Faron Wahl, Manager.
With spring comes moisture (usually). With moisture comes grass growth. And with grass growth comes mowing.
While many of us felt as though we lost some of our spring due to a cold April, I can attest our grass hasn’t missed any opportunity to flourish. Every blade on our grounds is apparently working to make up for all earlier lost time. The stuff is popping at such an explosive rate, I believe a person could perch their chin on the sod and watch the tops actively lengthening skyward in real time.
Not that we don’t usually carry a respectable load of mowing during the late May time frame anyway. Of our entire 120 acres, I would estimate we regularly mow a good 35-40 of it, specifically those areas situated within the main historic buildings and camping zones. During this fertile part of the season, our mowers always run quite steadily.
But so far this year, fully keeping up is nearly a step beyond reality. The standard circuit of finishing one mowing and then simply starting again where we first mowed last week just doesn’t flow normally when the vigorous vegetation sneaks up two inches on you immediately after passing under the mower deck. Even at a more ordinary growth rate, however, we’re talking about a lot of grass here.
Consider our average of 25 blades of grass per square inch of lawn (yes, I did a quick count). Multiplied by the square inches in an acre, times a rounded-off 35 acres, you come up with 5,488,560,000 (5.48 billion) blades of grass we cut at least once per week. Only a couple of minutes to calculate, but countless hours to mow.
No wonder the Briggs and Stratton soliloquy never seems to stop.
And to those math minds who are really pondering this – yes, one could deduct from that total the footprints of all the buildings. But in terms of the operation, mowing and trimming around all of them adds back way more than the sum of time it would take to mow straight through, if our lawn presented in one big, unobstructed square. The summary is the same: we cut a lot of grass at the village, and it takes a while.
That said, we’ll still be cleaned up and ready for our campers and visitors each week. And we’re not complaining; green is good. I’ll take goat-knee-high grass every few days over crackly, frazzled lawn that looks and feels like fine, galvanized wire and screams high fire danger. Sign us up for the mowing alternative any day.
This coming weekend represents a rite of spring at the village: our Miss Prairie Village and Miss Prairie Princess pageant. I can’t say enough about the life skills developed in the young ladies who participate as contestants in this event. Self-confidence, poise, and public speaking will take a person much further in life than the activities that will occupy many others in their age brackets next week.
Come out and join us Sunday, June 3 at 7:00 pm in the Opera House to support these gals. And the Northern Bull Riding Tour will follow the next Friday, June 8, chased by the classic 50’s sounds of the Holy Rocka Rollaz in concert a week after that on Saturday, June 16. Our big events are running nearly weekly, with fun offerings stuffed in there for you regardless your age.