Second Day: Here we are at the show. The pace and numbers increased dramatically today. The stars of the show are the Sno Wovel, Walkover Sprayer, and Rolypig.
Mower Manufacturing: Today I was approached by an inventor of a patented lawnmower to manufacture his creation. It is a reel mower which is powered by two large bicycle wheels and two smaller gears which propel the spinning of the blades. This action causes the blades to spin very fast. We’re trying to compare the RPMs of our electric reel mowers with it.
The Cyclemower: The mower is called the Cyclemower, and they are looking for folks who would like to manufacture the mower. The hope for the mower is that it could adjust from .5″ to 3″ and be able to mow all grass types. We’re trying to compare the RPMs of our electric reel mowers with the Cyclemower.
Neptune’s Harvest: I found a liquid fertilizer and a liquid weed killer which can be applied with the walkover sprayer. The product is called Neptune’s Harvest. The products are made from fish, seaweed, and shellfish.
2009 Show Begins:
New England Grows has just begun, and the noise level has started to rise. We are located in booth 2338, on an aisle corner next to an aborist and landscape company and across from Sheltertree.com. Sheltertree is drawing qutie a crowd. They have a man pulling himself up 10′ high using pulleys.
Surprise:
One surprise has been the number of school representatives who are here. People representing schools from all over New England are prominent at the show.
Feel the Pro-Environmental Vibe:
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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 10 years old, selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.
Another big storm. The northeast just got hit with another large storm. All schools in the area were closed for the day. This is shaping up to be a record winter in terms of snow fall. This storm delivered 8″ of snow before the snow turned to rain.
Sno Wovel receives two workouts. I used the Sno Wovel twice. Once to clear 6″ of snow and again to clear 2″ of snow and about an hour’s worth of rain. Clearing the snow went as usual, a nice walk around the driveway. Clearing the very wet snow was interesting.
Snow piled high. Because we’ve had so much snow, piling it up had become a challenge. Some had melted since our last storm so I was able to find room. When I began clearing the wet snow, I found that because it was so heavy it just compacted the lighter snow beneath it. This made the job actually easier. I had no trouble finding room, with the Sno Wovel all I had to do was drop or toss the wet snow onto the lighter snow.
Back feels fine. But the biggest advantage is that my back feels fresh. I have no side affects from using the Sno Wovel two times, once with very heavy wet snow. It is amazing to me that when you use this snow removal tool how the work load is taken up evenly by your entire body.
The Sno Wovel passed yet another test this weekend. Those living in the northeast got slammed with 14″ of beautiful snow. The forecast was for 4″ to 8″ so we were very surprised by the total amount we received from this snow storm.
The test the Sno Wovel, a snow removal tool, was challenged by was how high could snow be put or thrown. We already had nearly a foot of snow on the ground from previous storms and it was piled high by the Wovel. Because the forecast was for 4″ to 8″, when the snow began piling up I went out and began Woveling. It was quite fun, 30 minutes to clear my driveway.
Later that Sunday, I saw the snow piling up again and went out and cleared the driveway for what I thought was the last time. I noticed that when I went to throw the snow, there was less and less room for it to go. It was getting close to 4′ high in many spots. Shortly after the snow stopped.
When I woke up Monday morning, we had 8″ more of snow on the driveway. I got dressed and began Woveling. Now I had a challenge in many places where previously I had piled the snow. When I approached a high mound I pushed the Sno-Wovel into it and lifted. The snow went up and came back down, some of it on the driveway. Slowly I learned how to get the snow up and back using the snow removal tool. Sometimes I had to make two attempts. But all in all, the Sno Wovel worked great.
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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.
With winter staring us in the eyes, it looks like I’ll have lots of opportunities to work with the Sno Wovel. Last night brought 3″ more of the lovely white stuff. This was very heavy wet snow. Those of you who follow my winter-tests know I have a history of back injuries AND a reeeaaaalllly long driveway! So this is a product that I am thrilled really follows thru on it’s ergonomic back-saving promise.
Previously, the handles on the wheeled snow shovel seemed a little high so I adjusted them to be about 3″ lower. This adjustment made the work more comfortable, and it made tossing the snow easier. I’m 5′10″ and this height worked well for me. Because there was only 3″ I could be a little more creative in my technique. I have found doing strips of about 15′ was most efficient. If I had fluffy snow, I might do strips of 30′.
The work went well and once again I had no back pain or muscle pain. It is a treat to have the Sno Wovel in my garage.
Now with a folding frame for maximum portability and more convenient storage!
Those living in the north east recently received 8″ to 12″ of light powdery snow. It seemed like everything turned white. Having cleared my driveway of heavy slush days before, I eagerly looked forward to giving the Sno Wovel a different test.
At first with a foot of virgin snow all around me, the task looked daunting. But after a few paths were clear of snow, the removal went quickly. My 3000 square foot driveway took about half an hour to clear. In spots where it was convenient to drop or toss the snow, the snow began to build up to 5′ high. But because the snow was so light it was easy to toss or drop. When I was half way done, I noticed I felt like I had just started. Sno Woveling is so much easier than snow shoveling.
I found that when the shovel filled up, I could keep pushing using the wheel. I would bring the snow to where I wanted to dump it and then go back and clean up what had been pushed to the side. I found the chipper worked well to clear close to the pavement. After clearing my driveway, my son and I headed off to a neighborhood sledding party.
This morning when I woke up I looked out at 2″ of wet and icy snow. “Uhmm, it’s time to use the Sno Wovel, ” I thought. I brought my daughter to school, drove home and got out the Sno Wovel. The Sno Wovel looks like quite an interesting snow tool. It has a large wheel in the center. A large shovel comes off the wheel. On the other side a handle rises up to the user.
I have about 3000 square feet to clear on our driveway. In less than half an hour, my driveway was done, and I felt as if I had done nothing more than walked for 20 minutes. You push the Sno Wovel’s big wheel and drop the shovel to the level of the snow. When it fills up, you press the handle down and direct the snow’s flight. The Sno Wovel takes a few tries to get the hang of using it, but once you have used it, it is easy to use.
The Sno Wovel handled the heavy wet snow and slush very well. I used a wide shovel to clean up the stairs and closest points to my garage. When done, I wheeled the Sno Wovel back to its spot in the garage.
It is wonderful to use the Sno Wovel again. And it’s great to be able to shovel heavy wet and slushy snow without any back pain or muscle strain.
The leaf blowers are killing me this year! My neighbors use them to blow even a sprinkling of leaves off their driveway, and NOTE: they only use them when I am home and recovering my sanity in my garden. Fueling my simmering irritation, during our first magical snow this season my wife and I took a moment for a walk thru the woods and what did we hear….not that soft gentle hushed sound of snow…but my neighbors snow blower. GRRRRR. I won’t go into when one neighbor left for the weekend and their car alarm went off in 15 minute continuous cycles until the battery wore down.
So this post is to say…neighbors…before you fire up your weed whacker, leaf blower, hedge trimmer, riding lawn mower, snow blower, snow mobiles, etc…. know you are effecting not just my health but yours! Study after study has found that community noise is interrupting our sleep, interfering with our children’s learning, suppressing our immune systems and even increasing our chances of having a heart attack. It is also tarnishing the Golden Rule, reducing people’s inclination to help one another.
Basically, noise causes so many horrible things that it’s a wonder there aren’t warning labels tacked to the sides of vacuum cleaners.
NOISE HARMS OUR HEALTH:
Recent studies reveal that noise can be harmful to human health, just like water or air pollution, damaging not only hearing and sleep but raising our blood pressure to dangerous levels.
According to the World Health Organization, noise pollution is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths a year. scientists at Imperial College London monitored the blood pressure of 140 sleeping volunteers who lived near London’s Heathrow airport. They discovered that subjects’ blood pressure rose when a plane few overhead even when the subjects remained asleep.
A study of 5,000 45-to-70-year-olds living near airports for at least five years found that they were at greater risk of suffering from hypertension, aka high blood pressure, than their counterparts in quieter realms.
“The idea that people get used to noise is a myth,” the Environmental Protection Agency has reported. “Even when we think we have become accustomed to noise, biological changes still take place inside us.”
Children near the working airports had significantly higher levels of adrenaline and cortisol — the body’s so-called stress hormones.
Studies have also shown that in the presence of continuous noise, people are less caring, communicative, and reflective.
Extreme noise has been found to give the listener a sense of helplessness and powerlessness.
Hospital noise has been shown to slow healing.
In one study, people were less likely to help someone pick up a bundle of dropped books when the noise of a lawn mower was present.
Another showed that in a noisy environment, people playing a game were more likely to see their fellow players as disagreeable or threatening.
NOISE IMPAIRS LEARNING AND CONCENTRATION (DUH):
Another insidious effect of noise is its cultivation of what scientists call “learned helplessness.” Children given puzzles in moderately noisy classrooms are not only more likely to fail to solve them but are also more likely to surrender early.
Many studies have shown children in schools around noise pollution had impairment in reading on standardized tests.
In Munich, students near an airport initially scored lower than others on tests of memory. When that airport closed and moved, thier reading improved, while their counterparts living near the new airport saw a decline in scores after the switch occurred.
SO WHAT TO DO:
First everyone needs to understand there is an issue. Even in ancient Rome, chariots were banned from the streets at night to prevent clattering wheels on stones from waking people up. Here are a few places that beat that drum:
NoiseOff.org – a Web resource for fighting local noise pollution
Then of course, know there are alternatives…regular readers here know what’s coming…like quiet quiet quiet push reel mowers, back saving snow removal tools that really work, push sweepers (janitors secret weapons) and push leaf sweepers, and other fall cleanup tools like (!) rakes (!) coupled with lovely leaf bags that roll. Can’t do manual, how about electric options like electric mowers, electric blowers (still blow around allergens), and electric snow blowers (haven’t found one yet we like). So many wonderful options out there. And then of course there are the big picture alternatives like reducing your lawn size…but that is another ranting article! So in summary treasure the quite! Shhhh…..
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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.
We’ve carried snow removal tools for a few years now. We haven’t found an electric snow blower we like yet, but our 2 manual snow removal tools are really effective. We are often asked which of the 2 is better, the Sno-Wovel or the Snowscoop. To start, the Snowscoop comes nearly ready to use. You just fasten a few bolts and nuts and you are off. The Sno-Wovel takes more time to assemble, about 45 minutes, but once you have it assembled, look out snow. So far this year we have sold more Snowscoops than Sno-Wovels by about 2 to 1…I suspect mostly because of price.
SNO WOVEL WORKS ON DIFFERENT TYPES OF SNOW
The Sno-Wovel is more versatile in that it works well on different types of snow. If you have a lot to move…this is definitely the best tool out there. I have used mine with snowfalls of 12″, 9″, and 6″. My driveway takes about 90 minutes to do by hand when clearing 9″ of snow. With the Sno-Wovel it takes a third of the time. What I noticed from the first time I used the Sno-Wovel was how great my back felt afterwards (well I should say…how it didn’t feel any worse anyway !). So let me repeat this : the Sno-Wovel is really easy on your back. You can see a video of it working here.
SNOWSCOOP WORKS ON LIGHTER SNOW UP TO 6″
Snow Scoop in action
The Snowscoop works well with 6″ of fluffy snow. It is so compact and easy…many of our customers are businesses who need to shovel often and want to make sure their employees are not straining their backs. Kids can work the snowscoop easily. So for the snowscoop…think lighter snow needs, and shoveling before it gets really high. Remember to reorder Snowscoop replacement blades yearly. We just got a few inches of the white stuff last night, not enough to shovel. It’s kind of funny that I’m actually looking forward to the first large snowfall so I can get my snow tools and show you how really easy they work.
OK, so some tools are really hard to get across how great they using the web. And this is one of them. The SmartCart wheelbarrow is simply the best ever and ANYONE who has ever borrowed mine always raves about it. And comes back to borrow it for big jobs. It is the only wheelbarrow you will ever need to buy. Period.
Carrys a load of 600 pounds
perfectly balanced ergonomic design
finest weather-proof materials
really lightweight and maneuverable. 40 pounds
mulitple wheel types and pan sizes (pans are exchangable on one base size)
There is a reason the Smart Cart is the choice of places that really understand quality tools :
-The Victory Garden, Walt Disney Landscape Dept., San Diego Zoo
-The White House & VP Residences, The Palm Beach Polo Club
-MGM Studios, The Hearst Castle, Santa Barbara Yacht Club
Smart Cart hauls up to 600 pound EASILY. Frontwards or backwards. Perfectly balanced.
High end equestrian facilities ALWAYS use SmartCarts because EVERYONE can haul with them easily ( there tend to be a lot of young horse-happy girls like my daughter working there to pay for their horse lessons hauling around huge amounts of horse stuff!) So it is in their best interest to cater to their young workers (with a nod to their watchful parents) need for an easy easy easy wheelbarrow.
Each week I find new uses for our Smart Cart. We have the 7 cubic foot version with the 20″ spoked wheels. I think if I were purchasing again I’d get the 12 foot tub with the turf tires. The 20″ spoke tires provide very easy transport but I do have to pump them up with air fairly often.
lazy hikers hauling their wood (look, at least we weren't camping by the car!)
I use the SmartCart to move wood from my wood pile to my house and load up the fireplace. One load fills our storage area. On Mondays I take the trash and recycling down to the street (think long winding rocky lane with potholes). With the Smart Cart this is a breeze…I used to load it up in my car…yuk.
Four weeks ago we purchased a gas grill. We brought it home in our wagon. But at nearly 300 pounds it was too much for my 11 year old son and I to carry to our porch for assembly. I brought out the Smart Cart and within minutes I had wheeled it over to the porch and unloaded it. All done easily and safely.
This fall, we had some tree work done. Sadly five cherry trees near the back of the house came down and two ash trees near the front of the house. I hired a company to take the trees down, and with the help of my wife and son we cleaned up over a few weeks time. Carrying the wood to the wood pile was a perfect task for the Smart Cart. It also worked very well for the white pine sections which we brought into the woods to decompose. The tub material allows you to slide the tub on and over branches and trunks of wood.
Pans are waterproof and durable.
And the other thing to know is the tub floats! So when we were building a restoration project for the bay, we loaded rocks boulders onto the cart, floated them out to where they needed to be placed to build the the rock breakfront. This was the only cart that could do that…so we lent if for the duration of the breakfront build (because we ran out of back-power quickly on this one).
So again, this is the garden wonder-tool and we just have to figure out how to get that across…because it is the workhorse for a lifetime.
Last year we started carrying the Snowscoop…a clever snow clearing tool that is easy to store and unbreakable. So this is a reminder to our customers, it’s time to replace those snowscoop blades to for this upcoming snow season. Replacement blades are usually ordered each year and cost only $19.95 for two replacement blades and shipping.
DON’T HAVE A SNOWSCOOP HERE’S THE SCOOP:
The SnowScoop wheels away snow 3-5 times faster and way easier than any shovel. The wheels carry the weight and leverages the snow in such a way that it takes minimal effort to clear an area. So save your back and get your kids out there shoveling!
wheel design allows you to move snow 3 to 5 times faster than a typical shovel and is rated to carry up to 250 lbs.
works especially well with fluffy snow of nearly any height.
It is so easy to use that almost any family member can effectively move large loads of snow without a problem.
reduces the stress on your back and over-exertion on the heart.
snowscoop is virtually indestructible. There is nothing to break
replaceable protector scraper should last for years. s
satisfaction is guaranteed!
For best results, you should use the Snowscoop™ in 4 or more inches of snow.
Good news from the Sno Wovel manufacturers…they have announced the new 2009 model Sno Wovel will now come with a folding frame for maximum portability and more convenient storage. These improvements make the Sno-Wovel much easier to store. The Sno-Wovel also offers new gravel wheels along with other new 2009 Sno-Wovel accessories and replacement parts such as replacement blades and and a wrist strip to wear that helps you not have to grip the wovel as hard. Also for winter snow clearing…we have added 3 video features on the sno wovel to our site. Really, this tool “Time Magazines Best Inventions of 2006″, is this easy…
Today we learned that we will be one of 700 exhibitors at the New England Grows 2009 Expo to be held in Boston February 4-6. This event attracted 15,000 visitors last year and is really gaining in momentum.
One of the things I like best about my job is finding new machines which do their job and have little impact on the environment. The Wovel is designed to clear snow in an energy efficient manner….but most of all it is so back-saving and ergonomic you really have to try it to understand.
Clears away snow 3x FASTER than a snow shovel and is an economical, eco-friendly alternative to snow plows.
First we read about the Wovel; next we watched videos about it and saw it in use; then we had to wait for our demo machine to arrive. My son and I were excited when it arrived and took it into the house to assemble. It took about 45 minutes to get it together. We had fun playing around with it but really wanted and needed some snow to test it.
We didn’t have to wait long, six inches of wet snow had dropped over the night. I got the Wovel out of the garage and went to work. At first using it seemed ungainly. But after 15 minutes, I began to understand how to use it better. After 20 minutes our driveway was just about clear from snow. Normally, this would have taken my son and I about 90 minutes to clear with wide shovels resulting in a least one sore back. In addition to taking less time, my back had not been affected at all.
The Wovel had passed the first test. In subsequent uses in 4” of snow, chipping 2”of packed ice, and dealing with a blizzard, the Wovel continued to efficiently clear the snow and ice.
2009 Show Begins:
!). So let me repeat this : the Sno-Wovel is really easy on your back. 
