On May 11, 2:09*pm, DougC wrote:
On 5/11/2011 12:33 PM, rangerssuck wrote:

On May 11, 10:28 am, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com *wrote:

So, I get more than a whole year's worth of mowing from one set of
blades, and a new set of three is about $40. *For me, at least, it's
worth it to get that "golf course" look in the front of my property.

Aside from the golf course look, what benefit do you derive from your
lawn? In my mind, the grass in front of my house is nothing more than
a weed. It serves no purpose whatsoever. If it was up to me, we'd be
growing edible vegetables instead (our vegetable garden is in the back
yard).
.....
Here are some thoughts about the tremendous waste of resources and
money that go into a putting green front yard:http://www.primalseeds.org/lawns.htm

Some people have HOAs that say how the lawn must be maintained.

My [small] yard is crabgrass though. I think I sharpened the blade up a
bit in 2009. I use Roundup on the difficult edges so trimming with a
weedeater is not necessary. The weedeater is a 2-stroke, but it's not
the emmisions I care so much about--it's that since fuel left in the
weeder will always foul the carb, it has to be drained after every use
for it to start properly next time. Too much craptane in modern fuels
anymore.

I like to call lawn care "recreational farming".
Suburban people spend money on little machines and irrigation and
chemicals to plant, raise and harvest a tiny crop--that they don't
really do anything with. But they have fun with the challenge, and it
keeps them in the suburbs where they belong.

Eventually I plan to move to the US desert southwest, and my lawn is
going to be rocks and dirt. I'm just fine with that, quite frankly.
Among the highest form of comedies is people who move to a desert and
then spend money trying to grow a green lawn.

Recreational farming is, I guess, fine. My vegetables would likely
fall into that category as well - I don't really grow enough to make a
significant dent in my food budget and the economics probably don't
work out well, but I don't keep track of that money. However, if one
is going to go to all the trouble of maintaining a lawn, why not put
that effort into something that's useful? Lloyd flies model planes off
his lawn, and that is (to me) the best reason to have any sort of lawn
(I have to drive 5 miles to the local model airfield). But as far as
something nice to look at? If I had property that large, I'd probably
till the whole thing and scatter mixed wildflower seeds and let it run
wild. Easy enough to mulch a few paths out to sitting areas to avoid
having to wade through the brush.


There are places in th US southwest that now have unbearably high
pollen counts because of morons who moved there and brought their
lawns and trees and flowers. The real (tragic) comedy is that many of
these people moved there for the LOW pollen count.

Just to muddy the topic a little more, this just came in my email:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2011/05/Ma...ce-for-rubber/

The “Russian dandelion,” Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TKS), is being
domesticated at Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and
Development Center’s (OARDC) Wooster campus and produces high-quality
natural rubber in its fleshy taproot. Its performance mirrors the
natural rubber produced from Hevea brasiliensis (the Brazilian rubber
tree). According to its developers, natural rubber provides
performance characteristics not available from synthetic, petroleum-
derived rubber for trucking, construction, and aviation tires.

Natural rubber produced from Hevea is the only commodity volume source
for tires and rubber industrial products in the world. Current
shortage of supply has driven a six-fold price increase since 2002.
Tests of TKS rubber produced in Wooster have found the material to be
of comparable quality to Hevea rubber. An important additional product
of TKS cultivation is ethanol.

The project was announced by Ford on Tuesday, and company engineers
are testing the substance to determine its durability. Initially, the
research will focus on the substance’s potential use as a strengthener
for impact plastics.

“Managing weed problems is essential to developing TKS as a
commercially viable domestic source of natural rubber in the U.S.,”
said Bill Ravlin, associate director of OARDC.

Ford could potentially use the substance as a plastics modifier, to
help improve the impact strength of plastics. The material might then
be used in places such as cupholders, floor mats and interior trim.
Ford has previously used sustainable materials in its vehicles
including soy foam seat cushions, wheat straw-filled plastic for
interior trim and recycled cotton from blue jeans as sound-dampening
material

A collaboration including the Ohio State University, the University of
Akron, Oregon State University, Cooper Tire and Bridgestone Americas
received a $3 million Third Frontier Wright Projects Program grant
through the Ohio Department of Development to develop a new industry
based on this renewable, domestic source of natural rubber. Most of
the funding was targeted to building a pilot-scale processing facility
on OARDC’s Wooster campus that will generate 20 metric tons of rubber
per year for industrial testing.

“It’s strange to see weeds being grown in perfectly manicured rows in
a greenhouse, but these dandelions could be the next sustainable
material in our vehicles,” said Harris.

Before the dandelion-derived rubber can be put to use, Ford
researchers will assess the initial quality of the material to
evaluate how it will perform in a variety of plastics that are used in
vehicles and to ensure it meets durability standards.

Besides the dandelion, the team also is looking into the use of
guayule (a southwestern U.S. shrub) as a natural rubber, which is
provided by OARDC and can also be grown domestically.