🌾 No No Mow May for me
Ep 34: A rainy weekend, cool apps for nature lovers, and why I'm not participating in No Mow May.
Well, we made it to another week! Hope you all had a great weekend and have a productive week ahead.
A Tip for the Modern Worker
Get proper task lighting. Depending on where you live and the time of year, you might start working as the sun comes up and quit after it gets dark. Think about the task lighting you'll need at your desk, no matter the light outside. Adjustability, aesthetics, color temperature, and illuminance are all factors. Read reviews to find an adequate solution for your situation.
This tip is one of 365 in my Handbook for the Modern Worker. I upgraded my desk lighting a few years ago, opting for a “Beam LED Desk Lamp” from Fully. It’s not sold anymore, but I absolutely love it.
#365DayDraw
I drew this and wrote the accompanying annotation as part of my #365DayDraw project 7 years ago today.
Sure is a rainy day for golfing
Pretty apt for this weekend in upstate New York, where it rained or drizzled for most of the 48 hours. There’s more on tap as we go through the week, too! If you’re into golf, I hope you have good weather where you live.
Commentary
I use a reel mower for my lawn. It’s a chore, sure, but it’s also a good workout and I enjoy the cardiovascular benefits and the ability to listen to a podcast as I mow my modestly-sized lawn. When my neighbors put up a No Mow May sign, I was naturally curious. Heck, the Village of Trumansburg put a section in their weekly email, basically throwing their support behind the movement.
Google the term and you’ll quickly learn that it’s an initiative sponsored by Plantlife, an organization based in the United Kingdom. Now, it has hopped the pond and more cities and towns in the United States are embracing the concept. Could I get behind refraining from lawn care for an entire month?
Heck, no.
Looking through the myriad blog posts on the topic, there are plenty of pros and cons to letting your lawn run rampant through the month of May. Sure, you get a grassy vibrant ecosystem, but it’s quickly removed when everyone fires up their mowers on the first of June.
For me, No Mow May is simply not practical: I’d kill myself trying to cut through the mess with a reel mower, and I hate borrowing something gas-powered to do the job. Opponents of the initiative suggest adding wildflowers, native plants, and other things pollinators like to your landscaping plan. Those I do have, so I’ll keep calm and carry on mowing my lawn!
Miscellanea
🎻 I plugged Apple Music Classical in a past edition, and I found a great backing track for getting work done: Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians (Apple Music, YouTube). I love this app and discovering new things!
🪴 I listened to Tim Ferriss’ interview with Kevin Kelly this weekend. In it, Kevin dropped the name of a few apps that were game-changers in their way of helping us understand our natural world. I already have Merlin to identify birds, but I learned about Seek, a free app that identifies plants. I downloaded it after my hike and tried it out on a plant in the park.
🗣 Fonda Lee, a successful author in their own right, posted this on Twitter (screenshot below) and it really got me thinking. My debut fiction novel is gathering dust as I dutifully query literary agents. I’ve gotten some very nice rejections, but I’m now wondering if I should self-publish just to get it out there and move forward. It’s been almost two years of querying since I finished it! Self-doubt creeps in daily and the slew of rejections makes me wonder if I’ll ever write again. I don’t have a big publisher, I’m not a celebrity, so that leaves word of mouth, which really didn’t get much traction with my two books about remote work. I’m a horrible self-promoter so that’s that. Anyway, I thought Fonda’s post was spot on, and I do appreciate everyone who did share about my books when they came out.