Micro lawn-mowing businesses put food on table for poor laborers

Richard Wilder stands next to his truck after clearing brush from a lot. Published Aug. 21, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.

A gray lawnmower sits idle with a bright red plastic gas can hanging from its handle. Dead grass and rust fill its small crevices.

Dewey and his girlfriend Naomi, who declined to give their last names, depend on the ancient machine to make money. The unemployed couple go door to door asking home and business owners if they can mow their lawns, sometimes for just $5.

"It can get pretty rough out here. It takes a lot out of you, but we take it day by day," said Dewey, standing near the lawnmower outside of a corner store at 38th and Burleigh streets in the Sherman Park neighborhood. "Our area is from here to wherever we can find work."

Dewey and Naomi walk miles a day throughout the North Side, visiting regular clients every two weeks in the hopes of cutting their lawns. At times, clients cancel, leaving them frustrated and broke. On occasion, they bring their three children with them on landscaping jobs, hoping that the sight of the children elicits sympathy from potential clients.

"My kids work too. My 3-year-old knows how to pull weeds," said Naomi, wearing a tank top with a bandanna covering her cropped hair.

Naomi rested a mini pizza on her lap as she sat in a lawn chair against the brick wall of the store. She lifted a small piece high enough for the cheese to dangle into her mouth as she explained her plight.

On a good day, she and Dewey mow five lawns, making about $50. On a bad day, like this one, when they make not a dime, they resort to eating small microwaveable pizzas from the store.

"I didn't even eat it because it was old. I have had lots of days going to bed hungry," said Dewey, who has Naomi's name tattooed on his neck. "There are days that there's more gas in that gas can than food in my stomach, because I have to stay ready for work."

Naomi and Dewey are part of an informal service industry in Milwaukee made up of landscapers who go door to door, offering up their services at a discount as a way to make a living. During the winter, many of the landscapers go door to door with shovels, hoping to make a few dollars clearing snow and ice.

Read this article:
Micro lawn-mowing businesses put food on table for poor laborers