Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Wovel Love

Finally! During the night we got enough snow so I could try out the Wovel this morning! First I had to add the "gravel wheels"--they raise the shovel part above the ground slightly for use on gravel driveway or paved patios. Admittedly, there wasn't a lot of snow- under two inches - but it was that heavy, sticky, wet kind of snow that is especially annoying and tiring to shovel, and the wovel performed great.

The wovel is a large shovel scoop that pivots on a lever on a wheel - you wheel along scooping up the snow and push downward on the handle to flip the snow off. We woveled our long driveway (I paced it off -it's about 335 feet from patio to road), the parking area by the garage and the patio in under 45 minutes. Ordinarily after shoveling my back is wincing--but no problem at all this time. I did get warm, though- woveling is not entirely effortless, but it was fun. And quiet. And fast. And created zero carbon emissions.

This photo depicts the two ingenious wheels of our farm--the windmill and the wovel. Rog conceded that if we don't get an unusually heavy snow this winter, we could probably get by without a snowblower at all, just a wovel (or two, so we don't have to take turns!) He was so impressed he said maybe we should see if we can invest in the company.

If any friends are interested in trying a wovel, feel free to stop out whenever we have snow, we'll let you test drive it. If you decide to buy one, please let us refer you and we will get a $15 reward from the Wovel company (which we can put toward wovel #2.)

3 comments:

Barbarapc said...

What a wonderful adventure for the two of you. Thanks for sharing. Love the name wovel and the photos - only 335 feet x 2 inches you say - I'll be checking back in January.
(Barbara from Canada who bought her house because the driveway was only 20 feet long.)

Susan said...

Thanks for visiting, Barbara. We have been vascillating among the options --a snowblower (walk-behind or garden tractor attachment?), a snowplow blade for the truck or the riding mower, or hiring someone.,, I, too, am wondering how we will feel about this driveway next January.

farmer said...

ictimbhow did that wovel work out for you?