawns will disappear to large gardens and there are large scale rotary mowers that are used. I remember watching an Amish man walk behind his horse through his yard. The horse was pulling a mowing deck and quickly taking care of the mowing. These things exist, they just haven't won the gas powered war.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

ZoomZoom said:


> Y'all be careful about using your lawns for feeding your livestock. Lawn grasses are too rich for most animals and if you gave them a diet of too much of it, they'll get sick.


Curious what animal might have problems; cattle, sheep, horses all do excellent on blue grass or fescue I have never heard of any problems with lawn grass, alfalfa or clover sure but not grass.:dunno:


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

cowboyhermit said:


> Curious what animal might have problems; cattle, sheep, horses all do excellent on blue grass or fescue I have never heard of any problems with lawn grass, alfalfa or clover sure but not grass.:dunno:


We are cautious when moving animals from dry pasture to irrigated, the horses and sheep might get the runs for a day or two. If there is a big difference between the paddocks we'll limit grazing on the new areas to an hour or two for a few days as well as feed plenty of roughage. Never had this problem when I live down south as there was only marginal difference between irrigated and non irrigated pastures. Here it's a major diet change....

As far as lawn goes, well we call it lawn because we mow it, other than that it's the same pasture you'll find in all the improved paddocks.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

That makes sense, the transition can definitely give them the runs if they are not used to lush pasture. We do this on purpose sometimes to "flush" animals to improve fertility at breeding season. I know about grass tetany as well but never been an issue for us. We don't have irrigated pastures and animals get green grass as soon as it sprouts so that is probably the difference.


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