Humane vegan way of cutting grass?

Question

Before I ask this question I'd like to make a request... please, if you're going to say that I'm stupid and shouldn't care about insects then just stop reading now. Don't bother replying if you're not willing to give me actual advice and instead want me to think the way that you do.

I'm a vegan and don't want to hurt any living creature in any way. But my mum wants me to cut the grass for her. The thought of hacking through the grass with a lawnmower and killing lots of insects and bugs is really playing with my conscience. Especially as it's just so the garden can look 'pretty'.

I'm going to my parents house next week so can anyone tell me whether there's a humane way of cutting grass without having to harm the creatures living in it?

Again, please don't hurl abuse at me... it really annoys me that so many people are rude to vegans when all we're trying to do is live a life involving the least cruelty possible.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

People have to understand that everyones consciences are on a different scale and mine just happens to be sensitive. I have no problem with meat eaters-thats their choice. I may not agree with it but Im not going to be abusive towards them like many have been to me. I just want to ease my own conscience which, whether I like it or not, will not let me intentionally or avoidably kill a living thing however big or small. Buddhists may understand me

I know that killing is unavoidable in nature but they kill to stay alive. My life doesn’t depend on me cutting grass.Yes, I accidentally step on ants and my body kills bacteria but this is either unintended or necessary for me to stay alive so I dont feel guilty about it

As for those saying I’m not a vegan-there are different types of vegan. Some just don’t eat eggs or dairy but a lot of vegans see it as a lifestyle.. they don’t wear leather, try to buy cruelty free products etc.

Thanks to all those with helpful ideas. I appreciate it

Answer 1

You have got to be the best person ever. Honestly, the world is at a lack of apathetic people like you. If everyone would have at-least 1/20 of your compassion, the world would be a much better place.

I've actually thought of this myself, and i think i have found a great solution! they are push blade lawnmowers. They require no gas or oil to run (which is a plus for the environment). the blades spin slowly and it seems as though when i use it there is no possible way insects are being harmed, other than my stepping. here is a link so that you can check it out.

http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/2004/10/non-electric-lawn-mowers.html


again... your awesome.

Answer 2

Depends how big the grass area is. Could try with scissors but does take a really long time and makes your arm ache (did it through boredom once!) Though as many have suggersted the motor should scare bugs away or at least down towards eh earth. Don't cut too short & perhaps brush trough with a rake forst. You can't avoid killiing some insects & unless you are floating to our parents you'll squish some under you feet or on the front of the vehicle you're travelling in. Don't stress yourself about it.

Answer 3

If you have an Itch do you not scratch it?

An itch is a natural response to the possibility or probability that an insect is on your skin. Almost like a reflex action to a known threat.

If you can always resist a scratch to your itch even when you are a sleep. only then should you really worry too much about the insect life on your lawn.

Don't worry, be happy your insect lawn population will recover from the minor set back of a few losses to the natural order of things be it you with your lawn mower or a hungry bird. they will live on.

Use the highest setting on the lawn mower and do it regularly, use a leaf blower to tell them you are about to start and after a time the insects that live long enough will thank you for it.

Good luck on your problem I hope it works out as you hoped.

Answer 4

Just accept that, try as you might, you ARE going to injure creatures in some way. And do the insects really matter? Everytime you cut the grass birds will swoop down for the seeds, grubs and insects you reveal. So really you are doing the local bird population a favour by cutting the grass. Cut it, before a neighbour complains about the poor state of your garden! Or you could consider some low-maintenance hard landscaping, and never need to cut the grass again!

Answer 5

Rent a horse or sheep and have them eat the grass. Get rid of the grass and replace it with a rock garden or just dirt. Capture all of the bugs and release them into a prairie where they will be unharmed while you mow the lawn. Don`t water the grass and let it dry out, cut it with a hand type of mower. ..hmmmm.

Actually, do insects really die if you use a mower? My guess is that they would sense vibrations and jump out of the way or hide underground.

Answer 6

To be practical the best you can do is to not cut too low you should also remember that these animals are very small and might easily just get sucked up by the lawn mower and come out the other side unharmed
if the grass was really long you could use a scythe

Answer 7

You are so concerned for the bugs. What about the grass? Doesn't it have a right to life? Does it pain when you cut it?

In the Grand Scheme everything on earth has a part. Plants, insects, animals, humans all are living creatures. A snake eats a mouse. Does this make the snake a bad snake? No, part of the mouse's job was to be food for the snake. Part of the grass' job was to be cut by you. For the insects, this is a hazzard of living in the grass. In the Grand Scheme the insects that failed to get out of the way of you cutting the grass became food for other creatures, as they contributed to the controlling of their own numbers so as not to upset the balance of nature.

Answer 8

I'm not being mean here, but I would like you to at least try thinking about this a little differently.

'just so the garden can look 'pretty''.

No it's not - if you leave a garden alone, what happens is that the grass takes over, and kills everything else. Then what's left is grass, and what eats grass - you've destroyed 95% of the diversity, just by ignoring it.

I'm in the process of nurturing a wildflower meadow, and most of what I do is cut grass and pull up spiky things. I cut with shears, not a mower - time consuming, but it lets me cut round self-heal and sorrel, and I'm pretty convinced I've not killed any insects so far.

One of the other things I do is remove about a third of anything that's turning thuggish - threatening to take over the whole thing.

I'm not vegan. I'm not even vegetarian - but I respect your feelings and your position. But you should respect your mother's feelings, her home, and the work she's put in to creating a garden, which is a lot harder than just sitting back and letting nature take over. That might work on savannah scale - in a garden, you have to micro-manage, or you're going to end up with dock, convulvulus, grass and mare's tails, and pretty much nothing else.

In our culture, we tell stories about grandfather wolf, and grandfather rabbit. One of the stories is about how grandfather wolf (which is our way of saying 'the totality of wolfkind') and grandfather rabbit have a reciprocal arrangement going on.

Grandfather rabbit protects grandfather wolf from starvation, by offering part of himself for grandfather wolf to eat. Grandfather wolf protects grandfather rabbit from starvation by never allowing him to eat everything there is to eat.

Both see death by starvation as being worse than death by predation, because it can kill a whole community, not just a few members of the community.

One of our prayers goes 'in our time, may we have only small tragedies'. That's about as near as I can translate. Because I grew up with that, I have a gut feeling about 'storing up trouble'. If you won't accept small tragedies in your time, your grandchildren's grandchildren have to deal with some real biggies...

Helen

Answer 9

I have to say, I've never actually tried this, but how about using a scythe? I don't know if you can find them near where you live, but if it worked for the medieval blokes then it should be able to work for you. Otherwise, gardenign shears perhaps. I suggest lying on the grass and waving/cutting with the scythe/shears in front of you, close to the ground so as to cut the grass as short as possible.

Answer 10

wow! you gonna be very tedious on this ...cut it mannually with a scissor or cutter that could allows you to use one hand to grab the grass and another hand to cut it. By doing so, you are either giving signal to the insects to "bug" off and you could see or check if there's anything in the grass before you cut it! I dont think there is any foolproof "way" but at least you could minimise the "damage". But if I were you, I rather exchange this task with another one!