It's often conveniently forgotten that John Henry dropped dead after beating the machine.

Use a scythe. Get ripped.

He's supposed to cut it one stalk at a time.

Too soon?

Scythe vs. Weed Whacker has been added as a related post - related requested by newtboy on that post.

This video cuts right to the points.

Sure, the manual approach is faster but do you have any idea how much it costs to buy one of those models?

Thing is, with a scythe you need the grass to be high like that. It's much harder to cut a lawn with a scythe because the grass simply must be a certain height.

Which in a neighborhood like mine means you will have nice neighbors banging on your door telling you to get your grass cut because it is too high. I guess you COULD use the scythe to dissuade them, but I don't know how the local authorities would feel about that.

How does one arrange contests like these? I'd like people to come compete on my lawn.

New contest ever week!

The manual approach is faster, right up until you start talking acres...

Scythe wielding John Henry wins!

you sure about that? I used to scythe for fun when I was growing up (quite some time ago) and I don't remember having any particular difficulty cutting the grass at whatever height it was, as long as you are able to keep the scythe parallel to the ground (which is not as easy as it looks, my dad made fun of me all the time when I snagged it) you can cut it no problem as far as I can remember at least