This week’s post is going to be a bit different… Not the standard gardening tips, how-to’s, favorite spring bulbs, etc. No, this week we are going to address an ongoing, building “concern” in our industry – one that is, in fact, knocking at our own back door. The issue surrounding the inappropriate use of gardening tools.

There is no shortage of lore on the use… or, shall we say, “misuse” of gardening implements over the course of time. If one were to look closely, you would find a variety of ordinary lawn and garden tools involved in uprisings and peasant rebellions all throughout the history of man. In fact, elite groups such as the legendary “ninja” often disguised themselves as gardeners, fashioning their weaponry after garden tools, so that in the event they were discovered, they might be able to claim these to be the tools of their “public”, and – more appropriate – trade.

Heck, even the Grim Reaper wanders around employing a scythe - allegedly used for cutting and harvesting – to harvest… well, let’s just say he is not using it in the gardens or fields, as it was originally intended.

In the past several years, we’ve noticed a growing trend of misuse when it comes to not only “gardening implements” in general, but our own Garden Weasel product line as well. So many, in fact, that we’ve had to dedicate a team to tracking, documenting and providing proper disclaimer with respect to these “Unauthorized Uses” of our products.

For example, the Garden Weasel made a very brief cameo in Zombieland, with Woody Harrelson showing it as one of many ways to dispatch of his undead counterparts. In fact, on the zombie note, I am almost certain I saw a Garden Weasel in the background in a Walking Dead episode this past season. I’ll be willing to bet there are more examples of zombies and gardening tools meeting out there somewhere… But the Garden Weasel-undead relationship doesn’t even end THERE…

Apparently the Original Garden Weasel, based on its “quality craftsmanship and durability”, is a weapon of choice among young vampire hunters.

Now, I realize this all feels a bit dark, and that these tools may appear to “invoke violence” outside of the garden. Let me assure you, this is not entirely the case. Why, I even promoted our (now discontinued) Garden Glide product as a most excellent sled for hitting your favorite winter hill once in a blog post. Rest assured, our tools have been used for entertaining  and practical purposes far beyond warfare and weaponry.

Did I say “entertainment”? How about the world of music. It’s not really an “Unauthorized Use” of our tool, but close – it’s an Unauthorized Use of our NAME! I am – to this day – uncertain as to whether we inspired the name of this early 90′s Punk Rock band “Garden Weasel” or not – but if I were guessing, the names of songs like “Your Green Thumb”, “Uncoil Your Hose”, and “Santa Likes to Garden” would lead me to believe that we were of at least a bit of influence… Either way, our Team can safely deem this highly “Unauthorized”!

That leads nicely into the actual USE (albeit Unauthorized!) of an Original Garden Weasel in the percussion section of an orchestra. While this has happened more times than I can count, there is at least one video where, if you listen close, you might here the beautiful sounds of Weasel-tines a-purring  somewhere deep within the complexity of the TCU percussion Orchestra’s performance.

But I digress… sometimes we are entertained not by our ears, but by our eyes.

This is where our next Unauthorized Use brings a bit of danger to our lighter, more entertaining examples… There are a number of jugglers out there who have worked the Garden Weasel into their routines. Here’s one example of a very, very Unauthorized Use!

Needless to say, we are now keeping a close eye on all Unauthorized Use of our brand and products. And I have this… call it a hunch – we’ll be seeing more Unauthorized Use of our tools in the very near future. In the mean-time, have you seen any Unauthorized Use of Garden Weasel or any of our other garden tools? If you have, we’d love to have you share. Weasel on over to our Facebook page and post your findings! Help us “police” the misuse of our beloved Garden Implements!