Day: March 16, 2021

Electric Riding Mower Blades Dry Fit

Steven Guccione

Found the nice little 24V 30W motors that fit exactly inside of a 2″ PVC pipe. Took me a while to get around to it but cut and dry fitted the pieces to see how it looks. Bolted on these string trimmer replacement blades that are available from all sorts of vendors for a wide range of prices. Went for the least expensive ones, at $7. I was going to use the same controller as the one for the main motor, but somehow, after I had fully installed it, it turned up broken. So I ordered a simpler replacement controller. I really don’t need the LED readout.

Will glue it all together and wire it up another day. I still need to figure out how to hook in up to the original blade height mechanism. I removed much of it because it was made for a different platform that was maybe 70 or 100 lbs of metal. Looking for a simp!e soultion (as always). Also need a safety cover. Looking at some pie pans, which are metal, but instead might go with some of those shallow plates that go under flower pots. Plastic and easier to work with. Everything is smaller and lighter so no real need for a massive deck. Just something to prevent dumb accidents.

Gumbo Z’Herbs Garden

Steven Guccione

My father was friends with Leah Chase and used to enjoy going to her special Holy Thursday gumbo Z’Herbs lunch. I regret that I never was around to join him for this event. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever even had gumbo Z’Herbs. I had an idea of starting a small Gumbo Z’Herbs garden which the hope everything would (somehow) be ready for Holy Thursday and I could try to cook up a batch of green gumbo.

I found a good pack of seeds on Amazon with 20 different herbs that matched well to Leah Chase’s recipe. The only thing missing was carrots for their greens. I have since learned that there is lots of improvising in these sorts of dishes and the measurements and even the ingredients aren’t necessarily strictly followed.

My original plan, perhaps born out of laziness, was to mix all the seeds together and spread them in my planter. The more I though about it, the planter seemed a bit small for all of this, so I reclaimed a few pieces of the yard that werent in use, including a patch when my large rosemary bush died in the recent freeze. I actually planted the seeds in separate groups. We will see how this all turns out. Will post a picture of the final gumbo if all goes well.