Pappaw and My Career in Lawn Services

When I was about 10 years old my grandfather taught me how to operate a push mower. He watched over me as I learned to start, stop and turn the mower at the end of a row. He kept watching, from farther away gradually, for a few months that summer as I mowed his front yard only at first and then the back yard too. I worked hard to make sure my lines were straight and that I didn’t leave any uncut grass. I’ve tried to do the same with my grandsons here in Gainesville. Their yard is much harder to mow, with soft, sandy soil and slopes everywhere. My grandparents yard was small and basically flat.

He had two mowers. The one I used first was the smaller, 20 inch wide one with an open engine and a separate pull rope. The bigger mower had about a 24 inch cut and was too big for me for the first couple of years. But it did mow a lawn much faster with the wider cutting area.

Then Mrs. Antrim, the widow across the street called. Would I like to mow her yard? Of course I did. And she paid me $2 every time I mowed her yard! And not long after, Mrs. Randall, the widow next to her called and she paid me $2.50 per cut. These yards were smaller than my grandparent’s yard and I could mow them and sweep the walks in a little more than an hour. I’m not sure that I bargained at all. She just offered the higher rate. A year or two later another neighbor around the corner called and I got $3.00 for a slightly larger yard.

I did these for several years. My grandfather always took care of the mechanics and resupplied the gas cans and I mowed his yard almost every time it was needed.

The same sort of thing happened one winter when I was shoveling snow at my grandparents. I think I actually approached the widow ladies this time and they were glad to have their driveways shoveled. I don’t remember the rate, but I considered it to be a great gig. And some other neighbors wanted in on that deal. I remember sometimes having my mom take me in to town after dark after it had snowed so that I could shovel the driveways before anyone drove over the snow or walked on the driveway the next morning. I was warm-natured and didn’t mind spending a couple of hours out in the cold to make some money. I don’t remember the rate, but it was considerably more than I got for mowing in the hot sun in the summer.

I also got a job mowing and raking leaves in our own neighborhood. Mrs. Hartman had a big yard and Mr. Hartman didn’t like to mow. I still used a push mover, but it was a Lawn Boy, the Cadillac of push mowers. She always helped with the leaf raking in the fall, as it was a huge job with the forest in the back yard and lots of larger leaves everywhere.

As it turns out, I’ve always been allergic to grass, but it’s a mild enough reaction that it doesn’t keep me from mowing. I actually used a push mower at my daughters house for several years and then started to teach the boys. They inherited an antique riding mower from a family friend so I am out of the mowing business except for some trimming and mowing of extreme slopes. I still work on pine cone and limb pick up to stay in the game. Plus, my son-in-law Derek has handyman skills, so I don’t feel as guilty when we ask him to fix something or take down a small tree. I have a riding mower at home since the yard is over an acre in size. My career as a hay baler in high school was cut short though by the more extreme allergic reactions I had that made breathing hard and sleep impossible for the first night after baling. It was a shame as there was some real money to be made and I loved the physical work and cameraderie of working with friends on a baling crew.