There was a time when we didn’t worship lawns. Long before I remember. Now choosing lawn mowers is an important part of keeping a lawn.
Lawns are fields of grass like pastures. Many grasses are the same in both places. In spring those grasses do their best to grow tall, lush and seed.
This may make great hay. It makes a lousy lawn. Pushing through or searching for a crochet ball in thigh high grass is no fun.

The solution is to mow the lawn grasses down to a manageable height. This brings us back to choosing lawn mowers.
My grandparents had a sickle mower. It had a series of blades arranged in a cylinder mounted between the wheels. The operator pushed a long wooden handle pushing the mower over the lawn to turn the blades cutting the grass.
This was hard work. If the grass was more than two inches too long, it was nearly impossible. These belong in a museum perhaps, definitely not in use anymore.
Then came the push mower. An engine turned the blade cylinder. Forward movement was still provided by the operator. Long grass was still a great problem. They were a way to develop leg and shoulder muscles.
The cylinder of blades is long gone now. Blades whirl under a platform slicing off the grass and throwing it out the opening on one side along with rocks and other debris.
The forward motion of the mower has changed too. There are some a person must push, I suppose. Most have engines pulling the blades along now.
There are the self propelled ones the operator walks behind. The person can turn, pull back, move in close, avoid wanted plants and get lots of exercise.
We have used a self propelled mower for years. Parts of the yard cam only be cut with one. The mower requires a strong back and legs.

Many people now have riding mowers. They sit up in the seat with a steering mechanism to turn the mower running along at some speed. These come in a variety of sizes.
We’ve gotten older. Mowing is harder and takes longer. We finally made the decision to get a riding mower to cut much of the lawn. Age made choosing lawn mowers different than before.
Pastures can be beautiful swaths of green as seen in “My Ozark Home“.