A friend and I were having a discussion about the movie Pirate Radio the other day.  After giving it two thumbs up we started to talk about its weak points.  And one weak point—a slip actually—for us was that in one scene they had two of the characters giving each other a “high-five.”  Simple enough action, but neither of us thought that high-fives were around in the mid-60s.  We did a little research. High-fives did not come into being as high-fives until 1977.



What did we do before high-fives?  It was something like: “Gimme some skin” or “lay some skin on me, man”.  This brings me to weeds.



My wife and I are renting until we figure out our next housing project.  And that means we are dealing with lawn mowing and weeds when we would rather be loving vegetable gardens, food forests, and wild spaces.  The need to mow (it is in the lease) is not something that I have had to deal with in a while.  We got handled the mowing part when someone lent us an electric lawnmower.  It is pretty cool, and if the world was perfect it would be rechargeable rather than corded. 



What stumped us were the weeds in the marginal areas.  We couldn’t pull them fast enough and were not using herbicides.  What to do?  Our local garden center offered a gas-powered weed whacker but our post-Gulf gusher trauma steered us towards an electric option.  But as I was reaching out my hand to grasp the marvel of modern ingenuity, the voice in the back of my head said: “High-five.”  Which was code to ask myself: What did we do before?



Hoes were one option, but then it hit me: Weed whips.  We used to trim weeds down with human-powered weed whackers.  And we were good at it.



Weed whips, often know as “misery whips” have a past association with chain gangs, because road crews of convicts were frequently seen cleaning roadsides with them. I found someone who still sells weed whips and started my own “chain gang.”  I found that I loved the efficiency of it as well as the quiet.  I wasn’t burning gas, sucking up electrons, or shooting sharp little pieces of gravel at my ankles.  Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh- and the weeds are trimmed.  I get to work on my rusty golf swing in the process.  What was drudgery as a child was now an anticipated activity.  All because I thought about the implications of what I was purchasing and thought, “What did we do before we became wasteful? “ 


Be careful and conscious when you buy your own personal “weed whips.”  They will give you joy and satisfaction. Wield them like a pirate wields a cutlass, but watch your ankles. Haaaarrrggghhh!