“Mow Green” Takes On The Loud Guys
by Melinda Tuhus | May 14, 2009 2:55 PM
It was an unintentional but friendly battle of the lawnmowers, two houses apart on Livingston Street on a sparkling, birdsong-filled spring day.
On one lawn was Dave Taddei, with his helper and his $100,000 worth of equipment — ride-on mowers, trimmers, blowers, rakes.
On the other was Natalie Coe, with her 30-pound non-motorized reel mower and a bag for collecting the sticks — even tiny ones — that can stop a mower like that cold.
The two happened to be mowing lawns in East Rock at the same time Wednesday, with two very different sets of machinery. If Coe has her way, it was a contrast between the past and the future.
Taddei has put in almost a quarter century as the owner of Hamden-based Mountainview Landscaping.
Coe (pictured) is just starting out in East Rock with a business called Mow Green . She is partnering with a man who started the business in Fairfield two years ago; the motto is “quiet, clean and green.” She said she had the same idea at the same time, but it took awhile to get up and running.
Taddei said he has nothing against the newcomer’s efforts: “I’m not knocking her; I think it’s great.” But he can’t imagine how someone with so little equipment could get a similar result for a customer.
Taddei (pictured) also made a confession.
“I can’t stand the sound of these machines when I’m gardening, and I’m very hypocritical about that; I’d be the first to say it. When I’m behind them, it’s like you’re in a different world — you don’t hear them.”
Taddei (pictured) said he also didn’t notice the fumes. As for concerns about greenhouse gas pollution — at least 5 percent of which in the U.S. comes from lawn care equipment — he shrugged and said, “I’m not an environmentalist.”
Coe said the inspiration for her new profession came indirectly from her son, when she was trying to get him to nap and the neighborhood was exploding with those engine sounds from trucks and mowers that Dave Taddei also hates when he’s looking for some peace and quiet.
A reel mower offers both advantages and disadvantages to its operator. On the plus side, it’s, well, quiet, clean and green. Coe pointed out that she can hear her cell phone ring or even carry on a normal conversation while working. She can also hear the birds. There’s no gasoline to pour in the machine (which often results in small spills), no toxic fumes, and no carbon footprint. The mower clips each blade of grass, rather than tearing it as she said a power mower does. And, as part of the deal, she doesn’t use any chemicals on the lawns she mows, which is safer for her and for her customers, “especially if they have pets or children.”
There’s also the advantage of exercise in the fresh air. Coe said she spends about 90 minutes on each lawn, about twice what the big guys spend.
On the down side, that exercise in the fresh air can turn into a sweaty slog uphill that most people would not want to spend more than a few minutes doing before fleeing to a self-propelled power mower. The grass must be cut often, because if it grows more than a few inches long, the mower blades will just pass over the grass without cutting it. A reel mower is also intolerant of bumps in the lawn, making it an unlikely choice for any lawn that doesn’t approach putting green smoothness.
Hiring Mow Green seems to have mostly advantages for homeowners. At least it does for Mary Schwab-Stone (on the right in picture). Her home just off St. Ronan Street has a lawn that offered quite a challenge to Coe, who said she alternates mowing each week from side-to-side to up-and-down, to avoid creating lawnmower tracks in the grass. On Wednesday she was going up and down the hill in the back yard, and the going was a little tough. Schwab-Stone took a turn herself (pictured).
But she said she’s happy with the quiet, clean lawn service and opined that her lawn is looking better than ever. She pays the same ($30) or a little less than when she hired a traditional lawn care company. “They’d come in with these huge machines that would smoke. They would over-mow the lawn so it was too short. Since I grew up mowing lawns, I knew you could do better, but I didn’t have the time to do it, and then Mow Green’s flyer showed up in my mailbox.”
And she loves the fact that this weekly task is not contributing to the problem of climate change.
Coe said, “Old habits die hard, and a lot of landscapers have invested so much money in their equipment. I talked to one landscaper who thought it was a great idea but he said he couldn’t just switch over. And some people don’t believe they can have a nice lawn without all of that.” She’s out to prove they can.
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